I spent the autumn and winter of 1943 and the following spring as an officer with the 2nd. Independent Parachute Brigade Group in Italy. The episode began badly with the sinking of the Abdiel, vanguard of the invasion at Taranto; this was followed by period behind the lines as protector and repairer-in-chief of the great Acquedotto Pugliese and then declined into more normal patterns in the winter battle of the FiumeSangro which culminated in the bloody battle of Cassino.