9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2001 - Page 0083
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
| Transcription |
REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) 83 The Poles captured Bologna on 12th April, three days after the initial attack on the 9th April. We left the Poles the following day and the Carpathian Lancers entertained us on our last night with wine, food and Cossack-style dancing on a huge table. Some had deserted from the German Army after initial- ly volunteering to fight the Russians, but they were a welcome form of recruit when recruits were not easy to find. We took one such prisoner in October 1944 who came up the road, hands in the air. As he approached he said “Polacci” 7 Italian for Pole. The Poles had fought hard and taken heavy casual- ties, particularly at Cassino. Their war finished at Bologna, when they went into the reserve. We ate a mid-day meal of bread, bully, cheese and ‘spring- onions’ (actually garlic) picked from the field where we were positioned in a now quiet battlefield and received orders to move back to the Regiment. This meant a journey of some 80 miles through Faenza, then north-east to Lake Comacchio on engineered roads between the lake and the flooded fields with much evidence of V Corps’s recent passage after they had forced this vital gap. The squadron spent the next few days with 65th Division probing towards the Po River. 6 Troop took 30 prisoners after approaching a bend in the road. Suspiciously quiet, one prisoner came towards us from a short distance holding a Panzerfaust (Anti-tank hand-held rocket launcher) and then a further 29 surrendered from a roadside ditch where they had been hiding. Three cars were required to take in the prisoners, leaving me with ‘Dictum’ to stay on watch, without a map, until recalled at dusk. On 24th April, in sight of enemy infantry ‘Dictum’, went through the planks of a bridge and settled on its belly plate on the steel beams underneath the planks. The enemy retreated and Sergeant Serginson’s car hauled us out but doing damage to the gearbox. We were observing a high bank some distance away when we in turn came under scrutiny by a ‘Typhoon’ fighter. We made some yellow smoke and also cleaned up our ‘White Star’ markings and so persuaded the friendly aviator to look elsewhere. A German scout car crossed our front and later returned, coming the other way, leading a half-track. We were prepared and fired some 20 rounds of 37mm before we had a misfire. Nevertheless, we were officially credited with knocking out three half-tracks. We reached the Canal Bianco. B & C Squadron reached the River Po the following day. The Regiment concentrated at Zenzalina for maintenance and 6 Troop said farewell to ‘Dictum l’ and took over a new car. It got all the same markings had its gun cleaned and it was also named ‘Dictum’. The 28th April found the Squadron waiting in vain for a ‘slot’ on the Po Pontoon Bridge. We eventually crossed on 29th, which was my 21st birthday, and then we crossed the Adige, a fast flowing river, on a glorified raft powered by an outboard motor and attached to a retaining rope. We rejoined the Squadron in a ‘harbour’ in Treviso. The 27th Lancers were now spearheading the 6th Armoured Division on our advance to Austria. The 12th Lancers with the New Zealanders went to Trieste. On lst May 6 Troop led a flying column of Green Jackets, Artillery and Engineers from Violto to San Vito al Tagliamento where we received a joyous welcome from the local population. I was summoned by the Troop Leader, who unbeknown to us was observing two Mk IV Panzers stationed near the exit of the town. Driver Di Maynard set off at a cracking pace but I saw no exit, only an empty street with no civilians and what looked like the countryside beyond. I ordered the driver to halt and turn round and soon we found a narrow street lead- ing to the main square. The troop leader was up the church tower directing artillery fire on to the enemy. The German tank guns were directed at the exit we had so nearly taken 7 another near miss! Very soon the Germans were taken as pris- oners by our infantry. We now moved north along the bank of the River Tagliamento. We came across a submerged concrete platform to deceive our aircraft. We crossed the river and made a flat out dash for Udine - some 15 miles ahead. We stopped briefly at a German Field hospital where an orderly asked me if I knew Bradford, my hometown. Apparently he had studied textiles before the war in the city and he had lodged with two families of German descent.. One was a pork butcher the other a radio shopkeeper. I knew neither and said so. His English was good and he did not even have a Bradford accent! Soon we were on the move again and our rear car was given a bottle of Black & White from a friendly farmer. He must have saved this for the day of liberation! He, no doubt, was not too disappointed that we could not stop. The bottle disappeared very quickly amongst the 14 members of the Troop as we guarded the northern exit of Udine. We were about to bed down on the pavement when friendly inhabitants of a nearby house invited us to share wine and food and allow us to sleep on their living room floor. It was by now lst May. Next day we moved east to Civiadale del Friuli on the way to Caporetto in the Isonzo Valley. On our way we encountered a weapon pit in the middle of a field. Seeing green uniforms and expecting it to be an anti-tank gun we fired some Browning rounds. There was no reply as the soldiers turned out to be Tito’s Yugoslav soldiers. They clambered on to our Staghounds and travelled with us to the outskirts of the next town. We suddenly came across some accurate machine gun fire which made the Yugoslavs jump down onto the ground smartly. This was the last enemy fire we encountered before VE Day. The German garrison surrendered, as theywere very keen to get away from the Yugoslav Army and into the safety of a British prison of war camp. An innkeeper accommodat- ed us in his bar and his five pretty daughters sang for our entertainment. An illuminated ‘Red Star’ appeared in the main square and the innkeeper made the comment that he was not pleased at the thought of a communist regime. Caporetto became Kobarid when the Isonzo Valley was given to Tito in the peace settlement and it is now part of Slovenia. The fol- lowing day in an attempt to find a secondary route up the Isonzo Valley we tried to use a rough diversion at a blown bridge but the road started to subside under ‘Dictum’s’ weight. From nowhere tall and moustachioed fair-haired Slavs and their families with mules, carts and a derrick appeared. As Di Maynard gingerly reversed ‘Dictum’ to safe- ty the derrick took the strain. We took food and wine with our rescuers before returning to Caporetto for fresh orders. We followed the valley down without incident and at the foot of the Predel Pass we found some Germans at a blown crater in the road. We spent the night in a small guest house and crossed the pass, still covered in snow, on 7th May to Tarvisio. The following day was VE Day and the whole regiment raced to Austria on what was a pleasant May morning. As we entered Villach the streets were empty. We continued to the Worther See, an attractive lake set between the mountains and reached Klagenfurt. Here we were able to liberate many British and New Zealand PWs. They were lucky as they were flown home on Lancaster bombers. Before they left they gave us some food from Red Cross parcels which was put to good use in the following months. Our last move of the day was to Volklermarkt on the River Drau (Drava) to give a show of force to a large band of Tito’s partisans who were set to lay claim to this part of Austria. (This is a part of Austria where Slovenian remains the official language Ed.) A line-up of |
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