The Last Great Cavalryman

by Richard Mead

  The advance now gathered speed temporarily and by 31 October 56 Division had taken Teano, 46 Division had occupied Carinola and 7 Armoured Division was poised to break through the gap between Monte Massico and the sea. On 1 November Dick had his first glimpse of the Garigliano from an OP near Sessa Aurunca and advance patrols reached the river a few days later. Only one obstacle remained before the whole corps could close up to it and it was a formidable one. Rising out of the plain to the left of Route 6 was the massif of Monte Camino, which was held in strength by the Germans. This would have to be taken before any further advance towards Cassino by Fifth Army was possible.

  Monte Camino anchored the southern end of the Bernhardt Line, a series of strong defensive positions which bulged out from the main Gustav Line between Castel di Sangro and a point on the Garigliano opposite the Aurunci Mountains. The strongest German positions in Fifth Army’s sector were on and around the 1205m Monte Sammucro to the north of Route 6 and the 963m Monte Camino to the south. Lucas ordered 36 US Division to take the former, whilst Dick gave the latter to Templer, who did not take long to realize that this would be an exceptionally difficult nut to crack.

  The only possible approach for 56 Division was from the south, the objective being the peak itself, on which stood a chapel: it was accordingly named Monastery Hill. A mule track lay northwards up a valley towards the mountain before bending away towards the north-west. On either side was a ridge. The one on the left was christened Bare Arse Ridge with typical British military humour, that on the right Razor Back Ridge, a good description of its physical properties. From positions on these the Germans were able to enfilade the mule track. There was no possibility of motor transport, indeed it was even difficult to bring equipment and supplies to the start point of any attack because of the condition of the mountain road from Teano. From Roccamonfina, many miles to the south, it was impassable even to jeeps. Mule companies now assumed great importance, which they would continue to hold well into 1945.

  With such difficulties, Templer explained to Dick at a divisional commanders’ conference on 4 November, he could only maintain one brigade forward in a direct attack, although he could at least secure the left flank at the same time. Because the topography of Razor Back Ridge was so unsuitable, the most promising alternative was Bare Arse Ridge, which did not lead directly to Monastery Hill, but would allow the attackers to sever the Germans’ supply route from the north-west. He selected 201 Guards Brigade for the job. Dick spent the following day on 56 Division’s front and was able to appreciate the problem. He was thus extremely irritated to be told that afternoon by Clark, who had not been to see for himself, that he should have taken the mountain already.

  At 1630 hrs on 6 November, 201 Guards Brigade began its advance, preceded by an artillery barrage on the assumed German positions on and below Bare Arse Ridge. At its foot 3rd Coldstream Guards took the first objective, the small village of Calabritto, while 6th Grenadier Guards then passed though and had some success, taking the intermediate summit of Point 727 and establishing itself on the slopes of the highest summit, Point 819. The ground conditions, mud and boulders, were appalling and the battalion came under severe machine-gun and mortar fire, finding itself effectively pinned down with little cover, most of its officers dead or wounded, and little hope of receiving food, water and ammunition. A company from 2nd Scots Guards arrived as reinforcements but no further progress was possible. On 8 November the Germans began a series of counter-attacks which pushed the Grenadiers back and although the Coldstreamers moved up to relieve them on 11 November, their position was clearly hopeless. Templer went forward and realized the futility of any further attack. He later recorded what followed:

  We were in a jam. To take the ultimate summit at that moment – without further replenishment and without some new factor in the method – was quite impossible. At the same time, to withdraw from the near summit of that awe inspiring mountain – and in those weather conditions – in the face of the enemy might be practically disastrous. I decided that it was the proper course of action, knowing the reception which my thinking would receive at the American Army Headquarters.

  I got onto Dick on the blower from the bottom of the mountain. He told me that he was just about to attend an important conference at Army Headquarters and that he could not possibly fail to be present. I argued with him in veiled phraseology for some minutes. Eventually he realised that my predicament must take priority over the conference – however important it was – and he said that he would be with me in a couple of hours. When he arrived I stated my case in more detail and guaranteed to him that I would be able to get to the top in a couple of weeks time at a second attempt, – and knowing the ground up top as I then did. He immediately gave authority for me to withdraw down to the valley – though a bit doubtful I think whether this difficult tactical operation would be successful without heavy casualties. In the event the withdrawal was carried out on the night 14/15 November, and as a result of immensely careful planning, there was hardly a mistake.5

  It was quite clear to me at the time that Dick realised what hell he was going to have to undergo from Mark Clark. And he did, – having accepted the whole responsibility for the decision on to his own shoulders. I have never admired any man more than I did at that moment.6

  Dick rated Templer highly as a great fighter and it was very clear that the latter had been personally far enough forward to get the full picture, so he took little convincing. The meeting between the two men was held at 1230 hrs on 13 November and Dick met Clark at his own Main HQ at 1730. Dick’s diary records: ‘He accepts situation and 3 Div is really in the same state.’ Clark himself wrote later that the situation was a severe disappointment and that he himself directed the withdrawal. The first assertion was understated, as in truth he was furious – this was after all the same division which had failed in its first attempt to get over the Volturno. The second was palpably inaccurate, except inasmuch as he was approving a fait accompli. His view of both Dick and the British in general plumbed new lows, although he had to accept that the Americans were not doing any better.

