Just returned from a trip to Cassino, following 'the footsteps' of my Great Uncle, Sergeant Frank Holmes, who served in the 49th LAA. I stayed in the excellent Hotel La Pace, where the owner, Pino, is very knowledgeable about the battle and was extremely helpful in tracking down locations for me. There are 9 men from the 49th buried/commemorated in the cemetery. I place a cross at the grave of Gunner McSheffrey (280 Battery), who was killed by an AP bomb during an attack by JU88s on the bridges over the Gari in May 1944. I found the approx. location of the Congo Bridge, which guns of the regiment were assigned to protect. My photo is taken looking back towards Mt Trocchio on the Allied side of the river. The next photo in sequence shows the railway (then called 'Speedy Express Highway'). I have arrowed the position of the smoke canisters manned by members of the 49th - a most unpleasant job. I have circled the railway station and the Roundhouse (both modern replacements on the same spot) - these buildings were focal points in the Second Battle of Cassino. There is a lot of debris still about - here I show a German bullet (K98?) and Bailey bridge section.
Excellent photos thank you...your great uncle and his comrades were obviously very supportive of my Dad and his comrades in 2 London Irish Rifles, who crossed Congo bridge on the afternoon of 14th May.. From John Horsfall 2 i/c, 2 LIR: "Down near the Rapido (sic), the fog of war was literally complete as the whole area was thick with smoke and I doubt that we would have found the bridge at all without the morass of tank tracks, debris and, I am afraid, quite a number of our dead to mark the route to it. I also wondered how on earth we were going to link up with my CO in this opaque murk around us. Fortunately, the canisters were blowing straight down the river and, after a while, we emerged from the smoke screen in to the olive trees and folds of the western bank. Here, there was reasonable cover and, apart from the shelling, life suddenly became more spacious and hopeful. The Skins were up there ahead of us somewhere. We were over the river by 4pm with the troops and with the bridgehead scarcely a quarter mile deep, bullets were whipping in to the ground all over the place as the forward posts of the enemy shot it out with their opponents of the 4th Division. Our riflemen required no further encouragement to dig in and, fortunately, they found this easy as they tore in to the soft loam of the glen bottom with their entrenching tools..." best wishes
Hi Giberville I write as one who served in the 49th LAA from April '43 to December '44 Final thoughts on Monte Cassino Thanks for the excellent pics, what Battery was your Great Uncle in ? Ron
Thanks both. Interesting to read about the infantry experiences having been on the spot. It is such a beautiful area and hard to imagine such scenes now. I think the Royal Artillery and Engineers, RASC contribution often gets lost in the written histories of the battle. The 49th did lots of jobs, some of them going up to the front as stretcher bearers; manning smoke canisters as well as their primary job of AA defence (and yes the Luftwaffe did put in a few appearances). They took a number of casualties. In Cassino cemetery: BURNARD RG 90 Bty CATTLE FA 280 Bty MALLOY A McSHEFFREY 280Bty THORP C 280 Bty On the memorial (no known grave) FAKELEY JC 90 Bty HOUSTON JN 90 Bty CHISNALL FLE 90 Bty BASS K 84 Bty Ron, my uncle was with 280 Battery.
Giberville The Burnard you mention was well known to me as he was a fellow Driver/Op and came out from England in the same draft as myself. When I have more time I will find the link to the BBC site where I wrote about him. Ron
Ron, I read this with great interest. All these men have a story and so often it's never told or known. The War Diary only records some of the casualties: McSheffrey as I detailed above and Cattle who was killed when Highway 6 and Divisional HQ was shelled (I assume, as a member of Bty HQ, he was visiting when the shelling happened). I have attached the photo of Gunner Burnard's grave at Cassino, taken last week. Regards Anthony
