Who liberated Assisi in 1944?

[Bob Potter]

As if I need another unfinished diorama idea, I am looking for a reason to model that lovely pink stone of that sacred town.

I know from my copy of Guido Rosignoli's "Allied Forces in Italy," that the British 10th Corps liberated Assisi on the 7th or 8th of June 1944 (book is upstairs, I am here). I want to know what specific unit got there first.

I also suspect that the 10th Corps bypassed Assisi because the road from Foligno to Perugia goes BY Assisi through the valley, and that the road through Assisi to the north just goes into the mountains way the heck and gone essentially to nowhere. But I am hoping that somebody was sent up the hill "just to check . . ."

If I know what unit, then I can make an educated guess about what kind of vehicle to put next to the buildings, although anything larger than a jeep might be stretching it.

Thanks a heap for reading. I hope I don't open TOO big a can of worms here.

Cheers

Bob

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Bob Potter
I know from my copy of Guido Rosignoli's "Allied Forces in Italy," that the British 10th Corps liberated Assisi on the 7th or 8th of June 1944 (book is upstairs, I am here). I want to know what specific unit got there first.

Hi Bob;

In answer to your question, the first allied unit to enter Assisi was the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wale's) on 17th June 1944, to find it already held by Italian partisans.

Cheers

[Bob Potter]

Thanks a bunch, Mark. I KNEW I would get a speedy response here. AND, I learned that it ws a unit about which I know a little.

Mark, have you found a description or, better, a primary source that talks about this? When I log off here I will pull my Ian Cooper "Famous British Regiments" unit history of the 9th/12th to see what it says.

As I type this, it occurs to me that maybe the 9th/12th drove Staghounds. Can I wait for Italeri or Tamiya to kit one in plastic?
Resin and I are not good friends.

Thanks again to the MLU crew who reads and responds to my periodic posts.

Bob

[Mark W. Tonner]

Hi Bob;

If I'm not mistaken, me thinks that at this period they were Daimler Armoured Car mounted, I'll get back to you on this.

Cheers

[Bob Potter]

After I logged off last night and started poking through my books, I discovered that the 9th and 12th did not amalgamate until 1960 or thereabouts.

Thanks, Mark, for your legwork. When I went to look I found that although I own a lot of the regimental histories published by Ian Cooper, I do not have the one on the 9th/12th. The best I could do here was in George Bradford's ancient book on armor in North Africa. Here I learned that in Africa the 12th had Humbers.

Geoff, can we add a smiley-face that is putting its foot into its mouth??

Bob

[Bob Potter]

I was rummaging around in the World War II unit history of the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (looking for Universal Carrier photos, but that is another story) when I found an answer to this question I posed here so long ago. I thought I'd share.

The Lancers may have walked in the door first and found partisans, but the partisans did not stay. When the 8th Indian Division came around Lake Trasimeno, the Argylls were sent towards Assisi. One company entered the hill town itself, one company went west to Bastia, another went south and west into San Angelo (where the railroad station and the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels [Saint Francis' Portciuncula] is). There was a bit of skirmishing done by all three companies. The company that entered Assisi itself passed through and got shot at on the other (north?) side.

The unit history, by the end-of-war battalion commander FCC Graham, is a good read. I have the wartime histories of the 1st, 2nd, reconstituted 2nd,
6th, 7th, and 8th battalions, all very informative.

Thanks for reading.

Bob

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Bob Potter

The company that entered Assisi itself passed through and got shot at on the other (north?) side.

... that would have been C Company Bob (commanded by Major E.A.F. Oxborrow) ... as C Company emerged from the western exits of the town the Germans put down a heavy "stonk" ... (bottom of page 110 and top of page 111)

Source:

History of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders 1st Battalion (Princess Louise's) 1939-1945
by Lt-Col. F.C.C. Graham D.S.O.
published by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1948

Cheers