John Rhodes "Invasion of Italy"

Lieutenant JOHN CLIFFORD RHODES

Service Number: 187745

Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)

Secondary Unit, Regiment: attached to 8th Bn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Died 05 October 1943, Age 23 years

Buried at Sangro River War Cemetery, Italy VIII. A. 41.

Additional Info: Son of Ernest George and Gertrude Mary Rhodes, of Stratton Rowben Close, Totteridge, Hertfordshire.

8th Army at Sangro River

John Clifford Rhodes was commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). His name appears in the Supplement to the London Gazette dated June 10, 1941. The timing of his commission is significant, as it came during a period of intense military activity for Britain. By June 1941, the war had expanded dramatically with the German invasion of the Soviet Union imminent, and British forces engaged across multiple operational theatres.

While initially commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers, Rhodes later served attached to the 8th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Attaching officers from one regiment to another was relatively common during wartime operations, allowing for flexibility in deployment and the utilisation of officer capabilities across different units as needed.

On 3 September 1943, the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, coinciding with an armistice signed with the Italians, who re-entered the war on the Allied side. The Allied objectives were to draw German troops from the Russian front and, more specifically, from France, where an offensive was planned for the following year. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance; however, by the end of October, the Allies faced the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line, which stretched from the River Garigliano in the west to the Sangro in the east. By 4 November, the Allied force that had fought up the Adriatic coast was preparing to attack the Sangro River positions. A bridgehead had been established by the 24th, and by nightfall on the 30th, the whole ridge overlooking the river was in Allied hands.

The circumstances of his death on 5th October are not documented in official records.