Toehold in Europe (Combined Operations Book 5)

by Griff Hosker

  "Alan will move heaven and earth to get his ship back in order. A month will be fine."

  When I awoke, the next morning, Sergeant Poulson already had the men washing out the German uniforms. If we had to use them then the men would want them clean. Some were bloodstained. I looked out at the bay and saw Sandy and his motley crew working on the ship. It was obvious now that it took as much work to keep it looking neglected as it would to keep it clean.

  The smell of cooking bacon drifted over. Scouse shouted, "Ey up sir, tea and bacon butties!"

  "Where on earth did you get the bacon Scouse?"

  He tapped his nose. "Some dozy bugger wasn't watching when we docked last night in Valetta. I reckon there are some squaddies who will be less than happy!"

  Later, replete with tea and hot, greasy bacon sandwiches liberally coated in HP sauce I felt ready to face the world. I wandered over to Hugo's shack. "Well?"

  "New orders, I am afraid. You need to check out the coast south of Syracuse. It is about eighteen miles from there to Calabernardo." He shook his head, "I think you will have to overnight there. Behind enemy lines."

  I nodded, "Lieutenant Magee and I had already worked that one out. Just between the two of us, Hugo, does he intend to have us examine every piece of Sicily?"

  "Oh no, the north has already been ruled out. If this is not suitable for a landing then they will have to go with an airborne invasion."

  "You seem well informed."

  "I was studying military history at Oxford when all of this blew up. If they want Sicily and then Italy they have two ways to go, seaborne or airborne."

  "Right. But there is no hurry is there?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I want the men to have today off. I will see Sandy. We would be stupid not use the skills and knowledge he has eh?"

  "Of course, Tom. But he will want a report in the next week, you know."

  "I know."

  I took Sergeant Poulson with me as we paddled over to the schooner. Sandy helped us aboard. He shook his head, "That was damned cruel you know, Tom."

  "What was?"

  "Cooking bacon and not sending any over to us!"

  I felt guilty. We would have sent bacon butties over to Alan and his crew. Polly said, "Sorry sir, that was my fault." He hurried to the stern and, cupping his hands shouted, "Scouse! Bacon butties for the navy, chop, chop!"

  Scouse raised his hand in acknowledgement.

  "It is the one thing I miss from England. Bacon butties with HP sauce."

  Polly grinned, "Then you are in luck sir, we have HP sauce too!"

  The veteran beamed, "Ah nectar of the gods." Turning to me he said, "I am guessing our lords and masters have a task for us?"

  "They have." I took out the map. "They want us to investigate the coast from here to here." I pointed.

  "I can save us a journey. There are guns and wire all down the coast."

  "The question is how much? They want boots on the ground. I thought we could leave tomorrow but we are in your hands."

  He nodded, "We can leave mid morning. It will take most of the day to reach Syracuse. We will sail beyond the port and then turn after dark. There is a little spot here, about a mile north. It is a secluded bay, Scoglio Due Fratelli. It was popular before the war with holidaymakers but now..."

  I looked at the map trying to see the place he meant, "Is that a village?"

  "No, it is a little island a few hundred yards off the coast. It is a rocky coast and the nearest road is a good half a mile from the sea. After dark it should be quiet enough for you. We can hide behind the island and pretend we are repairing the ship. We can then sail south and wait for you..." his finger hovered over the map, "here. Calabernardo is a tiny place and the bay to the south is quiet. I can have the lads pretend that we are night fishing."

  "Won't the Germans and Italians be suspicious?"

  He reached into the locker which was next to his leg and pulled out a bottle of Spanish brandy. "They think we not only smuggle guns but brandy and American cigarettes too. It is quite profitable for us!"

  I could see that the old sailor was resourceful. "Right, then we will get our gear sorted."

  As we reached the stern Hewitt and Fletcher were approaching with the bacon sandwiches. Sub-lieutenant Magee cupped his hands and shouted, "Right you lubbers, bacon butties! Get them while they are hot!"

