Bruno Causin and the battle of Gela

Bruno Causin (from "Gela città di mare")

An interview taken by Giovanni Iacono from Bruno Causin, from Padua (Veneto), then a 22-year-old corporal in the 54th Artillery Regiment, about the battle of Gela and subsequent events:

Mr Causin, when where you called to arms?

"I enlisted on 10 January 1941, in Ferrara, in the 2nd Artillery Regiment. I was a pointer, but later I also followed courses for detachment commander, driver, a short course on ammunition and a course as a corpsman."
 
In July of '43, what unit did you belong to?
 
"I belonged to the 54th Artillery Regiment, "Napoli" Division, more precisely to the 9th 75/18 mm Battery, aggregated to the Mobile Group "E" of the XVIII Coastal Brigade, which besides us also included a company of tanks, an infantry company and one of Bersaglieri".
 
Where were you located?
 
"We were in Sicily since September 1941. In March of '43 we had moved to Niscemi. Here we were accommodated in schools; we slept on bunk beds, two up and two down. During this period, we trained every day. In the 5-6 days before the landing, the Americans bombed the entire plain of Gela; I remember the wheat that covered the whole plain that caught fire, not like the fires that they show in Venice! There, you saw something that seemed unimaginable, wheat in July that was burning ...., A pile here one there, all these fires, all over the plain. "

Bruno Causin (third from left) in Sicily with other soldiers from his unit (from "Gela città di mare")

 
What happened on the night of 9 July of '43?
 
"At the time I was Corporal. The Commander of the battery, Lt. Francesco Marchegiani, called us around 8.30pm in to the orderly room and told us: "Look, the hour has come. The talk, about group of ships headed for Sicily, are true. One such group is coming right here at Gela. We are ready, go to the encampment and wait for the order." We set off in the direction of Gela when it was dark. Towards midnight we were attacked by a patrol of paratroopers, and we stopped along the road from Niscemi to Gela. At some point I realized that a group of soldiers of foot were coming towards us. They were those of the Coastal Artillery Militia in charge of the anti-aircraft guns, whom had jettisoned rank and insignia. I asked them: "Where are you going?". They answered: "We had orders to run away." "And you, where are you going?" "We go to the front against the Americans," I answered, and then they fled, some here and some there. I immediately informed the lieutenant about this; and do you know what did answer Lieutenant Marchegiani? "Causin, think about doing your duty as you have always done!" I closed my mouth, "Yes, sir," I answered. We arrived at the airport in Ponte Olivo at daylight. The Americans had already landed and occupied the town. The commander of the battery, as usual, had gone ahead to see the place where to place the guns. He had been assigned the point where to go, but on this side of the village of Gela, the Americans had already placed a 105mm battery... He then came back, gave us firing data while we were still on the way and I wrote them down on the protractor which, as it was small, I always kept in my pocket. As soon as we placed the guns, we fired a salvo, hitting the American battery with the first shot. I remember that the aide told me that he saw the hell unleashing on the enemy battery, dead soldiers, overturned cannons. Afterwards we continued to shoot to cover the advance of the infantry. But as soon as the [U.S.] Navy stepped in... mamma mia... .There came upon a hell of fire and steel. The shots passed over us, but some landed even at 40-50 meters from our position, literally covering us with soil, but we continued to shoot up to 10:30-11:00, and I remember that the sun was burning.
On the evening of the second day, the Americans had sent ahead seven tanks along highway 117. I was manning the fourth gun, and I was close to the road. I remember these seven tanks that were coming ahead. The commander called all us pointers and told us, "You Causin take the first [tank], and you (the first gun) take the last, that one there the second last and the other the second", so those were four that we had to strike, however, there would be three others that would not be hit. He told us: "When I fire a gunshot in the air, you shoot." He let them come forward up to a distance of 80 meters, I saw them on the telescope as from here to you, and I remember that the first shot I fired hit the tank below, between the earth and the track, and the tank stopped. Then the second shot scored a direct hit, and the tank caught fire. I immediately fired another; but in the end only two managed to escape. But then the Navy... ..mamma mia... they threw so many bombs. The earth seemed to boil; luckily we had a wonderful location, that is, there was a ditch made by the aviation field personnel, and so we had this kind of shelter as a protection, and the gun was on the edge. But a naval shell hit us right in the shield, and I remember that the gun jumped in the air, and I who was sitting on the folding chair, without even realizing it I found myself on the ground, all of us covered with soil, and the gun went back down again with a thud, and the lieutenant shouted "fire, fire", and we began to shoot on sight; there were many Americans who came forward here and there, they were everywhere and when it happened, as we had been instructed to do, we fired a shot here a shot there, in order to keep the enemy always on alert, so that they would not come closer, and so we fired a shot close, a shot further away. Anyway, we managed to fight them off.
Afterwards, we learned that all the tractors to tow the gun had been destroyed. A shot of the Navy had hit a car that was loaded with ammunition and they had all blown up. Lt. Marchegiani had telegraphed to the command that we had no more ammunition (there were 12 shells left). Then he was ordered to surrender and follow the fate (the fate was to become prisoner). The lieutenant told us "No. Not prisoners. Prepare the guns for the march, we will drag them on our backs and go away". And I always remember, I was the most robust, I put two jackets on my shoulders, one on the right and one on the left, tied with string or with straps, and I had the rudder on the shoulder, you think a gun that weighed 12-13 tons, and others pulled from the flanks, there were two ropes tied to the wheels where there was a hook with that purpose, and dragging these we reached Niscemi. We had travelled a dozen kilometers, during which we had been attacked several times by airplanes; that was terror. I was afraid of airplanes, because they arrived on you without you noticing, popping up from behind a hill, and they mowed you down. The planes came over us four of five times, dived on us and then went away immediately thereafter. They dropped bombs, machine-gunned us, luckily I remember we did not even suffer one wounded. The Lord has blessed us on that journey."
 
