Sherman brew-up in Italy story

[Mike Cecil]

I receive Cam Simpson's substack articles. Most are on the Boer War, but this one on an incident in WW2 is the latest: There were several images, but these don't seem to have copied across.


The Sherman Tank Brew-up at Civita Castellana, Italy, 7th June 1944
The story of Sergeant Bob Smith, Natal Mounted Rifles’ encounter with a German ‘88’
CAM SIMPSON


NOV 9


Sergeant Bob Smith (centre) while Trooper Ian Culpan is being carried by Trooper Eddie Sammons (left) under the guard of German paratroopers - all three men were wounded. Moments before, their Sherman Tank had been taken-out by a German 88mm Anti-Tank Gun (NMR History)
In The Official Natal Mounted Rifles History, there is a rare group of photographs taken in sequence by a German officer showing a German 88 mm anti-tank gun crew taking out a Sherman Tank of the Natal Mounted Rifles on 7th June 1944 near Civita Castellana in Italy. The sequence of photos entitled A Unique Episode shows German gunners identifying their target, engaging it, taking it out, and then taking the survivors prisoner and treating their wounds. So, who were these men, and how did the photos end up in South Africa?
The Natal Mounted Rifles were mobilized for active service in 1940 and fought in Abyssinia and North Africa before landing at Taranto, Italy, on 19th April 1944 as the Reconnaissance Regiment of the 6th South African Armoured Division. They entered Rome on June 6, the same day that the landings in Normandy took place, and pushed north on Route 3 towards Civita Castellana, where they passed by the old headquarters of the German General Kesselring. On 7th June, the 11th South African Armoured Brigade led the division's advance, while ‘A’ Squadron of the NMR reconnoitered and cleared the roads, with ‘B’ Squadron under Major Ronald D. Meeser MC joining them that night.
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The following morning, ‘B’ Squadron was ordered to the bridge south of Civita Castellana that had been blown up by the Germans and was being repaired by the 8th Field Company Engineers. Meeser’s squadron aggressively patrolled the area and was in action with retiring Germans and had one tank taken out by a Panther and another by a mine. Lieutenant Ernest L. ‘Dream’ Sanders and his ‘A’ Troop were ordered to conduct a reconnaissance beyond the town. Sanders was a former rugby captain of Durban College as well as playing for the NMR team; he had been commissioned from the rank of sergeant. Sanders’ troop became engaged with some Germans and captured two, and having handed the prisoners over to headquarters, Meeser ordered Sanders to push on, and it was soon after that ‘they suddenly and unexpectedly’ were fired on by a battery of German 88’s that were so well camouflaged that their presence was completely undetected—these were the gunners of Luftwaffe, Flak-Regiment 241.
One of Sanders’ tank crews was commanded by an old-sweat, 30-year-old, Sergeant Alexander R.R. ‘Bob’ Smith, who had first served in support company as a corporal with Sanders in 1940. Smith was a fruit farmer from Pinetown, Natal, whose wife Dorothy was the niece of the famous Brigadier General ‘Galloping Jack’ Royston. Smith’s driver was 22-year-old Scottish-born ‘Bobby’ Gibson, who was a carpenter and joiner and a former student of Durban's Glenwood High School; he had previously served with the Prince Alfred’s Guard before joining the NMR. The co-driver was 28-year-old Edward S.M. ‘Eddie’ Sammons, a miner from Krugersdorp in the Transvaal. Trooper Paddy Gill, the radio loader at 25 years of age, was also a student at Glenwood High School and, like Smith, was a Pinetown boy. Lastly, the gunner was 23-year-old, New Zealand-born Ian C. Culpan, who had been residing in Johannesburg.


