The sound of birdsong and the scent of abandoned orange and lemon groves filled the air as my brother Toby and I made our way with an Italian film crew through the late April sunshine to the banks of the River Garigliano in Italy. How different from the sounds of gunfire and cries of wounded men that would have rung out through the cold wet January nights of 80 years ago. Our father, then a young army officer of just 27, was supervising a makeshift ferry to rescue the wounded across this wide and fast flowing river under constant shell fire during the First Battle of Cassino.

This was the start of our week long trip to Cassino, Anzio and the Bay of Naples to see where our father served, was later hospitalised and was eventually awarded the Military Cross (MC).

Reginald Edward Hawke Hadingham, nicknamed ‘Oscar’ and better known as ‘Buzzer’, played a central role in the life of the 67th (East Surrey) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, TA, serving continuously from its formation through to the end of the war, and winning a Military Cross and Bar in the process.

300 Anti-Tank Battery was formed on 1 October 1941 from within the 57th (East Surrey) Anti-Tank Regiment, RA, by taking Officers and NCOs from the existing batteries and men newly posted to the Regiment.

Under the command of Major R.G. Orr M.C., the Battery sailed with the Regiment for Egypt the following May and took part in the Battles of Alam el Halfa and Alamein, followed by the pursuit to Tripoli and on into Tunisia.

On 8 October 1943, the 57th Regiment, part of the Fifth Army, disembarked at Salerno in Italy. As it moved forward during the following months, the batteries of the Regiment were employed in a variety of tasks, mainly as infantry, but also in the mortar role and on porterage duties. It was while in the latter role on the Garigliano front that 192 Battery, commanded by Major D.H. Chapman, was withdrawn and reformed into an anti-tank battery and sent to the Anzio beachhead as part of the 168 Infantry Brigade Group. The Battery had on strength eight 6-pounder and four 17-pounder anti-tank guns.

Gunner Walter ‘Sonny’ Messenger was only 21 years of age when he lost his life in the withdrawal of the 57th Regiment to Dunkirk, winning a well merited Military Medal in this action.

During the 67th Regiment’s last weeks on the Senio River line in Italy, it welcomed a new Battery – 315 – from the 105th Anti-Tank Regiment, R.A. The Battery’s origins were as part of a medium regiment of artillery formed at Tarporley in Cheshire, which on arrival in Egypt in September 1941 was converted to the anti-tank role. As B Battery of the 73rd (later 95th) Anti-Tank Regiment it fought throughout the desert campaigns. When the 95th was broken up it joined the 105th Anti-Tank Regiment and became known as 315 Battery. The following account of its time with the 67th is taken from a short battery history published in Italy at the end of the war.