  As we rowed back to shore I said, "We won't bother with the Bergens. They are too bulky. We will just take one. Hewitt can carry that with the first aid. So long as we have water we will be all right. And we will just take four Thompsons. The Colts with silencers are more use."

  "Grenades, sir?"

  "Four Mills bombs per man and half a dozen potato mashers. Scouse will need a signalling lamp."

  We stepped ashore and Sergeant Poulson said, "The lads are a bit worried about being attacked when we are on the sea. We have no guns on that schooner."

  "Lieutenant Magee seems to think that we will be left alone. We will have to trust him."

  "Right sir, if you say so."

  "Oh and another thing. They pretend to be an Irish boat. See if any of the lads can do an Irish accent."

  "Scouse should find it easy sir. Liverpool is full of Micks."

  That evening the three of us, Hugo, Sandy and myself, sat around the fire on the beach. Sandy had opened a bottle of brandy and we were drinking the fiery liquid as we went over the operation. "We will be away three of four days and we will be out of radio contact."

  Sandy shook his head, "It could be four. The winds can be funny at this time of year and we just don't know what we might have to do to escape prying eyes. I would say six days. If we are away for a week then you can start the hue and cry."

  "We will take the German caps with us. We now have enough for each of us. In the dark we might be taken for Jerry. Put in those five German Zeltbahn we found. They can cover the uniforms of five of us. "

  Sandy nodded his approval, "Good idea."

  Hugo asked, "What was that you said about the lack of harmony between Italians and Germans?"

  "I got the impression that neither liked the other."

  Sandy took his pipe from his mouth and pointed, "You are right there. We play one off against the other when we play the smuggler. The Germans think the Italians are lazy cowards and the Italians think the Germans are arrogant bores."

  "If the invasion comes off soon then it might just push the Italians to break with Germany."

  "Let's get on to the mainland first, Hugo. The last thing we want is the country being reinforced by Germans."

  The only petty officer on 'Dragonfly' was almost as old as Sandy. Chief Petty Officer Thomas had also served in the Great War and had been at Jutland. Like Sandy he had stayed on in the Med where he had worked on a variety of ships. He was a jack of all trades. He could fiddle on with engines, he could navigate, he could set a sail as well as Sandy. Against all King's Regulations he had a pipe jammed between his teeth when he was awake. I suspected that he had it there when asleep too. I am not certain it was always lit but he had this ability to speak with it while billowing clouds of smoke. The smoke was the same as that from Bill Leslie's pipe and I suspected they both soaked their tobacco in rum.

  He knuckled his forehead as we clambered aboard, "Morning sir. A fine day for a trip across the bay eh?" He chuckled at himself. "Mr Magee is preparing the charts. He said to get you lads stowed away below decks and then we'll set sail." He leaned in, "Unless your lads have some civvies, sir, they'll have to be battened down all the way across. Its why we don't wear regulation rig, sir."

  "We'll remember that for next time, Chief."

  He shrugged, "Anything for an easy life. Having a smart uniform didn't help those lads we lost at Jutland did it sir?"

  He left it at that and I followed my section through the hatch to the Stygian depths below. "I am afraid that we will have to stay below decks. Jerry might be suspicious of a bunch of khaki clad squaddies."

  I could
see they were disappointed but the resourceful Scouse said, "If we take off our battle dress, sir, we could stay on deck."

  I was dubious. The white skinned Commandos would stand out against the gnarled mahogany sailors. I saw that they were keen and so I relented. "In ones and twos then and for no longer than an hour. The last thing we need is you lot with sunburn!"

  I intended to spend as much time with the charts and the maps as possible. Although it was only seventeen miles between where we would be landed and then be picked up there were not a huge number of roads. We would have to find somewhere to lie up during the day and that would not be easy. As I scrutinized the maps I saw that the closer we came to Calabernardo the fewer were the number of roads. In one place there was just one for the mountains came very close to the coast. I had no idea what the terrain might be like. We would have to think on our feet. This time there would be little point in splitting up. We had to start and finish at the same place. I could not have my men swanning around by themselves.

