"6th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment at Monte Gemmano, 8th September 1944"

by David Rowlands

Giclee Print 58 x 38cm

The 6th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment provided the machine-gun and heavy mortar support for the whole of the 56th (London) Division during the Gothic Line offensive in Italy, during the autumn of 1944. One or two pairs of their machine guns were attached to other regiments. The German positions consisted of one defended ridge after another, each of which had to be fought for. Gemmano was a typical village, perched up near the top of a hill, and was the scene of a week's fighting. The second attempt to capture the hill was conducted by 169 Brigade, consisting of three battalions of the Queen's Regiment, on 8th September.

The Vickers machine-guns had a range of 1500 metres but they fired well within that distance, and on many occasions they fought at close quarters. They fired as a pair. The Cheshires wore a cerise-and-buff diamond patch on their helmets. A veteran of the campaign, Cyril Bounds, described to me how each machine gun was dug into a rough fox-hole about 15 yards apart. If you were lucky enough, there would be 5 men to a team. The No.1, firing, was invariably a lance corporal; the No.2 fed the belt of ammunition into the gun, while the No.3 would be staggering up with an ammunition box in each hand. The village was receiving hits from mortar and artillery fire, as men of the Queen's Regiment advance towards it, under the machine-gun fire.