Trevor Thomas' diary at Anzio and forward

Trevor Thomas was born on October 1, 1923, in Neath, Wales, and died on August 24, 1987. He served in the Royal Artillery 365 Field Battery B.A.O.R. as a Gunner, No. 14295099. He enlisted on October 1, 1942, in Newton. His occupation before enlistment was a painter, and he was a Methodist by religious denomination. He was 5ft 3in tall, weighed 109lbs, had a maximum chest measurement of 31 inches, blue eyes, and brown hair.

Diary of Trevor Thomas - WW2 Italy

**Italy 1944**
I am now sitting on Anzio Beach headland, where I have been for the last three weeks. I first landed here on March 4, 1944. I came directly from the main 5th Army front, where we spent the first four months of 1944. Before that, we came across the 8th Army front, where we spent the biggest part of the winter advancing up from Reggio on the toe of Italy. This winter, I have spent most of my time traveling back and forth to different fronts in Italy.

First, we landed on the toe of Italy, then we advanced up to Salerno, where we joined the 5th Army. From Salerno, we went to the Adriatic coast for the Battle of Foggia. During these months, the weather in these parts was like the end of the summer. After taking Foggia, we crossed to the Central Front in support of the Canadians near Comfiopasso (Campoleone).

After the fall of Comfiopasso (Campoleone), the advance on the Central Front was very slow and a tough job in such difficult country known as the Apennines. It was now November, and the weather was cold with heavy rain. The roads through these valleys were very poor. We were always up to our knees in mud. Night and day, we slept in wet clothes. We never had a pair of dry boots due to our constant moving to different positions to avoid getting stuck with our trucks and guns. We had very little shelter through these bitter winter months. All the shelter we did have was what we could scrounge ourselves, which was very little sometimes. We would be lucky to get into an old farmhouse.

On we went, advancing a few miles a week until we came to Rionaro, a little village clustered on top of a hill. This was one of the worst sights I have seen out here so far. It was shelled and bombed from both sides. For weeks, there were thousands of dead among the ruins of the village. The remainder of the people just sought shelter where they could among the ruins. Most of those who stayed were old people and the very young, who were freezing and starving with hunger. Very rarely did I see anyone with shoes or boots on their feet.

Gradually we pushed on from there to Castel di Sangro, way among the deep valleys, with all of the mountain peaks covered in snow. It looked like the Alps of Switzerland. I reached there on November 3. From then, we crossed to the Coastal Front in support of the Netherlands for crossing the flooded Sangro.

We named the Sangro the "bloody river" because it was such a slaughter of men. The night we crossed the river, it was on the troop gun. We had 200 tanks on our side of the river. It was the first time in the Italian battle that we were giving close support to the Infantry. Zero hour was at midnight on December 12, 1943, when we were going to open up our famous barrage, which was one of the biggest up to then. I think every gun on our front opened up with a terrific crash. Then we crossed the Sangro. When the battle was over, we advanced up the Adriatic coast until we came to Faniano, 12 miles inland from the coast, two days before Christmas 1943.

We fuelled up a few barrages in support of the Netherlands and Canadians for the attack on the coastal town of Ortona, which fell on Christmas day. We went forward a few miles to the coast to give support to the 5th Infantry Division for the attack on the hill beyond Ortona, which was taken a few days after Christmas.

Then came the big move, which we were all excited about because we thought we were on the way home. We spent the next day traveling the road to Foggia, then across to Naples. When we got there, we had the greatest disappointment of our lives. We went north of Naples instead of going to the docks as we thought. For the first time in Italy, we entered a big town named Giugliano. After a few hours, we settled down.

We went by trucks to the coastal sector of the 5th Army Front to dig in the guns on the south side of the Giugliano River. We dug under cover of darkness for two nights. We dug, then on the third night, we brought the guns into position for supporting the attack of crossing the river. All other divisions had failed crossing the river, which was protected by high ground to the north of the river.

On January 2, 1944, the first attack went in with support of hundreds of guns, putting a great barrage over. It was quite some time before we got any news of what was happening in the forward front line. Then we heard that they had crossed the river at two places with very heavy losses to the Wiltshire Battalion. As days went on, the Royal Engineers were trying to build a bridge across under heavy shellfire. As soon as they got it up, it was blown down again by Jerry. It went on like that for days. Then we managed to cross the river and gained ground. Supplies were coming across by rubber boats. A day later, we captured the town of Minturno on the coast. The Scots Regiment made a march tune of Gargliano in honour of the men who got killed in crossing it. The losses were so heavy that they split up the regiments to make new ones. They took us out of the line on February 30, 1944. We were out of line for two days when we got orders to go to the Anzio Beach Head on March 4, 1944. We landed at the Port of Anzio. The trip up the coast of Italy was the roughest I have ever had.

**WW2 Countries**
- North Africa: 1st April 1943
- Sicily: 1st August 1943
- Italy: 3rd September 1943
- Anzio: 20th February 1944
- Port Said, Egypt: 6th July 1944
- Palestine: 20th July 1944
- Syria: 12th August 1944
- Leon: September 1944
- Palestine: 12th September 1944 (leaving 15th February 1945)
- Landed in Italy: 19th February 1945, left Italy: 3rd March 1945
- Landed in France: 6th March 1945
- Belgium: 9th March 1945
- Holland: 10th April 1945
- Germany: 29th April 1945
- Landed in England: 15th June 1945

**Testimonial**
Royal Artillery 365 Field Battery Gunner 14295099
Gunner Thomas T. joined this regiment in late 1943, having been posted from a training regiment. He had been trained mainly as an ammunition number and gunner but has also been used as a driver when occasions demanded. He is usually a quiet type, who does not always make his presence obvious. During the whole time I have known him, he has always discharged his duties to the best of his ability.

**Campaign Stars and Medals**
- 1939/45 Star: Dark blue, red, and light blue in three equal vertical stripes; this ribbon is worn with the dark blue stripe furthest from the left shoulder.
- Italy Star: Five vertical stripes of equal width, one red at either edge and one green at the centre, the two intervening stripes being in white.
- France and Germany Star: Five vertical stripes of equal width, one in blue at either edge and one red in the centre, with two intervening stripes being in white.
- War Medal 1939-45: A narrow central red stripe with narrow white stripes on either side. A broad red stripe on either edge, or two intervening stripes in blue.