Toehold in Europe (Combined Operations Book 5)

by Griff Hosker

  Major Fleming was not happy but I knew that he was now operating outside the remit of his role. He asked to speak to me on the radio. His voice was reasonable and he tried to be persuasive. "Look, Tom, you have done very well up to now. Why spoil your record? All I want you to do is to set up your base on Sicily."

  "And I am happy to do so, sir but I want all of my men with me. With Davis back in England we are short handed as it is. I have no medic and no corporal. When they return then we will go. Setting up a new base is easy, sir... if you have the right men."

  "Leave it with me. I shall get them for you."

  He was as good as his word. The two of them arrived back on the sixteenth of July. Neither looked to be fully healed but both were glad to be back with us. "We heard about the Sicily invasion and knew you would be involved. How did it go sir?"

  "It went well Corporal and we had no casualties. Unless, of course, you count a Bergen and a bisht!"

  It was a shame to have to dismantle our former home. I would miss the cove. Outside of Mrs Bailey's it was the best digs we had ever had. We loaded the E-Boat and headed north. The waters between Malta and Sicily were now safe. As we headed across I asked Hugo about the new role for the Commandos. Number Two Commando had come ashore like regular infantry. I had seen them with Bren guns and Lee Enfields. "Has there been a change in directive?"

  "I think so. There are still a dozen or so units like ours but most, like your old Brigade, are now seen as elite infantry who spearhead invasions." He pointed to the Colt on my hip. "They use regular infantry weapons. They retain the dagger but almost everything else, except for the flash, is the same as ordinary infantry. They even wear tin lids."

  We had been away from England since the end of 1942 and so much had changed. My letters from home were about the war in general and neither Daddy nor Reg Dean were writers. I had no idea what changes had been made. No wonder Gordy and the others had jumped at this chance for independent action.

  Although there had been fighting in Augusta it had escaped serious damage. The harbour was filled with vessels of all shapes and sizes. Alan shook his head, "This won't do! I want our privacy! We will find out what is happening and then scuttle off and find somewhere secluded again."

  The three of us left the Petty Officers and Sergeants in charge while we went to find Major Fleming and report to him. As I left I said, "If you find anything we may use..."

  Sergeant Poulson tapped the side of his nose, "No problem sir!"

  Hugo had a piece of paper with the address of the headquarters. It was on the Piazza Duomo. Thankfully it was easy to find. The Union flags were a giveaway. The red caps looked at us dubiously as we approached. I did not blame them. It was months since I had had a haircut and my beard needed a trim. My uniform was due for replacement. I think if it had just been Alan and I then they would have refused us entry. Hugo looked a little tidier and when we gave the name of Major Fleming we were admitted.

  In Gibraltar and Valetta he had had a tiny cubbyhole for his headquarters. Here he had a large office with a fine view of the Piazza. The rewards of his success. The sentry at the door said, "If you could just wait sir, Major General Laycock is with the Colonel. He won't be long."

  I looked at Hugo who shrugged.

  The door opened and an aide came out. He looked shocked at our appearance. He was followed by the Major General who commanded Number Two Commando. He frowned when he saw me. We stood to attention. Then he glanced at my ribbons and he smiled. "I am guessing that you must be Bill Harsker's son."

  "Yes sir."

  "My chaps who landed at Syracuse were impressed by you. Captain Durrant could not speak highly enough about your action. They say you saved a brigade from being badly mauled by your quick thinking. In the best spirit of the service; well done, Captain."

  I shook my head, "I am just a lieutenant, sir."

  The General turned around, "Didn't you tell him that he had been promoted after the Reggio raid?"

  Colonel Fleming said, "We have been busy, sir. I was going to tell him the next time I saw him."

  "Make sure you do." He leaned forward, "Get your hair cut eh? Trim the beard. You look like one of those Long Range Desert chaps!"

  He and his aide strode off. The chain smoking Colonel waved us through. "See, I told you that you would be promoted if you stuck with me."

