"Captain (Temporary Major) William P Sidney, Lord de L'Isle VC at Anzio"

by David Rowlands

Giclee Print 58 x 38 cm
by David Rowlands

Image Size 58 x 38 cm


8th February 1944: Major William (Bill) Sidney was commanding Support Company when the 5th Battalion Grenadier Guards went ashore at Anzio. The Germans launched a counter-attack on the beach-head with great force and a series of fierce hand-to-hand battles ensued.
His headquarters, situated in a gully south-west of the Carroceto bridge, was heavily assailed by enemy infantry who had by-passed a forward position. Sidney collected a mortar crew and led an attack with Tommy guns and grenades, driving the enemy out of the gully. He then, with a handful of men, took up a position on the edge of the gully. Having again driven back an attack by dashing forward with his Tommy gun, he sent most of his party back for more ammunition, keeping only two Guardsmen with him. At this point the enemy attacked once more. A grenade struck him in the face and bounced off, killing one of his companions and wounding him and the other. Supplied with grenades primed by his wounded comrade, Arthur Wright, he continued to keep the enemy at bay until the ammunition party returned. As no further assault seemed likely, he retired to a cave to have his wounded thigh dressed, but very soon the enemy attacked yet again. At once he had himself carried back to his post, face down on a stretcher, and continued to engage the enemy for another hour before they were driven off.

Bill Sidney had always been reticent about his deeds at Anzio, but the Lieutenant Colonel at Regimental Headquarters told him that he was going to put him in the library with the artist, and had to explain everything that I wanted to know in order for me to produce an accurate painting. It is always a great privilege for me to receive the private thoughts and descriptions of heroic deeds 'from the horse's mouth.' I quickly sketched the scene as he described it, and this prompted him to recall further details which enabled me to draw the action in the way he remembered it.

"It was a very clear frosty night and the moon was in front, above the Buonriposo Ridge. We were on the edge of a gully, and the ditch was about 10 feet deep and full of briars. Because of the thick scrub, the only possible crossing place for the Germans was a shepherd's path, very wet and muddy. During their second attack my Tommy gun jammed, so I started throwing grenades. Two Guardsmen were priming the grenades and handing them to me. One of them was killed by an explosion of a German grenade and I was wounded in the thigh. The Germans were below, hidden by the thicket, splashing about in the ditch. One or two managed to cross the ditch and appeared above us, on our side of the ditch. Fifty yards away Sir William Dugdale and Captain George Chaplin were in action, and I recall tall, slim Drill Sergeant Armstrong coming along with his Ross sniper rifle."

I also interviewed Sir William Dugdale, who said that the enemy could be seen quite clearly, showing up well against the white smoke which they had laid on the ridge behind them. From their wet greatcoats steam was rising in the frosty moonlight.