On The Move Again

Part of the Army’s 10th reinforcement, Len Frances left New Zealand in July 1943, joining the 6th Field Regiment as a gunner. He served right through the Italian Campaign, feeding the guns at Sangro River, Cassino, Florence and up the Adriatic coast to Trieste, occasionally taking a little time out to continue accountancy studies.

Len kept a diary for 31 months, detailing military and other experiences in the land of his father’s birth, a Kiwi-Italian in the midst of total war. His story is also that of a young husband separated from wife and family half a world away.

His son, military historian Neil Frances, has transcribed his father’s diary and provided commentary about the Italian campaign and how his parents coped during those fraught years.