Table Of ContentENSIGN
IN ITALY
A story of the Felix Factor: the nine lives of a
young Welsh Guards officer who fought in
Italy with his regiment from the ruins of
Cassino to the Alps.
by
PHILIP BRUTTON
LEO COOPER
London
First published in Great Britain in 1992 by LEO COOPER
190 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JL
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Copyright © Philip Brutton, 1992
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN:
0 85052 324 9
Typeset by Yorkshire Web, Barnsley, S. Yorks, in Plantin 10 point
Printed by Redwood Press Limited Melksham, Wiltshire
IN MEMORY
of
Lieutenant I. P. BANKIER
Lance-Sergeant Frank GOODWIN
Guardsman O.J. JONES 62
and
ALL THOSE WHO FELL IN BATTLE
May They Rest In Peace
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Brigadier Christopher Thursby-Pelham
Prologue
Chapter I Joining Up
Chapter II Training
Chapter III Advance to Battle
Chapter IV Cassino
Chapter V Cassino II
Chapter VI The Battle Before Arce
Chapter VII Perugia to Florence
Chapter VIII The Gothic Line
Chapter IX The Apennines to the Adriatic
Chapter X The Po, the Alps and Austria
Epilogue
Appendix I: The Four Battles of Cassino
Appendix II: The Assault on the Gothic Line
Appendix III: Repatriation Agreements
Appendix IV: War Diary
Index:
Acknowledgements
In writing this book, my thanks are due to many for help, encouragement and
advice. Sir William Deakin germinated the idea and overcame my initial
hesitation. John Keegan introduced me to my publisher, Leo Cooper, who,
together with Judy Hayter and Beryl Hill, have been my loyal supporters
throughout.
Other than those sources quoted in the text, particularly Welsh Guards at
War by Major L.F. Ellis, essential background has been provided by The
Grenadier Guards 1939–1945 by Nigel Nicolson and Patrick Forbes; The
Coldstream Guards 1920–1946 by Michael Howard and John Sparrow; John
Retallack’s The Welsh Guards.; Cassino and The Monastery both by Fred
Majdalany; Monte Cassino by Rudolf Böhmler; Rome ’44 by Raleigh Trevelyan;
Monte Cassino by David Hapgood and David Richardson; Alex by Nigel
Nicolson; Neither Fear Nor Hope by Colonel-General Frido von Senger und
Etterlin; The Gothic Line by Douglas Orgill; The Minister and the Massacres by
Nikolai Tolstoy; War Diaries by Harold Macmillan; Macmillan 1891 – 7956 by
Alistair Horne; The Campaign in Italy by Eric Linklater and British Military
Planning and Aims in 1944, an essay by David Hunt.
I am grateful to Brigadier Anthony Cowgill for his help, and the evidence he
and his team have produced in the Cowgill Report: the signals exchanged at the
time in Italy have provided essential historical evidence and background. I
would also like to thank Brigadier John Rickett, Regimental Lieutenant-Colonel
commanding Welsh Guards, Regimental Sergeant-Major T.D.J. Thorne,
Sergeant M.E. Browne and Mr Meiron Ellis of Regimental Headquarters, Welsh
Guards, and Drill Sergeant W. Davies 08, formerly Welsh Guards, for their great
help, as well as Major Hugh Toler, Coldstream Guards, the Superintending
Clerks and orderly room staff of the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots and Irish
Guards. Major Alastair Tower, formerly Coldstream Guards, provided
information and performed many acts of kindness.
I was helped and encouraged by Derek Baty, Captain Sir Frederic Bolton,
Colonel David Davies-Scourfield, Elizabeth Déchelette, Captain James Denny,
Colonel Archie Fletcher, General Sir David Fraser, George Gariepy, Lady
Glynn, Captain Mark Gilbey, Major Frank Homfray, Anne Lambton, George
Lees, Anthony Lejeune, Jane Mitchell, Captain Nigel Nicolson, Captain Bryan
Pugh, Colonel George Ramsay, Major Michael Rawlence, Lieutenant-Colonel
John Retallack, Kenneth Rose, Brigadier Christopher Thursby-Pelham, Count
Nikolai Tolstoy, Auberon Waugh and members of my family.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my mother who kept my letters, my
daughter Amanda for finding and guarding them after my mother’s death, and to
Captain Andrew Gibson-Watt who guided me through the minefield of my own
mistakes, placed books before me to read, and invited me to stay at Wyecliff
where he, Pammie Gibson-Watt and their daughter Rosalind looked after me
impeccably, while Tilly told me tales of old Cymru.
Philip Brutton
Paris 1991
Foreword
by
Brigadier Christopher Thursby-Pelham
This is the record by a young officer of his personal experiences as a platoon
commander during the war in Italy and its aftermath in Austria. As such, it will
be of great interest to those who were there at the time, as well as to students of
the human factor in war and the consequences of war.
The 3rd Battalion Welsh Guards, which the author joined as a nineteen-year-
old Ensign in the lunar landscape of the ruins of Cassino, had already fought in
North Africa and had won Battle Honours at Fondouk and Hammam Lif. It had
just completed a successful series of actions on the heights of Monte Cerasola in
the heart of the Arunci Mountains, some 12 miles south of Cassino. The
appalling conditions experienced by the Battalion whilst holding that vital
defensive position are vividly described. It was, therefore, an experienced,
confident and battle-hardened Battalion that he joined. He accepted the situation
and learned quickly.
His ability to evoke memories of those days makes this book exceptional. By
his lucid description of his surroundings; the relationship between officers,
warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and guardsmen; the comradeship
between them, based on mutual trust and the acceptance of each other’s
strengths and weaknesses; the determination of everyone to make the best of
every situation in or out of the line, and at the same time endeavour to maintain
the highest standards; he brings it all back to life.
His high spirits, exuberance and lack of inhibition served him well during
those gruelling times, although there were occasions when they brought him
close to getting into trouble with his seniors when out of the line.
His observations on the military and political aspects of the ‘repatriation’ of
the unfortunate Cossacks and Croats who found themselves in Carinthia in May,
1945, are perceptive. Some of his deductions and conclusions may not be wholly
acceptable to the more partisan recorders of that unhappy episode. Nevertheless,
his account is true as seen by one who was there and used his own eyes and ears.
It is this that makes Ensign in Italy so readable and interesting. It has the ring
of truth about it.
