On 13 September a counterattack by German forces against the Salerno bridgehead in Italy almost succeeded in driving the Allies back, but after three days of heavy fighting Allied troops, supported by guns from naval warships, forced them to retreat. On 15 September the newly-liberated Mussolini met with Hitler and agreed to assume leadership of the Italian Fascist Party. Also this week, British forces landed on a number of Greek islands and the Germans evacuated Sardinia.
Meanwhile in Caithness It was harvest time, as the John O’Groat Journal reported. In Dunnet, for example, “Harvest operations are going on satisfactorily, both with tractor and horse-drawn reaper. Much corn has been cut, and the crop is bountiful. Very little is lying, in spite of the recent heavy rains.”
As usual, the weather and the harvest were affecting school attendances, albeit indirectly in the case of Gillock School. The Head Teacher noted in the log book on 18 September: “R. Begg has made application to take charge of his sister children while the [grand] mother is engaged in harvest operations. The weather has been extremely boisterous during this week & the attendance has consequently suffered.”
Wick Harbour Trust received a report this week from the Superintendent of Works on the need to repair the dry dock: “this was through the continuous use of the Dry Dock for Admiralty auxiliary vessels, many of which were larger and heavier than the vessels that the vessels that normally used the Dry Dock.” There was also, he said, a risk in wintertime, “when heavy seas were running with a south east gale… With the surge of water at high tide breaking over the North River Wall there was always a danger of shoring supports in the Dry Dock being washed away.”
Finally this week, the John O’Groat Journal reported that Private William Smith of Thurso, who had been a prisoner of war in Germany since June 1940, had received the gift sent to him some months ago by the Thurso Corps of the Salvation Army: a cornet. “A pre-war member of Thurso S.A. Silver Band, “Willie”, who was playing regularly at inside-forward for Thurso Academicals F.C. before the outbreak of war, says that the coming of the musical instrument was hailed with delight not merely by himself but also by others in captivity with him.”
Coming soon! Week 212, 20th – 26th September 1943, will be published on Monday 19th September 2016. To view previous issues please use the menus on the right hand side of the page.
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