Harold Leese born 17th July 1921 at Astley Bridge, Bolton, Lancashire, England.
Harold volunteered to join the Navy during WWII but was not accepted because he was on "War Work". He was later drafted into the army and completed his training with the Army training Corps which lasted 10 weeks.
On completion of his training, Harold was posted to the 2nd Battalion the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
At the beginning of November 1943 Harold was sent on Embarkation leave and on 6th November that year he was married. Two weeks later Harold was on his way to Egypt and Landed at Alexandria.
While in Alexandria, Harold was Lucky enough to spend some quality time with his elder Brother 'Edward' who was an officer in the Pioneer Corps. Harold remembers well the time he spent with Edward and recalls his brother looking after him while he was there.
Harold was later sent to Italy and describes how he joined his Battalion in Casserta shortly after the Battalion had crossed the river Garigliano sustaining heavy losses.(NB 2nd Battalion crossed the river in a fleet of DUKW's).
Harold was part of 260 men who reinforced the Battalion however the Battalion was still short of its full establishment.For the following month the Battalion held the line at Minturno.
On March 8th 1944 2nd Battlion landed at Anzio.
Harold recalls that upto joining C company of the 2nd Battalion the night after the Garigliano crossing he had not really been a fighting soldier, but from that point on he truly was.
I asked Harold where he felt the most fierce fighting, that he was involved in occured. He replied without any hesitation "ANZIO".
Harold did not land on the first day of Anzio, he arrived some weeks after D Day. He recalls landing on the beach head in landing craft and walking through the town to Battalion HQ. Harold was not involved in the "Break Out" from the Anzio Beach Head because of injury.
He described to me his memories of walking through the Waddis at Anzio, armed only with his 303 rifle which he calls his "Bondhook", he describes hearing bullets flying around him and realised quickly that German tanks were at the other end firing machine guns and main armament at them.
He recalls without any embarssment himself and his colleagues having to run back from the waddis to their own lines and while doing so being hit in the back of the neck by shrapnel. He was transferred to a hospital ship where he was treated for his injury and shock. He remembers with some humour that the shock of his injury stopped him from passing urine.
When Harold had recovered he was sent to a transit camp where he noticed that his name was on a notice board which clearly stated that he was to be posted to an English Regiment?. Harold thought "Im not going to an English Regiment, Im a Scottish Fusilier!". Harold then saw a 15 hundered weight truck bearing the markings 'Y67' which were his battalion markings, He got on the truck and returned to his battalion.
Most of Harolds time during Anzio was spent as a runner. This was a very dangerous task, having to run from his rear echelons to the front lines.
Harold also recalls the constant shelling from Rome by the Germans, he remembers the shelling from the Germans 'Anzio Annie' and that a lot of his friends within the Battalion became "Bomb Happy" this is Harolds term for Shell shocked.
I specifically asked Harold what he felt of the organisation of the Operation. He said "Well there was just nothing that could be done", he had very positive comments of his own Artillery support which I was very pleased with being an ex gunner myself.
When asked how he got on with our American Colleagues he said "They were Champion, they were great".
Harolds story of his and his battalions time was very interesting, I was very honoured to be allowed to speak to him and that he allowed me to video record what he had to say.
I have not included all the comments/information that Harold provided just a general overview. Harold is a very genuine and pleasant man, he recalled his memories in a very humble way and clearly made no effort to make his account overly dramatic.
The events at Anzio were some of the most violent and tragic of the war.The purpose of the landings at Anzio was to break the deadlock at the Gustav line (code named Operation Shingle), Anzio is 80 miles North of the Gustav Line and 35 miles south of Rome.
" I remember the battle for Anzio as the most brutal in which I had fought during World War II. I also remember it as the most futile; for fifty years its futility has haunted me"
I found this information about the Wadis that HArold refers to
Wadis were deep, overgrown, semi-dry stream beds which the British christened the wadis. Hideous numbers of men died in these fissures as they battled at very short range in conditions every bit as bad as in Flanders 30 years before. They're hard to imagine, though. Each gully had been nicknamed Tommy-style for ease of identification "South Lobster Claw", "The Starfish" ,"Dung Farm" and "The Boot".
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