100211 Gnr. George Phillips British Army 457 Light Battery Royal Artillery from:Sicup I worked in the Coop on the provision counter which meant I dealt with eggs, bacon, cheese, butter etc. My girlfriend worked in Milliners hat shop a few doors down. I was called up in June 1942, and was sent for basic training in Scotland — teaching me my right foot from my left foot. I was there for about six weeks. I went to an artillery training regiment to learn the art of Gunnery. Having failed a course on surveying I was sent potato picking in Lincolnshire because of the lack of farmworkers. Living on a farm in a barn was far better than army life — marching, drills, guard duty, the food! I was transferred to Woolwich for several weeks prior to Embarkation. This was primarily to prepare me for wherever we were to be stationed abroad. This was handy for me as it meant that I could make occasional trips home to Sidcup. I was then given Embarkation leave which included Christmas. After Christmas I reported back. I was sent up to Liverpool on the train where we were put on a troop ship. We were given a code which was printed on our kitbag — sometimes this was changed the next day to confuse us and the enemy. They still didn’t tell us where we going. Eventually we boarded the boat at Liverpool and went out somewhere into the Atlantic. This was at times nerve racking because of the Atlantic war. The troop ships were converted lines — ours was the SS Orama.
We were probably at Sea for ten days to a fortnight — we didn’t go direct to Algiers.
I was not part of a unit at this time. I was an individual soldier being sent to a transit camp where they decided who went where. You would just be sent off in a lorry to your new unit. I became part of the 457 Light Battery RA.
I had been trained on twenty-five pounder guns, but when I arrived I found that we were using Howitzer guns — firing twenty pound shells. They also fired in a different way to the guns I had been used too — they were actually more effective because they had a higher trajectory. In the 1920’s they were used on the North West frontier of India when our army was somewhat more prominent. At this point they could be dismantled and carried by Mules. These guns had been modified and mechanised so that they could be pulled along by quads which were smaller army trucks. They were the same kind of size as a quad bike but were totally encased — very much like the four wheel drive’s we have today.
We pushed east across the North of Africa and eventually met the 8th Army coming the other way at Bizerta and Tunis. When Sicily was invaded we transferred there for a while before returning to North Africa.
The powers that be recognised the problems of Italy with the hilly geography and decided to return the unit to it’s original role of mountain warfare. Because of this we had to revert to using Mules to pull the guns. This meant that we had to completely retrain — learning how to deal with Mules, Polish saddles, learn how to harness, learning the drill for mounting the gun on the Mule. This was sometimes funny as the Mule would kick someone — sometimes it was a bit of circus or cowboy rodeo!
Eventually we got to a point where we were sent on to find and engage a front. But the front was continually moving North so we walked some way before we actually met the enemy at Perugia. This was sometimes in awful conditions. When we were travelling it was always really hot — but when we came into combat in the hills it was always raining and cold. The daily march was always part of the exercise — we had to attend to the mules, clean saddles, clean and assemble the gun, etc.. If there were was anytime left there was sometimes a meal waiting for us. It did mean that we were extremely tired all the time. We would also have to go on guard duty.
Around this time, Italy capitulated and this meant that their troops could take a non-combatant role. Their troops (called Alpinis) wore hats which resembled the kind of hat worn by Robin Hood. They came to a peak at the front and had a plume on the side. They then took over the role of looking after the Mules. Once we would strike our position, they would take the mules off round the hill to a safe place until required when we moved on, usually during the middle of the night. Quite a few of them deserted because they were in their own country. They would just disappear overnight.
During this time we had been joined by the 456 battery and formed a 479 battery making the seventh mountain regiment RA.
Supplies were scarce and they had to be transferred up into the hills overnight in difficult conditions. We actually lived on Chestnuts at one point as the rivers were swollen so much that no supplies could get through.
I had become very ill, and went sick and was transferred to a casualty clearing station. I was then transferred further back to a monastry in Assisi for treatment. These days it’s called battle fatigue — but we didn’t know that then. I was regarded from A1 to B2 — this meant the end of my days of action. I was eventually transferred into an office based job in Naples where life was obviously more enjoyable. But that was the last I saw of any of my friends. I wasn’t allowed to go back to say goodbye. I finished up in the Army broadcasting unit. I came home for a month got married. On the last day of the war I was flown to Austria where a group of us became a re-patriation unit for our prisoners of war. I was de-mobbed in 1947 from Richmond Park and returned to my job behind the counter at the Coop.
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