Before describing the battle, a brief description of the country over which it was fought is essential. Centuripe is perched like a bastion on the highest summit of a mountain ridge running roughly east and west to the immediate south of the river Salso.
The mountains reach a height of over 2,000 feet here; they are mostly fairly bare of vegetation apart from the olive trees but are all much terraced for better cultivation. These terraces range in height from 2 feet to 10 feet according to the steepness of the gradient. The approaches to Centuripe are precipitous on all sides except along the very narrow ridge tops on either side and one can stand looking out of any of the houses on the fringe of the buildings and literally drop stones some hundreds of feet down the mountain side.
It goes without saying the place was a tough nut for the Irish Brigade to face; added to which the Germans had disposed for its defence troops of a Fortress battalion and a Paratroop Rifle Regiment, some of the best soldiers Germany can offer.
The Centuripe position was really the key to the outer defences of the main German positons on Mount Etna and it was clear that its fall would lead to a general withdrawal by the Boche on to the stronger position.
The situation confronting the Irish Brigade on the night of 1st August was extremely vague. A Brigade had been fighting all day in a vain attempt to take Centuripe from the west and when darkness fell no one could say exactly how far any of its Battalions had reached. The East Surreys were ordered to carry out a night attack and capture the town and it was hoped that our task would be merely mopping up. That night, the Brigadier and the three COs of the Brigade spent an uncomfortable night at the best possible source of information, HQ.
At 3am on 2nd August 1943, no further information as to the progress of the Surreys being available, the Brigadier decided to launch the Irish Brigade. Briefly, the Skins were to advance up a track east of the road and the Faughs up the road itself, moving off at first light; the London Irish Rifles were to be kept in reserve.
After an early breakfast, the Battalion began its advance with D Company (Captain W Hanna) leading. Everyone was in high fettle and expecting to meet an official reception with flowers and “Vino” rather than bullets. We had a rude awakening, for on rounding a bend where the road had been cratered, the Platoon came under MG fire. At the same time, we could see that the Skins across the valley likewise were held up. Luckily, no one was hit but it was quite obvious that no further advance by the road was feasible. The CO now led the Battalion up a mule track to the left of the road on to the ridge running parallel.
On gaining the top, the Argylls were found held up by fire from a cemetery and Point 711 beyond. Elements of the Surreys were also there. A conference with these Battalions showed that the advance on this flank was definitely held; the Buffs were somewhere over to the west and the situation on that flank was by no means clear. It was decided to call in the Brigadier to sort matters out before taking further action and, meanwhile, our snipers and a detachment of 3-inch Mortars deployed and had some fun chasing the Boche out of one of his points.
The Brigadier arrived up and laid on a plot to bring in the London Irish on the left flank, moving the Skins over further to the right to come in on that flank, whilst we attacked frontally under a heavy artillery concentration.
At about 5pm, whilst laying on our attack, we were very heartened to see, away across the valley, a number of men, afterwards turned out to be C Company 6 Innisks, actually scaling up Point 708, one of the heights at the edge of the town and entering the buildings. It was a grand performance and one which the Skins may well be proud of.
Our own attack had to be delayed until 8pm to conform to the London Irish, who had had an exhausting struggle up the precipitous slopes on our left. The attack was on a one company frontage (D Company) as there was no room for more. Just before zero hour, a pimple just in front, which had been giving trouble, was well soused with Mortar fire and a Platoon moved on to it to support the Company’s further advance. At zero, a terrific concentration of fire came down on the objective; it really was most impressive – great gaping holes appeared in the huge mausoleums of the cemetery, trees crashed down and the place became a mass of dust and flashes of burning shells. Under this cover, D Company, with Billy Hanna leading, started forward. A good old cheer, “Up the Faughs” rang out as they disappeared into the gathering dusk.
On passing the pimple on which was the Platoon, however, they came under very heavy fire from cunningly concealed positions which had escaped the artillery fire and poor Hanna was killed almost at once. A good many other fellows were hit and the attack was brought to a halt. Under cover of darkness, a further advance was ordered but, as communications had failed and signals could not be seen, it was not known whether it had succeeded.
C Company (Captain JS Clarke) was now ordered forward along a track running to the cemetery on the western side of the ridge and, at midnight, we were greatly relieved to see their success signal. They had actually reached objective at the same time as D Company to find the enemy had had enough and cleared out.
The place was a shambles, littered with dead bodies of Boche and the bones of long deceased Sicilians blown from the resting places inside the mausoleums and smashed tombs.
A Company, under Major Proctor, was now moved into the town and occupied a prominent church on a rocky eminence by 3am. It was deemed inadvisable to attempt further clearance of the town before daylight. The rest of the night was quiet and, at dawn on 3rd August 1943, B Company (Major HGC Garrett) and Battalion HQ moved up to Point 711 and then into the town.
It was found that al the Boche had cleared out hurriedly during the night and we were greeted warmly by cheering and clapping civilians who seemed overjoyed to see us. We soon made contact with the Skins and it wasn’t long before everyone was settling down to a jolly good breakfast, brought up to the town, despite craters and traffic congestion, in record time by Charles O’Farrell and “Mac” (Lieutenant E Maginess). A little quiet looting by Battalion HQ produced an ample supply of ink, paper and Italian stamps from the local Post Office. It was an amusing sight to see the Postmaster himself handing out stamps and obligingly stamping them with the official postmark.
Our rest was short-lived and, by 9am, we were moved out of the town on to some commanding heights beyond which one got a magnificent view of Mount Etna and the Rivers Salso and Simeto between. A strong patrol with carriers was sent down to the River Salso and found little signs of the Boche and that evening the Battalion moved down to the south side of the river valley. By nightfall, however, the Boche had returned to the river and established posts on the opposite side to prevent Royal Engineers work on the blown bridge.