Description
Mr. Horowitz talks about what happened when they left the island of Sicily for Italy (the continent). He describes the first few battles, German weapon superiority and how the terrain played to the German advantage.
Robert Horowitz
Mr. Horowitz was born in Cornwall, Ontario, on August 30, 1919, of Jewish parents who immigrated to Canada from Russia. He grew up in Montreal where he studied at Lord Arthur School and then moved on to Montreal High. He enlisted with the Régiment de Trois-Rivières in the latter part of 1939 when he was 20 years old and still in high school. Mr. Horowitz attended Camp Borden during the winter of 1939-40 for approximately 1.75 years. He first set foot on European soil in Scotland and trained in Salisbury. He saw action for the first time in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula before being wounded in Tremali. Following the war, he spent some time with Veterans Affairs assisting Canadian Veterans in England and later retired in Canada.
Transcript
The Germans
Elite. They were elite soldiers. They gave no quarter, they expected no quarter. Because you never knew what they'd do next, because they, they were, I think their command, their orders were: You don't give up an inch of ground, and you'll die for it. That was the German command. It wasn't like us when I say we see we can't do anything we get the hell out of there. But they didn't have that counter. Their orders were to stand, and fight and fall.
The Italians
They weren't soldiers. The never.... They were nice people but as far as a soldier is concerned they had no willingness to fight.