With the Loyal Edmonton Regiment in Italy
Harris G. Field
Reprinted with permission of the author and publisher of For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World War;)
The bombardment started on schedule, but before it started there seemed to be a lot of shell fire corning from the enemy side. Before our attack was actually launched we discovered that a major enemy counter attack was starting, and instead of attacking we were being attacked. The platoon scrambled back to their defensive positions, and my men to their guns.
By pure coincidence our preliminary bombardment caught the attackers just as they were forming up for their assault on our cluster of buildings. The casualties and confusion caused by the shelling seriously disrupted their attack.
At the time when the German infantry attack was timed to begin, a very heavily armoured German "Tiger" tank lumbered around the bend of the road about 75 yards from us, appearing from behind a building held by the Germans. The only tank support we had was the one tank stationed at the corner of the building we were in, which was guarding the approach along the road. As soon as the "Tiger" appeared, our gallant tank crew fired at it with its 6-pounder. As I watched this episode from the upstairs hole in the wall where once there had been a window, I was horrified to see the armour piercing, 6-pounder shell bounce off the armour plate of the tank. However, the Tiger's crew were so startled by the impact that they bailed out, and of course once out they couldn't get back in because they were under direct fire from machine guns only 75 yards away. A brick wall, which was all there was between my gunners and that Tiger tank, would have provided about as much protection from the tank's armour-piercing shells as would tissue paper against a rifle bullet.
The German attack came in, but without armoured support, and having been badly beaten up by the artillery barrage, it quickly fizzled out. The platoon defending "our" building had been well deployed, and although enemy troops got within about 25 feet of the building, they got no farther. Since our guns were blazing away from within the building, our gunners would have been sitting ducks if the enemy had made it over that last 25 feet. The following day we were able to resume the offensive and the bridgehead was firmly established.