  As I recalled he had said that after the Reggio raid which meant he had already known I had had been promoted and was keeping it from me. I smiled, "The back pay will come in handy, sir. It will be backdated to the date it was awarded won't it?"

  "Of course," He waved an irritated hand, "that's just paperwork. Now sit down the three of you. We have much to plan."

  He turned to the map which was pinned on the wall. "The General and I were just discussing you and how we can use your section and unit effectively. You are the scalpel where the rest of the Commandos are the bludgeon." He tapped his hand against the Bay of Naples. "Italy! We will roll over this little island in a few weeks but we need to work out how to capture Italy. Now the coast between Amalfi and Agropoli is somewhere I would like you to explore. It is my baby." He tapped his new crown and star. He was now a full colonel. "I am part of the planning for the invasion of Italy. So I want you to find out as much as you can about this coast."

  "Wouldn't aerial photographs be of more use sir?"

  "No Lieutenant Jorgenson!" I noticed how he emphasised the Lieutenant. "Aerial photographs only tell us so much besides I want you to not only look but do some sabotage while you are there. Your team seems to have a talent for this."

  "Won't that tip them off, sir? That we are up to something?"

  "I have other units doing the same thing closer to Reggio. But it is the Salerno coast that is our real target!"

  Alan and I exchanged looks. Hugo was busy writing things down. The Colonel lit another cigarette and Hugo asked, "What is the time scale for this, sir?"

  "You have until the middle of August. Thanks to our rapid advance we have plenty of diesel for the E-Boat. Sadly we didn't manage to capture any of the boats but there spares for the engines."

  Alan's eyes lit up. "Where sir?"

  "The E-Boat base," He waved a hand . "Over there on the other side of the harbour. The MTB and Air Rescue boats are using its facilities."

  Alan said, "Sir, if you will excuse me then I will pop over before all the good stuff is taken."

  Before the Colonel could object he was away like a March hare! "Extraordinary! What a rude man! It is no wonder he didn't get his promotion.

  "He should have had a promotion sir, he is a damned good officer and we could not operate without him."

  "Really Harsker? You do surprise me. I thought it was he hanging on to your shirt tail. Well... We have more important things to discuss. We have plenty of German and Italian made explosives and timers. I believe they are as good as ours. We want you to use them whenever possible. There is a rift between our allies and we wish to exploit it."

  "Sir, do we have flexibility about where we go to first and the order in which we examine the coastal sites?" Hugo had been doing what he did best; thinking.

  "Of course but what difference does it make?"

  "Well, sir, if the Italians see a pattern to all this they could trap us. We have to use surprise and do the unexpected."

  "Good thinking, Lieutenant. Well whatever you think best but I want a daily report from you. None of this swanning off to your little hidey hole. I want a tighter handle on you this time. Understood?"

  "Yes sir."

  "I need as much detail about this coast as possible. We have a short time to plan and I want the same success we had in Sicily. Now whatever you want just ask! You have proved yourselves to be resourceful and I will help in any way I can."

  "There is one thing sir. It has been bothering me since Sicily. The Italians moved units to protect the two targets we had selected. I think there is a spy in Valetta."

  He smiled. It was the dead smile of a crocodile,
"There was, Captain Harsker, there were three of them. They have been shot. It was another reason for our move. There is just the Lieutenant left from the staff I had in Valetta."

  I could not help wondering if we had been the bait to draw out the spies. I would not put it past the wily Colonel.

  We spent another hour while he went through the sort of information he needed and the type of sabotage we should engage in. When we left I felt physically sick from the smoke he had blown at us. "Come on Hugo! Let's get a beer."

  "Shouldn't we get to the boat?"

  I laughed, "If you think that Alan will leave the yard until he has everything he can pinch then you don't know him."

  "Perhaps there is so much there that he can't take it all."

  "Perhaps." I spied a bar just thirty yards away from the building. "In which case we shall stay here in this Piazza and have a few beers until he sends someone for us."

  The beer was cold. That was about all that you could say for it. However it was welcome for it was a hot day and likely to get hotter.

