I Am Canada: Sniper Fire
Page 15
Image 11: Sergeant F.V. MacDougal and Sergeant-Major J.H. Ferguson, 2nd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (R.C.A.), emerging from their dugout north of Ortona, Italy, 15 February 1944; Lieut. Strathy E.E. Smith, Canada, Dept. of National Defence, Library and Archives Canada PA-193899.
Images 12 and 13: Maps by Paul Heersink, Paperglyphs.
Author’s Note
The father of a close friend of mine was a sergeant in the Loyal Edmonton Regiment. Like the Gaffer in the story, he had developed an uncanny instinct for finding and disarming booby traps. He missed the battle of Ortona when he was invalided out in the weeks before it happened. It was his platoon that was all but wiped out when the Germans blew up the building on Via Matteotti. He was haunted by the atrocity for the rest of his life. He was at least half-convinced that, if only he had been there, he would have sensed trouble and held his men back.
His story intrigued me, as did other aspects of the battle. Ortona was unlike anything the Canadians had encountered. It was fought in narrow streets in a small town that would have been difficult to navigate even if it had not been so badly damaged before the Canadians got there. It was intense. The enemy settled in as if it meant to stay no matter what the cost. It was impossible for the Canadians to employ air power, heavy artillery, or even mortars as they were accustomed to doing. Tanks were rendered particularly vulnerable because of the confined space and German defensive preparations. Small Canadian units — companies, platoons, even sections — found themselves on their own, their officers and NCOs having to invent new ways to push forward. They came up with mouse-holing and new uses for the much-despised PIAT, among other things. Their courage and sheer grit played a role too.
I was intrigued by the presence among the Eddies of a handful of men of Italian heritage. I wondered how it must have felt for them to fight in Italy. Those who remained at home, even if their families had lived in Canada for generations, were regarded with suspicion by their neighbours. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police compiled lists of Italian-Canadians (along with men and women of German, Japanese and Austrian heritage, all nations that were joined in the Axis alliance) who were suspected, often on flimsy evidence, of having fascist sympathies. Twenty-six camps were set up across the country to intern the suspected traitors. Italian-Canadians were held in three of them: in Kananaskis, Alberta; Petawawa, Ontario; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Altogether, some six hundred Italian-Canadian men — and a handful of women — were imprisoned. The conditions in which they were kept were primitive. They lost not only their freedom but, in many cases, their businesses and possessions as well.
Paul’s father, as I’ve portrayed him in my story, was more fortunate than many of the interned men. He was set free after a few months (there was an appeals process) and his family was able to keep his shop running while he was away. Even after his release he, along with thousands of others like him, would have been required to report every month to a government official, who was charged with keeping tabs on “enemy aliens.”
Paul Baldassarra, of course, is an imagined character, as are the other members of his unit. Their push down Via Cespa is also imagined. It simplifies to a degree a series of encounters that are hard to track. The actual battle involved back and forth movements, with the Germans often slipping in behind Canadian positions, so that ground taken one day had to be retaken the next. The town, moreover, was so small, the streets going off at all angles, that the soldiers themselves had difficulty orienting themselves. An account by an Eddies lieutenant, for example, describes the fight for the school on Dead Horse Square as taking place on the Piazza Municipale. There is also an account of the Seaforths taking the same school. Different explanations for the confusion are possible. Noise, sleeplessness, the fog of war were likely factors. What is certain is that the troops sometimes hardly knew where they, or the enemy, were.
The major events described in the story are based on the record. Vokes, Hoffmeister, Jefferson and Stone were all participants in the action. Others, including Trehan and Gold, are fictional characters. Teresa and her sister are invented. However, an Italian woman did, in at least one instance, guide soldiers to their objective. More than one hundred civilians took refuge in the hospital and were led to safety by the nuns. Some German soldiers, more fanatical than others, were reported to have shot and killed those of their comrades who chose to surrender, a fact I used to embellish the hospital scene. I have tightened the narrative slightly: both the atrocity on Via Matteotti and the emergence of the civilians at the hospital occurred on December 27, not as in the story, on December 26.
I am indebted to Terry Copp, Professor Emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University and Director of the Laurier Centre for Military and Strategic Disarmament Studies, who was generous in giving me access to the centre’s resources and later in reviewing the manuscript. The primary documents he made available were invaluable. Among secondary sources, Mark Zuehlke’s book, Ortona: Canada’s Epic World War II Battle is essential reading. (It is from Zuehlke that the story of Major Stone’s abortive charge down the Corso is drawn.) Saverio di Tullio’s graphic history, 1943: The Road to Ortona yields a surprising and authoritative Italian perspective. Marianna Tucci, at the Museo della Battaglia in Ortona, was not only an informative guide, but also a patient translator. She kindly introduced me to Tommaso Cespa, a survivor of the battle with vivid memories of the hardships he and his family endured. Thanks also to Lorenzo Apriani, my host during my stay in the town. My editor, Sandy Bogart Johnston, performed surgery on the manuscript with a deft hand. Freelance editor and fact-checker Janice Weaver conducted a detailed forensic exam on the remains. To the staff at Scholastic Canada Ltd., starting with my publisher, Diane Kerner, my thanks. Any errors that somehow got through despite their collective efforts are, of course, on me alone.
* * *
Jonathan Webb is the author of three previous books for young readers: What’s a Zoo Do?, Red Maple Award nominee Journey to Mars: Quest for the Red Planet, and White Pine and Hackmatack Awards nominee Canada’s Wars: An Illustrated History. He has also written both fiction and non-fiction books for adults: his novel Pluck was co-winner of the Seal First Novel Award. Jonathan lives in Guelph, Ontario.
Other books in the I AM CANADA series
Behind Enemy Lines
World War II
Carol Matas
Blood and Iron
Building the Railway
Paul Yee
Brothers in Arms
The Siege of Louisbourg
Don Aker
A Call to Battle
The War of 1812
Gillian Chan
Deadly Voyage
RMS Titanic
Hugh Brewster
Defend or Die
The Siege of Hong Kong
Gillian Chan
Fire in the Sky
World War I
David Ward
Graves of Ice
The Lost Franklin Expedition
John Wilson
Prisoner of Dieppe
World War II
Hugh Brewster
Shot at Dawn
World War I
John Wilson
Sink and Destroy
The Battle of the Atlantic
Edward Kay
Storm the Fortress
The Siege of Quebec
Maxine Trottier
For more information please see the I AM CANADA website: www.scholastic.ca/iamcanada
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Paul Baldassara is a fictional character created by the author, and his journal is a work of fiction.
Copyright © 2016 by Jonathan Webb. All rights reserved.
A Dear Canada Book. Published by Scholastic Canada Ltd.
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Library and Archives Canada Catalog
uing in Publication
Webb, Jonathan, 1950-, author
Sniper fire : the fight for Ortona / Jonathan Webb.
(I am Canada)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4431-2861-2 (hardcover).--ISBN 978-1-4431-4681-4 (html)
1. Ortona, Battle of, Ortona, Italy, 1943--Juvenile fiction.
I. Title. II. Series: I am Canada
PS8595.E22S65 2016 jC813’.54 C2016-900930-0
C2016-900931-9
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First e-book edition: October 2016