  I felt the motion from the hull as we set sail. Some of the section went on deck. I would not need to check up on them, the NCOs would sort them out. Sergeant Poulson joined me. "Problems, sir?"

  "Yes Sergeant. I am trying to work out how to avoid the Germans and Italians who will be swarming all over the area we are searching."

  Sometimes it helped having another pair of eyes and so it proved. "Well sir it strikes me that this Syracuse is a big place. We found out at Dieppe that you don't land at a port."

  "Yes, that is right."

  "So if we start here, at this little river a mile south then we can avoid the town. It looks quiet enough south of there."

  I had not spotted that. The planners would avoid Syracuse itself and there was little point in us taking a risk getting through a heavily defended town. "Good idea. I will have a word with Mr Magee. If he could drop us there then it would save some miles anyway." As I studied the map I saw that there was a little isthmus south of Syracuse. If we went there we could cover a large area quite quickly. "If we head down here the first night and then lie up between Avola and Noto we can do the southern end while we are heading to be picked up."

  Sergeant Poulson's finger jabbed out. "This looks rough ground. That would be perfect for us."

  I rolled up the map. "Right, I had better see the lieutenant."

  "Sir?"

  "Yes, Sergeant?"

  "Don't forget to take off the battledress eh sir?"

  "Good thinking, Sergeant." I took off my battledress, shirt and vest and headed on deck. "Sandy, I have a request."

  He grinned, "If we can oblige then we will."

  "Instead of Scoglio Due Fratelli we want to be dropped off here." I pointed to the bay which was south of Syracuse. He frowned. "Problem?"

  "For you, not me. I can still go back to Scoglio Due Fratelli but what about your dinghies? I don't have enough crew to row you in and back."

  I had not thought of that. Once again our lack of numbers would hurt us.

  "What is your plan? Scout out here and then what?"

  "Head inland to lay up and then scout the southern end when we are picked up."

  "Then there is your answer. Have your men row you in and back. I will take them down to land at Calabernardo. They can scout out the southern end and I will take you all off at the same time"

  Already my plan to keep my men together was in tatters but Sandy was right. This made sense. "Sounds like a plan to me. I had better get my lads down and explain the change to them. Right lads, below decks."

  I saw, from Fletcher's red back that he had not heeded my advice. He would suffer. "I have changed our plans. I will go ashore with Corporal Hay, Fletcher and Hewitt. The rest of you will row us in and drop us off. Lieutenant Magee will drop the rest of you off at Calabernardo and you will recce the southern beaches. We will meet up with you."

  "Will you have enough men, sir?"

  "You said it yourself, Sergeant, we have to lie up during the day. The fewer men the better eh? One of the drawbacks of the schooner is a smaller crew. We have to get ourselves ashore. Anyway it just means the rest of you have a day hiding behind an island eh?"

  I spent an hour with my three men going over what we would need to do. We had found it paid to go over every detail in case we became separated. We were Commandos and they could survive without an officer peering over their shoulder. I was lucky in that Sergeant Poulson had good leadership qualities and he was intelligent. He would make a good officer. He would be able to scout out the southern section of the operation.

  In the middle of the afternoon Lieutenant Magee stuck his head down the hatch, "Keep your heads down. We have company. A Jerry aeroplane is giving us the once over."

  As we waited for the rattle of machine guns I reflected that if we were on board 'Lucky Lady' then we would have been ready with our machine guns. We were now in Sandy Magee's hands. We would bluff the enemy and not fight them. We heard his engines as he came very low to investigate us. When his engines receded and Sandy whistled the all clear we breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  With just four of us we needed less in the Bergen. "Fletcher you take your Thompson. Hay and I have our silenced Colts. That should be enough. We will just take six Mills bombs and two potato mashers. Make sure you all have a German cap. Put four Zeltbahn in the Bergen too."

  "Right sir."

