Historian Dr Simon Elliott is no stranger to Vesuvius - the active volcano which towers ominously above the Bay of Naples on Italy's east coast.

The 57-year-old from Mereworth, near Maidstone, has led numerous tours there to soak up the sun and reflect on the volcano's devastating eruption in AD79 which suffocated the nearby city of Pompeii and its coastal neighbour Herculaneum.

As a regular on TV shows, he has become known as one of Roman history's foremost experts.

What he didn't realise until recently, however, was that his grandfather was not only on hand to witness the last time the mountain blew its top, in 1944, but kept notes on just what it was like to see lava and ash spew forth from the mountain.

In dramatic recollections, his mother's father wrote of how "flame belched from the top of Vesuvius" and "lava erupted from the crater and slid down the mountainside".

George Stokes was a sapper in the Royal Engineers during the Second World War.

He landed in Salerno, to the south east of Naples, with the allied forces in 1943. He formed part of the invading forces who moved to take Naples, prior to Italy swapping sides to join the battle against the Nazis. He had left behind his family and young daughter Eileen, then just four years old - Dr Elliott's mother.

Explains Dr Elliott: "I knew he had served in Italy, but it was only when my father had been following my social media posts from Pompeii that he pointed out that the hotel I was staying in was right next to where my grandfather was based."

His grandfather had been injured during the fighting and then suffered from diphtheria - which saw him hospitalised in Italy. Unable to return to the frontline he stayed on at the hospital to help, using his skills to assist.

Adds Dr Elliott: "What you’re getting from George’s account is first-person testimony about what it was like to see an eruption. As an historian it's a remarkable report given the vivid detail George provides of one of nature’s mightiest phenomena. An eruption on this scale is not just a once in a lifetime event, it’s a once in centuries event.”

George, 29, didn't have long to wait to see the sheer might of nature. In documents he penned recounting his experiences during the war, he explained what it was like to witness perhaps the world's most infamous volcano burst back into life in March 1944.

He wrote: "The day started like any other in wartime Italy. It promised to be a warm spring day, dust flying everywhere as the heavy war transport drove by going to the 5th and 8th Army fronts, driving inland from the ports of Naples and Salerno.

"I was the electrician in charge of the 103rd British General Hospital, situated in a small village called Nocera Infiniori near Pompeii.

"This particular morning I had not been out very long when I noticed the sky was clouding over. Then something I had not expected; fine rain began to fall. I was only dressed in bush shirt and KD drill shorts and after it had been raining a few minutes I noticed that my shirt was covered with a rusty coloured dusty powder which I brushed off with my handkerchief.

"Then it started to accumulate on my clothes again. Looking around I turned towards the hills and saw that the crater of Vesuvius was not only smoking as I had observed the day before but was sending up a dusty cloud.

"The local civilians, who had not been concerned previously, were now on the move after hearing the volcano grumbling and feeling minor tremors.

“During the day the sky continued to darken and the noise increased and flame belched from the top of Vesuvius. Then large chunks of rock and lava erupted from the crater and slid down the mountainside, slowly and mercilessly, overwhelming it.

"God! What a sight to behold. Flames and rock shooting miles into the sky. I just stood and watched it. It fascinated me, it was fantastic, an unbelievable sight I cannot correctly describe it. It was like a gigantic volcano firework as used on Guy Fawkes night.

“Days after the eruption had ended the dust was three to four inches underfoot and slowly the lava streams were solidifying and it was obvious that the volcano was now settling down again.”

The eruption he had witnessed destroyed the village of San Sebastiano and forced 12,000 people to be evacuated. Some 26 people were killed.

He added: "Service transport had to be used to help the hundreds of civilians being evacuated. I saw them carrying what little possessions they had left.

"The big clear up of the surrounding towns and villages was done with civilian labour and military trucks."

While undoubtedly dramatic, it was a far cry from the ferocity of that in AD79 which destroyed Pompeii.

The Roman city, along with Herculaneum, were swallowed up by ash and pumice - preserving them for future discovery from the 18th century onwards.

It is estimated between 10,000 to 25,000 lost their lives then.

Adds Dr Elliott, who has published 17 history books to date and is a regular on History Hit TV and other channels: "While the eruption George witnessed significantly disrupted the Naples region, and even the allied military campaign there, the AD 79 eruption was apocalyptic, completely destroying the entire Bay of Naples with its 30km high plume and six pyroclastic flows.”

Pyroclastic flows are a deadly blend of hot lava, pumice, ash and gas which plunge down the craters edge at devastating speed - destroying everything in its path.

George Stokes, a coal miner, returned to his home in Nottingham following the war.

He died in 1990.

Vesuvius, meanwhile, is thought to be long overdue another eruption...Simon will be keeping an eye out for it on his next trip to the region in April with 2023 with tour operator Andante Travels.