Arthur Stiles
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- Military history
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Son of Henry William Stiles and Lucy Stiles, of 19 Broxtowe Drive, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Henry had served with the Sherwood Foresters from 14th November 1914 to 2nd August 1918 when he was discharged as being no-longer physically fit for war service. He had been in France until 2/8/1917 and returned to England on the 3rd of August.
Operation Avalanche: The landings at Salerno, the invasion of Italy.
N0 41 RM Commandos and No2 Army Commandos sailed from Palermo, Sicily on the 7th September and landed at Salerno on the 9th from landing craft. Their initial objective was to establish a beach head, capture the defensive batteries and take the coastal road to allow the rest of the force to land.
On the 12th September the Germans counter attacked and pushed the forces back towards the beaches. By the 15th the Germans had taken 3 hills overlooking the beach head and No 41 Caommandos were ordered to to take one of the hills, later called No41 Cdo Hill after them. This they achieved and they took many prisoners. They held the hill through the 17th and 18th September until they were relieved and on the 19th they were withdrawn and returned to Sicily.
No41 Commandos lost 52 men between the 9th and 19th September.
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