  "Well sir, you must be pleased with the promotion."

  "Hugo, it is still Tom. You can sir me all you like in front of other units but it doesn't change me. I had no superior thoughts before and I still don't. As far as I am concerned you and Alan are still the same rank. It is a few bob more a week and that is all."

  "I thought you would be more excited."

  "You mean the slippery slope to senior rank? Looking for the next promotion like the little General there? That isn't for me. I could have stayed in OTC but I joined as a private. I have never sought promotion. If it comes, then it comes."

  "I thought that having such a high ranking father would make you more ambitious."

  "You obviously don't know my dad. He is not bothered about such things either. His best friends are still the pilots he served with in the Great War. He knows high ranking officers but they aren't his friends."

  We ordered another few beers and a pizza. We had just finished it when Scouse appeared, "Hey up sir! You know how to look after yourself and no mistake. Lieutenant Jorgenson sent me for you. I have a jeep around the corner."

  "Where are we off to?"

  "The boat. He said as how there was too much stuff to leave so we are using the E-Boat base just like we are supposed to."

  I paid the bill and stood, somewhat unsteadily. It had been some time since I had had so many beers in such a short space of time and the sun was hot. We followed Scouse along the blazingly hot streets of Augusta.

  "And congratulations sir! The Lieutenant told us about the promotion and we are all made up for yer. You deserve it and that's no error."

  "Thanks Fletcher but it won't change me."

  "Oh we know that sir but still. I bet your mam and dad will be dead chuffed like."

  I smiled, "Dad will be pleased but Mum, well she will worry about me getting into even more danger. Mums are like that."

  "Ay, y'are right an all there, sir. Here we are, sir."

  I saw that the jeep looked brand new. "Where did you get this Fletcher?"

  "It was lying around sir with no one using it. I'll take it back when we have finished with it. It was Freddie what started it. He is a whizz with motors is Freddie Boy!"

  Considering he had only just arrived Fletcher seemed confident in the streets of the ancient town. He honked his horn and waved his arms like a resident. He whirled us to a stop close to a building with a wire fence around it. Private Emerson raised the barrier on the gate and we entered the compound. He parked the jeep out of sight in a partly damaged building. He gave me an innocent look, "It'll keep it out of the sun sir and stop it getting too hot."

  "I think it is hot enough already, Fletcher!"

  When we emerged from the half broken back door I saw that there was a small dock with the E-Boat and four other launches. The 'Lady Luck' looked deserted. "Where are they Emerson?"

  "In the stores, sir. It is like a gold mine in there."

  Every sailor and Commando was in there. Alan was shouting orders and organising them. He was like a child in a sweet store. He saw us and waved us over. "I could rebuild 'Lady Luck' three times with all of this stuff. Hugo, any chance of getting a couple of pongoes to act as guards? We don't want to lose this gear."

  "Remember what Colonel Fleming said, Hugo."

  "Right, sir, I'll get on to it. Have you set my radio up yet?"

  Scouse nodded, "That was the first thing I did, sir. We have a nice little cubby hole for you. Just follow me."

  "Well, Tom, what does that bastard want from us this time? Our organs?"

  "Pretty much carte blanche to find out all that we can from a thirty mile stretch of coast. Hugo is going to devise a plan. The downside is that the Colonel wants a daily update on what we do and we have to have it all finished by the middle of August."

  "Three weeks then."

  He led me away from the men who were working under the supervision of Petty Officer Leslie. "The biggest problem is going to be getting there and back. It is the best part of two hundred and fifty miles there and the same back. We have to go through the straits which I am guessing will be heavily protected."

  "How long to cruise that distance?"

  "Seven hours or eight."

  "So we are talking two day missions."

  "If we want to sleep then yes."

  "Better make it three days. That means seven missions at the most so we tell him six. I will get Hugo to plan six trips."

  "He won't get his daily reports! We daren't use the radio."

