Diary of a D-D Dodger ...

[Mike1973]

I am in the middle of posting up all the pages from my Uncle Bob Bailey's diary from 1944 over on flickr. He served in the 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards in North Africa and Italy, and was 'in the thick of it'.
In this week in 1944 he was involved in the assault of the Gothic Line, and on the 7th of October was wounded in action for the third time.
Uncle Bob is sadly no longer with us, but he gave me this diary while he was still alive, and I typed it all out for him and produced a dozen or so copies, which he gave out to a few family and old army chums.


Mortar on trench, ‘Helluva’ state, can hardly hear. by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

24th - Left A Echelon 9.0p.m. Arrived Rest Camp. Boating on lake. Saw ‘The Gentle Sex’. Not bad.
25th - Went to Perugia. Stayed night at civvy house. Sheets, very nice and only cost us 150 lire! Unable to get Noreen a present after diligent searching.
26th - Wandered around Perugia. went to Itie show. Photograph taken. Returned to Rest Camp.
Saw ‘Katina’ Sonja Henie John Payne. ‘Good’. May get recalled tonight, hope not.
27th - Went back to Bn. Moved back to old position where the booby traps and mines were. Back on Westly’s gun.
28th - Walked out to Florence, not greatly impressed. Saw N.Z. show and ‘Canterbury Tale’. A good show. Very cold and wet.
29th - Walked out to Florence again. Got Noreen a present. Saw ‘Yankee’ show at Appollo. Visited O.R’s restaurant. Not a bad day.
30th - Sent Noreens present. Went to cinema show in village. Cancelled. Villa beat Walsall at Walsall 2.0

OCTOBER
1st - Walked out to Florence again. Saw ‘Salute for 3’ at Appollo. Saw Jack Bailey of Bills. Went back to T.C.V. with him.
2nd - Moved up to relieve Yanks. All day travelling in T.C.V. Rained all time. Went up jeep track, up to knees in mud.
3rd - Jerry plane bombed road. Stayed at house (out in field), prior to moving into position tomorrow. Companies go in tonight. Bills coming up this afternoon. Sun shining for a change. A few shells from a Jerry S.P.
2 Coy. attacked moving in. Properly fed up.
4th - Moving in tonight with No.2 Coy. Hellish march up. Knee deep in mud on mule tracks. Nigh on exhausted. Stonked a bit and Mortared. In position.
5th - Misty all round. Stonked and mortared all day. Horrible. Good job it’s misty, as we’re not under observation.
6th - More mist. Stonking a trifle lighter than yesterday. Poured of rain just on dark. Stonked very heavy just on dark. Especially at our mortars which had been firing. 1 gun out
7th - Sunny & fine. Our planes over dive bombing & strafing. Mortar on trench, ‘Helluva’ state, can hardly hear. Stonking terrific, about 100 shells in area 100yds x 75yds.
Back to A.D.S. (Villa lost to Blues at Blues 3.2.)


Bob and Noreen by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

 

[Mike1973]

The Diary of Guardsman R. J. Bailey 2659931
2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards

Bob Bailey joined the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards in January 1940. That summer was spent building beach defences on the Lincolnshire coast for the expected German invasion of Britain.
Early in 1941 Combined Operations Training started and the 2nd Bn. became part of Field Marshal Alexander’s Force 110, near Glasgow. Bob was now in the Vickers Machine Gun section of the Bn., equipped with Universal Carriers. In November they began practice landings on Loch Fyne on the west coast of Scotland, and had to wade ashore from their L.C.T.s in five feet of freezing water!
In April 1942 the Bn. joined the 78th Div. at Blairgowrie, Perth, part of General Anderson’s 1st Army, in preparation for the forthcoming invasion of North Africa. In November they set sail on H.M.T. Nea Hellas and landed in Algiers on 22nd, two weeks into Operation Torch. The Bn. proceeded to the front line at Medjez el Bab, and held defensive positions there.
In December Bob was part of a night patrol outside Medjez looking for American tanks captured by the Germans. The patrol had been issued with special mines designed to be fixed to the tank track bogies. Before they reached the tanks though they were spotted by the Germans and had to retreat under heavy fire. Bob was wounded in the right forearm when one of his patrol fell near him and set off his mine. Bob got back to the Casualty Clearing Station and was sent back to Algiers Hospital. He later rejoined the Bn. at Medizal Bab-Hir for the rest of the Tunisian campaign.

Bob kept this diary during 1944, chronicling his time in with the 2nd Bn. Coldstream Guards in Italy, and his recovering from wounds in Naples and Sicily. It uses the abbreviations and slang popular with soldiers at the time,and is an enlightening insight into the life of a PBI during the Second World War.


Mike Johnson
April 2000

 

[Phantomfixer]

I liked reading this...BTW what is Stonked? Shelling? Shelled another lost word from WWII? but a nice read..