You pulled back, you arrived in Niscemi and then ....
 
"Once in Niscemi we believed we would find our encampment and instead we found all empty, they had taken away even the blankets, mattresses and kitchen; we were left literally with nothing. I do not remember how many hours we stayed there. But I remember that at one time I saw the American flag hoisted at the foot of the Castelluccio [Swabian Castle on a hill overlooking Gela]. Lieutenant Marchegiani called me and said, "Causin, you see that flag, bring it down." I fired my gun and brought down the flag with the second shot. Then new trucks with ammunition came, and we set off towards Caltagirone. Here we hid under the trees of the public gardens, to hid from the planes that were going around and looking for us; we stood there almost until evening. I remember that just after dark we went near Caltagirone and we took positions witht the guns on top of the hill. Lieutenant Barnabà, which was my platoon leader, had assumed command because Lieutenant Marchegiani was gone, having been wounded in the arm by a bullet fired by a plane, and having been taken to hospital; Lt. Barnabà said: "Bruno, come with me to go and see where to take position". We went up the hill and that was when we saw all the plain full of cars going around and all heading for Caltagirone. We could see columns that never ended, I had never seen such a thing, then with binoculars you could see even better. "They are better equipped of us," I said to the lieutenant, and he answered me, "unfortunately we are the ants and they are lions."
 
In that moment how did you feel?
 
"I was not afraid. Unfortunately, fear is the worst thing you can have, and I said to the lieutenant: "Lieutenant Marchegiani always told us: "Remember that fear is the n. 1 enemy, because a person betrays himself and at the same time also betrays his companions". "It 's true," he said. "Go down and tell the others to come here." He had already taken the firing data; we went up pulling guns up the hill by hand, and I remember that we immediately started to fire. Sainted mother!, all those car that were blowing up, ammunition, fire, we shot all night and the next morning we were really exhausted. The next day we left and we went on the front of Catania. And there we did not really fire so much, quite different from what had happened in Gela. And then I remember that I kept having these fevers, and lost my appetite."
 
Bruno Causin was taken prisoner on August 15, 1943, while hospitalized in the Castroreale field hospital for malarial fever. He was transferred to no. 211 POW Camp in Algeria, where he remained until June 30, 1945. Mr. Causin was awarded the War Merit Cross for taking part in the Sicilian Campaign. He was later promoted to the rank of honorary Corporal First Class.

Bruno Causin in 1943 (from "Gela città di mare")