  I smiled, "He will get a daily report. Hugo is a clever chap. After the first mission we will have an idea what to expect. What the Colonel doesn't know will not hurt us." I shook my head, "That's your trouble, Alan, you don't know how to play people. Use the Colonel's weaknesses against him."

  "By the way, do I call you sir? I realise I forgot."

  "Don't you start! It is still Tom. Now where do we sleep?"

  "There are barracks here. It was a full squadron of E-Boats who were based here. I think we might have run into them. The MTBs have been moved to a better berths so we just share it with Air Sea Rescue. There is bags of room."

  "Good, well I had better go and get cleaned up. I will need to find the quarter masters. I need a new uniform. This one makes me look like a beggar."

  "And I will get back to Aladdin's cave!"

  I found Hugo. He had arranged for some sentries. "I need a new uniform."

  "Then we need the paperwork. Quartermasters give nothing away without everything in triplicate. Let's get new uniforms for us all." He flourished a rubber stamp.

  "Where did you get this?"

  "Colonel Fleming's office. He had two. We only needed one!"

  I shook my head, "Hugo I think we are becoming a bad influence on you."

  "When I think of the risks you chaps take then filching a rubber stamp seems a harmless enough act." He looked around and saw Fletcher and Emerson. "You two, over here. I have work for you."

  Chapter 15

  We were heading north. It had not taken Hugo long to plan our raids. We had eliminated Amalfi as a target immediately. A battalion of Commandos could scale those cliffs but no one else. The Colonel, however, overruled us. We were ordered to investigate the mountain passes to Naples. Vietri Sul Mare looked equally daunting from the aerial photographs. Hugo left those elements until later. We were heading for the southern end of Salerno. It was closer to our base and looked easier to attack.

  We were forced to leave our base in daylight in order to get to the mainland with some hours of darkness left. It meant we would have to travel back in daylight and that would be even riskier. We had taken out the German uniforms once more. When we had finished our task then we would become a ship of the Kriegsmarine once more. We had also chosen to taken on the task of sabotage at the airfield too. It was a major target and, until the mainland was invaded, then a relatively soft target. They would fear an attack from the air, not from the ground. There wa
s just the one airfield and damage to it could save lives later on.

  As we passed Mount Etna and Messina we heard the shelling and gunfire from the west. The Germans and Italians were being forced back to the toe of Italy but the mountainous area around the volcano suited the defenders and we were having to capture the island inch by bloody inch. As we passed Reggio we saw trains heading up the coast again; their smoke and the flames from their boilers marked their passage. They had repaired the damage we had done. Hugo had told us that the damaged rail line had stopped them reinforcing Sicily. The operation had been a success.

  Once we passed through the straits unharmed we breathed a sigh of relief. Alan had split his crew into two watches and one was sent below to sleep. My men and I also took the opportunity to rest. It would be a long twenty four hours. Alan left Midshipman Higgins and Bill Leslie in charge and he went below decks when we did. He paused at the door to his cabin, "You know that this is the trickiest operation, Tom?"

  I nodded, "We have to get to Montecorvino Airfield and back. That won't be easy. But on the positive side they won't be expecting us. If we left this until later in the week then we might have a reception committee. It's a risk but a smaller one than it might be."

  As I lay down I reflected on Alan's words. The sea was his domain and he feared nothing upon it. He knew his boat was faster than anything else on the water and he could always run. For us it was down to our skill and the courage of my men. Besides the aerial photographs had shown that the end of the runway was just three quarters of a mile from the sea and that it ran east north east to west south west. The end would be the least guarded part and I was confident that we could damage it. The nearby mountains and the heavy anti aircraft had prevented the RAF and USAAF from doing too much damage. It was to be hoped that our small group could. I fell asleep as I always did on such missions: I thought about the operation. I was soon asleep.

  I only slept for two hours. When I awoke we were in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was inky black and we had the radar array up. We had been told that there was a new system becoming available which would not need to be deployed and stored. As soon as we had finished with this task then the E-Boat was scheduled for a refit. I popped my head into the radar shack. "Anything?"