From Addis to the Aosta Valley a South African in the North African and Italian campaigns 1940 - 1945
by Keith Ford
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Based on the author's diaries, From Addis to the Aosta Valley is the account of Keith Ford's service in the Second World War from 1940-1945. As a gunner, he was deployed 'up north' to East Africa and experienced his first taste of action with the 1st South African Division during the invasion of Italian Somaliland; thereafter he was involved in the Abyssinian campaign and was with the victorious Allies when Addis Ababa was liberated. Then came North Africa and the dark days of the Desert show more Campaign as a Gun Position Officer's Assistant on 25-pounders with the 1st South African Brigade: from Taieb el Essem, the defensive box south of Sidi Rezegh, to Bir el Gubi, Bardia, Tobruk and Gazala, and to the annihilation of his battery by German panzers at Agheila. Retrained as a Bofors anti-aircraft gunner, he was with the Eighth Army at El Alamein. On posting to Italy, his Light Anti-Aircraft Unit 1 became D Company Witwatersrand De la Rey Battalion and dug in on the 1944 Winter Line. He saw action during the assault and capture of Caprara, the advance to the River Po and finally, St. Bernard's Pass in the Aosta valley. This is the story of an ordinary soldier, but one who has a keen eye for detail for the countryside and people around him. He brings a sense of immediacy and pathos to his writing through his relationships with his comrades and the civilians he encounters, particularly with the Italian women for whom he retains a special place in his heart. Keith Ford was born in 1921. He grew up in Bethlehem in the Orange Free State of South Africa. He enlisted in 1940 and trained as a gunner at Potchefstroom before being shipped out to East Africa, seeing combat in the Abyssinian and Western Desert campaigns. From 1944 until the end of the war he served as an infantryman with the Witwatersrand De la Rey Regiment in the Italian campaign. After the war he joined Barclays Bank where he worked for 30 years. On retirement from the bank in 1976, he spent the next 14 years as a mill manager in Rhodesia, and then a further 16 years in the hotel business in Mutare, Zimbabwe. After his wife's death in 2007, Keith moved to Johannesburg to be with his family. show lessTags
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Keith Ford was born in 1921. He grew up in Bethlehem in the Orange Free State of South Africa. After the Second World War he joined Barclays Bank where he worked for 30 years. On retirement from the bank in 1976, he spent the next 14 years as a mill manager in Rhodesia, and then a further 16 years in the hotel business in Mutare, Zimbabwe. After show more his wife's death in 2007, Keith moved to Johannesburg to be with his family. show less
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