'The hills rose steeply behind the town and from them the enemy could see clearly what was going on in the valley. The crews expected trouble, listening with one ear cocked for the crash of shells or the screech of a mortar ‘stonk’, but the tanks rolled forward steadily until a demolished culvert at the entrance to the town brought them to a halt. Sergeant J. A. Bell, MM; Blenheim; born Waimauku, 8 Jul 1909; accountant; wounded 28 Jul 1944.

The doubters convinced and the speech-making over, the procession moved on. ‘The band mounted the tanks …, some acting traffic cops cleared the crowd back, and we headed out followed by most of them,’ says Dudfield. ‘On the outskirts we dropped the band, waved the last goodbyes, and hiked off —a day those of us who were there will never forget…. Next morning we cleared the dead flowers, confetti, streamers, etc., out of and off the tanks and with orders to rejoin the 20th set off the way we had come for Sora, picking up A Squadron there.’ The advance from Cassino to Avezzano cost the regiment one officer (Captain Hart) and two men killed, two officers and six men wounded. Another NCO, Sergeant Boniface, had died from injuries when his tank turned turtle over a bank on the way up to Sant' Elia before the advance really began. Two NCOs, Jim Bell and ‘Mac’ West, won MMs. No tanks were lost and all casualties were recovered.

' (Source: Glue, W.A. & Pringle, D.J.C. 20 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. p. 440.) AWMM