[Norm Cromie (RIP)]

Hi Stef:

Being a vehicle restorer in Italy you might be able to satisfy my curiosity regarding an incident that occurred in September of 1943. My regiment (THE 48TH HIGHLANDERS) was rapidly moving up the coast from Reggio to Catanzaro when word came that an Italian mountain division had agreed to surrender to the allies. We hastily decided to carry out this surrender. I was with a section of about six soldiers and an officer from the PPCLI's. How this officer came to be the person in charge of this operation I do not know as he was from the 3rd Brigade and my group was from the 1st Brigade. We went racing up the mountain to this division HQ where we were met by the commanding officer and his staff all decked out in their dress uniforms. He presented to our officer what I believe was some kind of a ceremonial sword. Things were going great until our young officer noticed the General had a berretta pistol as his side arm, which was considered quite a prize. The young officer demanded that the Division commander turn over this weapon, where upon all hell broke loose. We, being outnumbered by about 500 to 1 I must confess raised my blood pressure a little. Finally our officer agreed to let the Italian commander keep his pistol. It was then decided that we would all head back down to the coast in a vehicle that looked like an open top troop carrier but it had a very strange rear wheel configuration that somehow was related to the front steering mechanism. The young Italian driver who carried us down the mountain I think was attempting to break the world speed record for mountain descending. It was one of the most hair-raising rides of my life. As we sped around the tight curves I had the feeling that somehow I was in a trailer swinging out on each bend. Now it has been over 60 years ago and I am curious to know whether there was such a military vehicle with front and back steering. Sorry for the long thread but you must expect a long dragged out inquiry from an old vet.