  As dusk approached we blacked up. We had saved at least an hour by landing south of Syracuse and time was not such an issue. By the time it was dark the two dinghies which would row us ashore were ready and we headed in under silent sails. I had to admit that this was an advantage over the E-Boat. Even when we were barely moving the engines could be heard from a long way away. It took more skill to navigate with sails and I noticed that there was barely any canvas. Magee had been right, the schooner was well named, she could fly. We had covered the seas between Malta and Syracuse far faster than I had expected.

  How Sandy knew when we were in the right place I had no idea but he spun the wheel and we came to a dead stop. There was no point in speaking. The boats were lowered and we quickly clambered down the ladder. The water was inky black and there were no lights to show the shore but we knew the direction and we paddled. We only had forty yards to paddle and we ground on the shingle and sand. Hewitt and I clambered ashore and ran up the beach.

  The buildings were three quarters of a mile to the north of us. There was nothing save mud, sand and salt flats. We made our way as quickly as we could to the river. Hay and Fletcher soon caught up with us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that I could barely see my men in the dinghies. We moved along the river bank. River was rather a grand word for an over grown stream but it was a marker. We made our way upstream. We walked along the edge of the shallow stream; that way we left no tracks.

  We reached the railway line. I was surprised that, so far, we had seen none of the defences we had done further around the coast. We clambered up the railway line and walked along it. It was a safer way to travel. The rail would vibrate if a train came down the line. It was also a good place to observe the defences as it was raised up. It was a single rail. That meant that trains could only pass in stations. It was useful information to take back. Reinforcements could use the railway line but it could be easily sabotaged or even bombed from the air.

  Bill Hay, who was on point, stopped and held up his hand. He pointed east. We could see, below us, gun emplacements. There was a battery of artillery there. Not as many as we had seen before but there were at least three of the seventy fives. We were above the emplacements and we could see the Italian sentries as they peered out to sea. We had been lucky. They might have seen us if we had walked along the road. I took out my map and marked them on it. I waved Bill forward and we continued south.

  I heard traffic on the road ahead and we paused in the undergrowth at the bridge which crossed the road. It was civilian traffic which passed beneath us. However the coast was now a mile away and I wanted to make sure that we
had investigated anywhere which might have defences. I decided to leave the railway line and risk the few roads. There were enough buildings for us to duck into doorways and hide behind walls. There looked to be no sign of enemy activity at all. This felt too good to be true. It was when we could smell the sea that we saw the first Italian soldiers. Forty yards away they had the road leading from the sea protected by two sandbagged emplacements and machine guns. There looked to be a moveable barbed wire barrier.

  I pointed to the south and Bill led us down an alley way. We found another squad of Italians. It seemed they were using the buildings to make improvised strong points. I decided to keep on moving down the alley. It meant we could see each intersection as we darted to the cover of the next alley. They had a line of machine guns and were using the buildings to protect them. It was nowhere near the defence they had at Agrigento. And then we struck the sea again. They had the isthmus cut off by the machine guns.

  Suddenly I heard Italian and we ducked behind a wall. A patrol of four men were on the other side of the wall. It was a cigarette break. I had no idea what they were saying. For once my French and German were of no use. After what seemed like an age they moved off. We headed for the shore. There was no beach; there were just rocks and stones and then a low wall. With few buildings it was a deserted part of the town. The narrowness of the shore also meant it could not be mined. Even in the dark I could see that the little bay was perfect for landing craft. This was no Dieppe with enfiladed machine guns and heavy weapons.

  We made our way down the shore. I risked walking along the beach and over the rocks. This way we would see, close up, what the problems of an invasion might be. With just four of us we were able to move quietly and remain unseen. There were many tiny bays. We saw no more defences. I looked at my watch. It was three thirty and dawn was less than two hours away. We needed to be inland and hidden before then. When we found the small river, the Fiume Cassibile, I knew we were just a couple of miles from Avola. We headed up the river. It was shallow enough for us to walk up the middle if we chose. It was our safest route inland. We would leave no tracks and, hopefully, meet no one. Within half a mile we were in deep undergrowth. This was perfect cover. I gathered the three of them around me. "Let's find somewhere to lie up. I don't think we will find any better cover than this."