German gunners, moments before engaging Sergeant Bob Smith's tank (NMR History)
As the Germans opened up, Smith became separated from the remainder of the troop and, being exposed in the open, had a near-miss from an 88 round that they knew were all too lethal. A German witness recalled in 1959,
‘That tank meant trouble! It was to be followed by a whole section of others. Had it passed through our lines, our mobile defence system might have broken down. Its audacity was on the point of paying.’
Immediately, Ian Culpan, who was described as being one of the best gunners in the squadron, having located a gun, got a high explosive round away that killed two of the German crew. This wasn’t enough, and immediately after, they took a direct hit from an ‘88’ that killed Gibson and Gill while the ammunition flared up but did not explode. The survivors, Smith, Culpan, and Sammons, managed to escape, although Smith had burns to his face and both hands, while Culpan had burns to his face. While attempting to move back to where the remainder of the troop had concealed themselves, German Fallschirmjäger opened fire on them with automatic small arms fire, wounding Culpan in the thigh while Sammons received a slight bullet graze to the ribs, but the game was up, and they went into the bag.


Bob Smith's tank brewing up, immediately after Troopers Paddy Gill and Bobby Gibson were killed. Smith, Culpan and Sammons, escape, but are captured as soon as they come under small arms fire (NMR History)
As the Germans took them prisoner, Smith, despite his burns and shock of capture, noticed a German officer taking photographs. Their wounds were treated, and as they were being moved away from the fighting, they washed themselves in a stream, and while waiting to be taken to a field hospital, they were offered some champagne and chatted away with the Germans, of which a German witness later said that ‘during the night I get a glowing account of South Africa. My commander’s comments during the officers’ briefing sound less romantic.’


Sergeant Bob Smith standing left, having suffered burns to both hands and his face. Trooper Ian Culpan lays on the ground while the gunshot wound to his leg is treated. Eddie Sammons is standing, having the slight bullet graze to his body being examined (NMR History)
While the prisoner of war questionnaire for Smith has not been located, we do know that he was for a period interned at Stalag’s VII-A at Moosburg and later at VB at Villingen. The records for Culpan and Sammons have survived, and presumedly because Culpan was wounded, Sammons was separated and initially interned in Camp No. 82 at Laterina, Tuscany. In August, he was then interred at Stalag’s VII-A Moosberg, IV-B Mülhberg, and 334 Lamsdorf and had been from September 1944 to January 1945 labouring in a mine at Sashovitch. He later declared that while on the forced march through Sudentland, he witnessed the South African, Private James ‘Jimmy’ Herald, being shot dead and another man wounded.
Culpan was admitted to the hospital at Mantovia in Italy for several days, then he was moved to Freising in Bavaria until he was interned at Stalag VII-A, where he presumedly met Bob Smith and Eddie Sammons. In March 1945, Culpan was sent to work at Landshut, where he said he was working on the railway, tiling and woodcutting until about 29th April, when he escaped and hid out for two days. He was relieved by the 14th (US) Armoured Division. All three men survived the war and returned to South Africa, while both Paddy Gill and Bobby Gibson are buried in the same grave at the Bolsena War Cemetery in Italy.
Now, on 22nd June 1959, the Johannesburg Star printed a most astonishing article that was entitled Ex-German officer want to renew wartime friendship and was accompanied with the details of Bob Smith’s tank being taken out in Italy. Immediately, Smith’s old squadron commander and others recognized him from one of the photos, and having made contact with Colonel Alois Phil Altmeyer, a former German military journalist and now a teacher at the German High School in Johannesburg, he joined his family for Christmas in Pinetown. Altmeyer had led an adventurous life and had covered the war in China and the Spanish civil war, having returned to Germany before the war broke out. In June 1944, he found himself witnessing Flak-Regiment 241 in action with the NMR.
Ian Culpan moved to Rhodesia, where he died at Belvedere, Harare, in February 1958, a year before Colonel Altmeyer’s request for information as to their whereabouts appeared in The Star. Bob Smith, who was forced to retire early due to poor health, died in 1978, while Eddie Sammons died in 1992. Nothing is known of Altmeyer’s fate, but I’m still searching, as I believe it’s a fascinating story that Eric Goetzche also believed was worth documenting in the now somewhat forgotten The Official Natal Mounted Rifles History. Today, the Natal Mounted Rifles lives on, although it is known as the Queen Nandi Mounted Rifles.
References:
Findmypast: Prisoners of War 1715-1945
Goetzche, Eric., The Official Natal Mounted Rifles History
Orpen, Neil., Victory in Italy. Vol. 5 South African Forces World War II
South African War Graves Project: www.southafricawargraves.org
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC
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