We disembarked at Sousse, a port on the North African coastline, which was very much shattered by the recent fighting. On the way into the port, there were ships’ hulks sticking out of the water, and the harbour installations appeared to have been devastated. There were teams of naval craftsmen working on repairing the damage, and it must have been a hot and sweaty job as the sun was blazing down.
We were billeted in a ruin of a house, the roof of which was open in parts, and there was no furniture about the place at all. We each picked ourselves a corner in a room, in which we dumped all our equipment, and at night wrapped up in a blanket, and lay on the beautifully tiled floor, and admired the heavenly constellations, and thought of home.
We got a lot of mail sent to us at the time, which had been building up in North Africa, while we were in Sicily, and amongst letters from my mother, and Helen, there was also a gift parcel from the W.V.S. Inside there were socks, and a recorder, which was much appreciated. I was able to squat in my corner, and tootle on the recorder, rather quietly in case any of the local snakes accepted it as an invitation to come into the house.
For many years afterwards I astounded my family with my rendition of “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”, which up to that time had been a wartime favourite.
After a few weeks in Sousse, we were put on a tank landing craft, which was a big landing craft capable of carrying several tanks, and their crews, and we headed across the Mediterranean once again for Italy. About halfway across we ran into a violent storm, and the ship shook and trembled so much, we were afraid it was going to split, and sink. This had happened to several of the so called “Liberty” ships, which ships had been made up by prefabricating the various parts, inland in America, sending the parts to a Naval shipyard, and sticking the parts together, for launching.
We were very glad when the Italian coastline came into view, and the peak of Vesuvius was prominent on the horizon. The volcano had been in eruption, but appeared to be quiet when we arrived in Naples harbour.
A large fort called Fort Delloro, projected into the harbour, and was linked to the mainland by a long causeway. We collected all our gear from the ship, and marched into the fort. Sentries at the gate examined all our identity chits and paperwork, then let us pass through to take up quarters in what appeared to be a semi-dungeon.
There were various bits of metalwork, and hooks projecting from the walls but it may possibly have been used as a storeroom in the past, as it was a very old building. The flagged floor was not so comfortable to sleep on as the tiled floor at Sousse, but we eventually got used to the ridges, by sleeping on our sides, and letting them fit into the bodily contours.
We were allowed out the fort the following day, and took a walk in to have a look around Naples. The main street was very busy and looked impressive, but this was just a façade. The back streets were filthy, and the houses mostly appeared to be run down or derelict.
Several times little boys came up to us and said, “You want a girl Johnny, me got nice sister, very clean, very cheap”, but we declined all their offers.
We had been warned before leaving the fort that the Germans on their retreat Northwards had injected some women, who thinking it was for their benefit, to prevent disease, had been injected with venereal disease. This had been effective in disabling a lot of troops, and caused as many casualties as a regiment would have caused in battle. When news reached England a woman M.P. asked Parliament (Reported in the Forces newspaper) that it be made a law that men returning from the Middle East should be made to wear some distinguishing mark, so that everyone would know that they were possibly affected by the disease. This was turned down, but it was agreed that any man who caught venereal disease should stay abroad until he was cured. This was a big incentive to stay celibate.
On the way back to the fort we found some people rummaging amongst the bins which were waiting for collection on the causeway. Food was so desperately short that they were trying to find something to eat amongst the troops’ leftovers.
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