  Templer was as good as his word, except in the matter of his timetable, which was elongated by a few days to make sure that much bigger resources were at his disposal, assisted by the construction of a proper jeep track. Dick had brought over 139 Brigade from 46 Division to secure the concentration area, whilst the survivors of 201 Guards Brigade were ordered to move up a third ridge parallel to Bare Arse. Clark had added the artillery of II US Corps to that of X Corps and 56 Division. Templer thus had 436 guns at his disposal, which fired off 17,000 shells from 1730 on 1 November to 1200 hrs on the following day, preceded by heavy bombing from Allied planes.

  In clear starlight on the evening of 2 November 167 Brigade advanced up Bare Arse Ridge and 169 Brigade attacked Razor Back Ridge, previously thought too difficult. By first light on the morning of 3 December, 169 Brigade had taken Razor Back and was moving on Monastery Hill. 168 Brigade had retaken Point 727, but were still being held up by concentrated fire from Point 819. The monastery itself was captured and then lost again. In very heavy fighting it took until 6 December for the Germans to be pushed off Bare Arse Ridge and for Monastery Hill finally to fall to the attackers, and 10 December before the whole massif could be said to have been cleared. The Germans fell back in good order towards Cassino and to new positions on the western bank of the Garigliano.

  Dick himself took a 5-mile walk over the battlefield three days later and met all the 56 Division brigadiers to congratulate them, after which he could focus on future operations. He had by this time lost 7 Armoured Division, which was on its way back to England, retaining 23 Armoured Brigade as his only armour, so he was compelled to spread his forces more thinly than he would have liked along the Garigliano, which looked even more formidable than the Volturno. On 17 December he received a visit from Alexander and Alan Brooke, who was on a tour of all the British forces fighting in Italy. Brooke had already seen Eighth A
rmy and now spent a day meeting Dick’s HQ staff and the senior commanders in X Corps and then visiting the scene of the recent battle. ‘The C.I.G.S had a most successful day on our battlefields,’ Dick wrote to Lettice, ‘he rode up the “mule track” on a quiet horse and saw a lot of the ground. He was pleased with what the Corps had achieved.’7 Brooke himself recorded later: ‘I had found more life on Dick McCreery’s Corps’ Front than I had found on the rest of the Italian front and I was impressed with the way he was running his corps.’8

  Dick consulting a map with members of 2 Armoured Brigade’s staff in an orchard near Abbeville in June 1940.

  Dick demonstrates one of 8 Armoured Division’s tanks to Free French Major General Petit.

  King George VI inspects 8 Armoured Division on 13 June 1941.

  Alexander and his Chief of Staff relax during one of their numerous flights around Middle East Command.

  Eisenhower decorates Dick with the Legion of Merit near the Volturno, with one of ‘a veritable battery of cameras’ just behind.

  Brooke (3 from left) visits X Corps with Alexander on 17 December 1943.

  Dick riding in the Apennines in the spring of 1944.

  General Guillaume, commander of the Moroccan Goums, dedicates the memorial on Monte Camino.

  Dick with Oliver Leese, his superior at Eighth Army.

  Dick drives with the King and Leese though the streets of Perugia during the former’s visit to X Corps on 25 July 1944.

  Dick is knighted at his Tac HQ at Palazzo del Pero ‘during the tea interval’.

  Lettice with Michael, Bob, Sarah, Jon and Charles in 1943.

  The new Commander Eighth Army in his caravan.

  Alexander with his ground and air commanders, Joe Cannon (Mediterranean Air Forces), Mark Clark, William Dickson (Desert Air Force) and Dick.

  Clark and Dick with Wladyslav Anders.

  Clark, as the new Commanding General of 15th Army Group, being welcomed to Eighth Army by Dick, wearing his RAF flying boots against the cold.

  Dick with Bernard Freyberg.

  Dick and ‘Pussy’ Foster watching the bombing preceding the last battle from the OP at Celle.

  Dick receives the Distinguished Service Medal from Clark at a ceremony in Klagenfurt.

  The end of the War in Italy – Von Senger surrenders to Clark on 4 May 1945, with Dick standing in the background.

  Dick inspects a US Forces in Austria guard of honour with Clark at the latter’s headquarters in Salzburg.

  Al Gruenther (representing Clark), Marshal Konev, Dick and General Béthouart meet the interim Austrian Chancellor, Karl Renner.

  Dick with Konev at the races in Vienna in October 1945. On the table is the cup for the race won by Dick’s horse Jumbo.

  Dick sets an example in one of the tree-felling competitions in Austria.

  Dick and Lettice at a children’s party in Austria.

  Dick’s favourite car, the Mercedes ‘liberated’ south of the Po and used by him extensively in Italy, Austria and Germany.

