L/Cpl A. Green,
regimental signaller to
C Company of the
2nd Lancashire Fusiliers
I remember we approached the high ground
on which Sanfatucchio stood along a very deep trench or ditch, possibly
a dried up river bed, which gave us ample cover over the long distance
to the edge of the village from the start line. I
believe C Company was on the right of the battalion attack. This action
was the
one where the battalion was really bloodied to the use of Nebelwerfer
(six barrelled mortar launchers) which made the most horrible noise
imaginable when it was fired and which is very difficult to describe-
I would say like the screams of a dying donkey with the noise of some
heavy furniture on very rusty castors
superimposed on each other. Although we had come across this foul
weapon
before we had never had such a concentration of these mortar rockets
thrown at us previously. We managed to reach the edge of Sanfatucchio
before the
Germans halted our advance by knocking out a number of tanks of the
Warwickshire Yeomanry with anti-tank guns hidden in the houses on
the outskirts of the
Village and consequently I believe it was 13 platoon that suffered
quite a number of casualties as they had to withdraw from a number
of houses they had
managed to capture. C Company Headquarters had dug in on the edge
of a
Cornfield and the height of the corn shielded us from the German observation
Post, which was very fortunate with the concentration of fire being
put dowm by these Nebelwerfer. During this period, myself, John Cooper
and Ken Curtis, all regimental signallers, were kept busy as we took
over control of the battalion
Wireless net, due to the radio set of Battalion Headquarters becoming
faulty, and we had to keep log of all messages with times they were
passed for the next thirty six hours until a replacement radio set
was brought up from B Echelon, and control was reverted back to Battalion
Headquarters