WW2- ITALY 6/6

As soon as the bombardment was finished 8th Army started its advance across the Senio River to capture the town of Lugo and the Squadron put its aircraft into the air. Due to strong fighter bomber activity however they were not as yet cleared to overfly the front line.

In the next few days the Squadron reported little activity on the roads north of the bombline. On 14th April 5th Army commenced its advance of Bologna. The Squadron provided continuous artillery reconnaissance cover throughout the day though only four targets were engaged.

The following day, during which twenty eight sorties were flown, three pilots failed to return from reconnaissance missions their fate being unknown. In the next few days the weather deteriorated often preventing the aircraft from getting airborne until the afternoon.

It was on 22nd April, under cover of the previous days bad weather that the enemy started to pull out and tactical reconnaissance missions reported a great deal of movement on all roads leading north to the River Po. Many targets including some 50 boats and pontoons on the river were flashed back to the fighter bombers who were kept busy throughout the day.

Due to the rapid advance of 8th and 5th Armies the Squadron moved to Bologna airfield on 26th April but no sooner had the advanced party arrived than it was told to move again to Villa Franca.

By the time the Germans had got north of the Po they ceased to be an Army and on 30th April it was announced that all organised resistance in Italy had ceased.

On 2nd May Flight Lieutenant “Judy” Garland, who had recently been reclassified as missing believed dead having baled out over enemy lines over a year previously, suddenly turned up. He had been wounded in the leg and taken prisoner by the Germans, however he escaped from a hospital train and was hidden by the partisans. After nearly a year the wound in his leg had healed up and he made several attempts to cross the Po but was caught each time. However he had become so Italianised that the Germans took him for an Italian and did not arrest him. He continued living and fighting with the partisans until the front line moved past them, which as it happened was at Villa Franca. It was pure coincidence that when reporting, his old Squadron was on the airfield to which he went.

On the same day news came through that Flying Officer Groom had been reclassified a prisoner-of-war and so that night there was much rejoicing in the Squadron.

Meanwhile the Allies had been chasing the retreating Germans before they reached the mountains of Austria and Bavaria and the Squadron’s Spitfires were equipped with long range tanks in order to fly sorties to Turin, Innsbruck and Boizano but almost all activity reported was Allied.

The announcement of VE Day on 8th May ended the fighting in Europe and the Squadron commenced two solid days of celebrating.

By the end of May the Squadron had moved to Risano near Udine and had completed the subtle changes from being an Operational Squadron to being a Non-Operational Squadron.

The only unit of 285 Wing which was not eventually to be disbanded was 208 Squadron and in June news came through that it was to return to the Middle East.

Before leaving the Squadron was paraded in strength to hear a farewell speech from Group Captain E.G.L. Millington, DFC who commanded 285 Wing and under whose jurisdiction the Squadron had operated. The Group Captain mentioned how in reality the Squadron was now returning to “home pastures” and stressed the invaluable and heroic contribution of the Squadron towards final Victory in the Italian campaign.

{This was not to be the last time that the squadron served under Geoff Millington; they were to meet up in 1964 at Muharraq in Bahrain [[See HUNTER - Hunt 6]]