  Brooke’s last conference at Camberley. Other than Alexander, most of the key figures in Dick’s War are present: he is talking to Montgomery and on the other side of the gangway sit Brooke and Auchinleck. Anderson sits next to Dick and Leese on the gangway seat behind Montgomery. Crocker can be seen over Dick’s left shoulder in the same row as Horrocks, with Gregson-Ellis and Laycock further back on the same side.

  Dick in his office at HQ BAOR in Bad Oeynhausen.

  Montgomery visits BAOR.

  Dick watching I Corps manoeuvres: on the left is the corps commander, Ivor Thomas.

  Dick with Sarah, Bob, Michael, Jon and Charles in 1949.

  Dick with his eldest son Michael outside his house at Kostedt.

  The whole family at the Blackmore Vale Meet at Sherborne Castle, on Boxing Day 1950.

  Dick at the Installation of new Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in Westminster Abbey on 24 May 1951.

  Dick with Lt Col Allen of the 14th/20th Hussars on the occasion of the award to him of the Regimental Medal on 31 August 1952.

  Dick’s last steeplechaser, Granville, with Bob in the saddle, winning at Hurst Park in a course record time.

  Dick holding his newborn grandson, Luke Meynell, in December 1964: this was his last season’s hunting.

  Dick in the 1960s.

  Chapter 19

  The Winter Line

  1943 ended on a relatively quiet note at X Corps, the quartermasters doing particularly well to produce what Dick described as ‘excellent & plenteous Christmas fare’. Morale among the troops was high, but there was a serious sense of frustration within the senior levels of the Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), as Alexander’s command was now styled. On the right of the line Eighth Army had made rapid progress up the Adriatic coast and had successfully broken through the Gustav Line beyond the Sangro at its seaward end, reaching Ortona before the end of the year, but had now come to a complete halt in appalling weather. Montgomery had gone back to England to assume command of 21st Army Group, handing over to Leese.

  Fifth Army had also slowed to a crawl. On a positive note, it had now been reinforced by General Alphonse Juin’s French Expeditionary Corps (FEC), which had already distinguished itself by some vigorous actions along the tops of the Apennines. However, VI US Corps only completed the capture of Monte Sammucro on 17 December and still needed to take the German positions on the last hills before Cassino in the New Year before any more general offensive could be mounted on the Winter Line, as the German defensive positions were collectively referred to by the Allies.1 In the first week of January it launched an attack on one of these, Monte Porchia, and 46 Division was ordered to protect its left flank, earmarking 138 Brigade for the task, with its objective being the hill of Colle Cedro. The attack began on 4 January and the brigade soon found that it was attracting the full brunt of the German response. The Americans were repulsed from Monte Porchia initially and it was only two days later that 46 Division, with 139 Brigade relieving its sister formation, could take Colle Cedro, but the division had incurred heavy casualties for what had been billed as a support operation.

  Dick was now busy planning X Corps’ role in a major assault on Fifth Army’s sector of the Winter Line – later it would be known as the First Battle of Cassino, although the corps would be operating many miles away from that unfortunate town. He had sited his Main HQ at Sparanise, close to the fork between Routes 6 and 7, allowing him to use the former to visit Hawkesworth at Conca and the latter to see Templer at Sessa Aurunca. The weather was awful. On New Year’s Day a gale, accompanied by rain and sleet with snow on the higher hills, completely swept away the mess tent. Better news lay in the appearance at HQ that day of the GOC of 5 Division, which would shortly bring X Corps up to full strength and move into position over the next ten days on the far left of the corps in great secrecy, taking 201 Guards Brigade under command.

  After a long odyssey to India, Persia and Syria, followed by participation in the campaign in Sicily, 5 Division had been one of the first two to land on the mainland of Europe at Reggio di Calabria, six days before ‘Avalanche’. It had subsequently advanced on the far left of Eighth Army, next to its boundary with Fifth Army, being moved in early December to take part in the bitter fighting in the Adriatic sector. With that front closed down for the winter, it was available for further operations. Its GOC was Gerry Bucknall, who was to be relieved by Philip Gregson-Ellis in the middle of the forthcoming battle in order to take up a corps command in England. Both had been in Dick’s year at Staff College.

  Clark’s overall plan was for successive attacks by the formations of Fifth Army on a long front, from the mouth of Garigliano to well up into the Apennines north of Cassino. He had identified the Liri Valley, which carried Route 6, as the most attractive route to Rome, but proposed that X Corps should draw in the enemy’s reserves on Fifth Army’s left before Geoffrey Keyes’s II US Corps mounted a frontal assault across the Liri’s tributary, the Rapido, whic
h ran down from the north past the town of Cassino. Crossing this river successfully would force open the 5-mile wide entrance to the valley. In his determination to see Rome taken by Americans, Clark arranged that this would be undertaken by 36 US Division, followed up by 1 US Armored Division. Further attacks to the north would be undertaken by II US Corps’ third formation, 34 US Division, and the FEC. Convinced that the whole operation would draw Kesselring’s reserves south in the first few days, Clark also planned an amphibious landing by VI US Corps at Anzio, some 60 miles up the coast from the current front line, with a view to cutting off the enemy’s retreat and, more importantly to him, taking Rome.