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No.4347
£1.45
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HE COLLAPSE OF MUSSOLINI’S FASCIST REGIME IN THE SUMMER OF 1943 HAD RESULTED IN THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF ITALIAN FORCES. HOWEVER, THE GERMANS STILL HELD THE COUNTRY AND THEIR DEFENSIVE ACTIONS TURNED THE ALLIED ADVANCE INTO A LONG, BITTER SLOG. BY LATE NOVEMBER BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH TROOPS HAD REACHED THE ENEMY’S “WINTER LINE”. AMONG THE OBSTACLES WAS THE TOWN OF SEZONA, WHICH WAS SEEN AS THE KEY TO THE SURROUNDING SECTOR — BUT IT WOULD PROVE A DIFFICULT NUT TO CRACK.
T
STORY FERG HANDLEY ART OLIVERA COVER IAN KENNEDY
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4 THE TOWN ITSELF WAS ANCIENT. ALLIED BOMBING HAD CAUSED SO MUCH DEBRIS IT WAS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEIR ARMOUR TO OPERATE IN THE NARROW STREETS. IN ADDITION, THE S.S. DEFENDERS — WHICH INCLUDED ITALIAN HOLDOUTS AS WELL AS GERMANS — HAD FORTIFIED THE HOUSES AND BUILDING, CREATING A DEADLY KILLING ZONE.
FIND SOME COVER. QUICK… AAARGH!
UNGH!
LOSSES WERE DREADFUL AND, WITH THE BATTLE IN FULL SWING, A BATTALION OF INFANTRY WAS BROUGHT IN AS REINFORCEMENTS. AMONG THE TROOPS WAS SERGEANT BILL MORRISON, A SQUAD LEADER IN HIS COMPANY’S ASSAULT PLATOON. AS HE LED HIS MEN INTO THE TOWN, EXHAUSTED COMBATANTS BEGAN CALLING OUT.
DON’T LISTEN TO HIM, LADS.
WELCOME TO THE MEATGRINDER, BOYS. YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW, YOU’LL SEE.
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5 BILL AND HIS MEN MOVED UP TO THE FRONT LINE, WHERE THEY DUG IN AROUND THE RUINS OF AN OLD BAKERY. THAT EVENING THEIR PLATOON COMMANDER — LIEUTENANT PETER CAMERON — DROPPED BY TO CHECK ON THEM.
EVERYTHING OKAY, SERGEANT?
FINE, SIR. APART FROM THE COLD, THE DAMP AND ALL THOSE HUNS OUT THERE.
CAMERON KNEW THAT THE VETERANS WEREN’T HAPPY UNLESS THEY WERE COMPLAINING. ACCEPTING A MUG OF TEA, HE WENT OVER THEIR ORDERS — WHICH WERE TO SECURE A VITAL SECTOR OF THE TOWN, INCLUDING THE HEAVILY-FORTIFIED JAIL HOUSE.
CAMERON WAS WORRIED ABOUT THE CALIBRE OF THE TROOPS THEY WERE FACING. HE NOTED THAT THE WAFFEN S.S. WERE ALWAYS TOUGH OPPONENTS, AND WOULD MAKE THE BRITISH PAY FOR EVERY YARD OF GROUND.
WE’VE HEARD IT’S A PROPER STRONGPOINT, SIR. ATTACKING IT’S GOING TO BE A NIGHTMARE.
AND AS FOR THEIR ITALIAN CHUMS, THEY’RE REAL FANATICS. MOST OF THEM WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH RATHER THAN SURRENDER. QUITE, SERGEANT. AND WE’LL HAVE OUR WORK CUT OUT JUST GETTING NEAR THE PLACE.
LUMME, ANY MORE GOOD NEWS, SIR?
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6 THE FOLLOWING MORNING THE PLATOON WERE ORDERED TO ATTACK AN ENEMY POSITION. AS HIS MEN PREPARED THEMSELVES BILL REFLECTED THAT THEY’D SEEN A LOT OF ACTION DURING THE LAST YEAR, FIRST IN NORTH AFRICA, THEN IN ITALY.
PROBLEM IS, WE ALWAYS SEEM TO GET THE ROUGHEST ASSIGNMENTS. IT’S BEEN TOUGH ON THE LADS. THE STRAIN’S STARTING TO SHOW.
AT PRECISELY NINE A.M. THE PLATOON BEGAN THEIR ATTACK. THE TROOPS WERE CAREFUL TO USE COVER BUT, AS THEY NEARED THEIR OBJECTIVE, THEY WERE FORCED TO DASH ACROSS OPEN GROUND. A HIDDEN MACHINE-GUN BURST INTO LIFE. LOOK OUT…UNGH!
AYAAARGH!
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In November 1943, Sergeant
Bill Morrison and his assault platoon were embroiled in vicious house-to-house fighting as they tried to capture the battle-ravaged but strategically important town of Sezona. Their German and Italian enemies were holed up tight in fortified streets, determined to fight to the death. If they were to survive this killing zone, it looked like Bill and his men would have to team up with some unlikely, and unwilling, allies — a group of tough Aussie engineers.
23 9 770262 262188
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