Wednesday 9th
The Allies begin an assault on the Italian island of Pantelleria.
Friday 11th
Allied shock troops today occupied the Axis stronghold on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria – and introduced a new tactic to modern warfare. It is the first time that a major fortress has been conquered from the air without the help of land forces.
The island, between Tunisia and Sicily, had been battered by Allied bombers continuously for 13 days. British troops and tanks did not land until noon today, 20 minutes after the garrison commander surrendered.
Saturday 12th
The Italian island of Lampedusa falls to the Allies.
Monday 27th
On this day I was aroused early from my bed in the barracks at Woolwich. We were all excited because this was to be the start of many an experience pleasant & unpleasant. We had full kit including kitbags & marched to the station 30 of us & 4 officers. Here we caught the train to Charing Cross & were conveyed through London in transport to a station where a special train was waiting to convey us to the docks. The ones in question were near home, Liverpool dock. On arriving here we lined up on the side of the water & had a hot mug of tea very welcoming. Then we picked our kit up & were given tickets as we filed aboard which allotted us to a certain Mess Table & position on that table. This we finally reached & here everything became chaotic for a while. This was due to contradictory orders being issued what we had to keep with us & to what we had to hand in to pack stores. When we eventually got settled we had tea after which everyone was struggling to erect a hammock in which we had to sleep throughout the voyage. Towards the end of the evening we pulled out into midstream & anchored.
The early morning was quite hectic. There were far too many people wanting to wash and share only a few basins still it was managed in seawater which is very hard to produce a lather with. Later we had issued sea water soap which did produce a form of lather. That day we were told our mail had to be in by a certain time otherwise it would not go till we docked at the other side. There was a great flurry of writing then taking place. Nothing further exciting happened that day & we climbed into our hammocks at night.
Tuesday 29th
Early today we set sail & went up to Greenock & we saw some marvellous scenery round the Isle of Aran. I was also lucky in cutting cards & managed to get a ticket to see the film that night on board ship. That night we anchored again.