504th Fight For The Chateau, From Jan Bos Options

[admin]

(IMG:http://www.Strikehold504th.com/jim/chateau.JPG)

The 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry, whose mission was to drop on DZ Q, south of Niscemi and keep enemy forces from moving south from “X” toward “Y” junction, found itself scattered from a point 5 miles southwest of Niscemi to Pachino, 4 miles inland from the southeast corner of Sicily, a distance of some 60 miles. The principal fighting forces in the objective area consisted of two groups of approximately 60 parachutists each, under command of Lt George J. Watts and Lt Willis J. Ferrell.

Lt Ferrell landed south of Niscemi and assembled his group throughout the night. Realizing he was out of his scheduled drop zone, he moved to the critical terrain feature, a high hill which overlooked the Niscemi-Gela road, and there, around a large chateau established an all around defense. From this position he organized combat patrols which made sorties on enemy communications, and troops, in the area, and on several occassions throughout D-Day the enemy attempted to dislodge them, but were repulsed on each occassion, and were forced to by-pass the chateau on the way south.

Lt Watts landed about two and one-half miles southeast of Niscemi, and after assembling his group, moved north and west toward the objective area. A German motorized patrol was encountered by this force shortly after daybreak on the Niscemi-Biscari highway. The troopers, having seen the enemy coming, moved to the sides of the road and, on signal of Lt watts, at the time the enemy was in the trap, brought a devastating crossfire down that destroyed the German vehicles and men. Progress towards Niscemi was slow, as enemy communications and an Italian patrol were also destroyed enroute. (See map E).


About 0900 hours on D-plus-1, Lt Watts was able to contact Lt Ferrell by radio and both forces were consolidated in what was later known as “Ferrill’s Forces”, at the chateau defensive area overlooking the Niscemi-Gela highway.


Shortly before noon on D-plus-1 the observation post in the chateau reported that a column of Germans, estimated at a battalion, was coming up the road from the south. Lt Ferrell, realizing that the enemy was retreating, gave the order to concentrate all fire power on the highway side of the chateau and hold fire. As if by a stroke of luck the German column, not realizing that “Ferrill’s Forces” were in the chateau area and looking right down on them, suddenly halted for a ten-minute break directly opposite the American strong point. Tense moments followed, but as the Germans started to get up and put on their packs the silence was broken by a rain of fire, which killed many Germans and threw their column into a turmoil. The battle which followed lasted all afternoon, with “Ferrill’s Forces”, armed with both American and captured weapons *, repulsing counterattack after counterattack. There was one break in the battle when a German lieutenant, bearing a white flag, came up the hill to arrange a surrender, but when he saw that he was fighting American parachutists he refused to surrender and returned to his position. The Germans withdrew at dusk, leaving over fifty dead. “Ferrill’s Forces” held their position until relieved by other elements of the 505th Combat Team and the 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Division on D-plus-3




Am typing a document I received from Ft Benning and found the following text.
Who took part in the defensive of this chateau and who remembers what happened during these days, who might have pictures of the area, can someone advise about the unit of the Germans, how many American troopers were killed during this battle - any names ??, how many wounded

for those who did not participate in the battle and who are anxious to see the chateay, well see the attachment. Took the picture of the chateau during my visit to the area in July last year. of course the castle/ruins were damaged during the battle. When you take a closer look to the picture "facing from Ponte Olivo airfield [which no longer exists], you can see a pillbox left of the four threes on the right part of the picture. There are several of the pillboxes in the area, including on the left of the castle.

all the best from Nijmegen


Jan Bos(IMG:http://www.Strikehold504th.com/jim/chateau2.JPG)

[Kiwiwriter]

Great photos and material! (IMG:http://forums.strikehold504th.com/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[admin]

Email from Jan Bos a reminder:

Gentlemen,
to-day it is exactly 60 years ago that the first assault was made on Europe.
The C-47s and the C-53s were loaded with parapacks. The paratroopers were of the 505th Regimental Combat Team, also the 3rd Battalion 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was at the airfields to be part in the first assault. British glider infantry were also part of the operation, they were to land in the south-eastern tip of Sicily, while the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division were to be dropped behind the beaches in southern Sicily. Some of the targets were roadcrossings (X and Y), to capture the pillboxes at these crossing (Objective Y had 14 Italian pillboxes !), Ponte Olivo airfield with the pillboxes and other strongholds, cut lines of communications, set up road blocks, etc.

The paratroopers were all from the 82nd Airborne Division. The aircrewmembers were from the 60th, 61st, 62nd, 64th, 313th, 314th and 316th Troop Carrier Groups. in total 226 transport planes, carrying the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. The British troops were on board of the Horsa and Waco gliders.

The Navy was protecting the LCI's, LST's and other ship carrying the invasion forces. The paratroopers would be the first ones to land in Nazi-occupied Europe. D-Day in Normandy was not D-Day, actually D-Day Europe was 10 July 1943.

You all participated in it.

Wishing you all a wonderful 9 July 2003, 60 years later

Jan Bos

[Kiwiwriter]

Thanks for that note!

[Frank]

Great pictures!

I wish I could be in Sicily to see the commemoration events...

[admin]

Once again Jan Bos has sent me a great email I would like to share with you all:

Dear friends,
remember the date. 60 years ago the invasion of Sicily was on. In the early morning of 10 July 1943 the US 1st, 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions reinforced by Rangers stormed the beaches of southern Sicily. It was operation Husky. On the southeastern part of Sicily British and Canadian units stormed the beaches.

Paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, B Company 307th Airborne Engineers, the 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion [making the 505th Combat Team] plus some miscellaneous units were dropped over southern Sicily from 226 C-47s and C-53's. Only 2nd Battalion 505th was dropped almost together in the Vittoria-Ragusa area, far from their initial dropzones. 3rd Battalion 504th was also dropped fairly complete and they were soon fighting in the Gela-Ponte Olivo airfield- area. The fight took place around the old castle.

As soon as the paratroopers were dropped the Troop Carriers returned to their fields in Tunisia. Several C-47s and C-53s were shot down, one of the C-47s of the 314th TCG had collided with another plane and was forced to make a belly landing offshore the coast of Scoglitti. The 75mm pack howitzer and ammunition for this gun was lost, the men were slightly injured or wounded and made it ashore, probably the first Americans to land in Sicily, although not by parachute.

Operation ladbroke marked the mission for the British. 109 C-47's and C-53's from both American and British Troop Carrier Groups towed 109 CG-4A Waco gliders, many were lost after being released to early at some 3,000 yards offshore at 1100 ft 73 gliders fell iknto the sea, many British glider infantry and American glider pilots drowned. There was a head-on storm that had slowed down the speed of the gliders, if this storm was not there, all gliders would have reached the landingzones.

German and Italian anti-aircraft guns fired on the planes and - besides those who were shot down - several were damaged, but able to return to Tunisia. The paratroopers had to fight off the Germans and Italians. Unaware to the paratroopers, the germans had some 60 Tiger and Panther tanks in Sicily. Soon the tanks moved in and were almost at Gela, the Rangers had a hard time, but the Navy shot up the tanks in the Gela roads. The infantry had a hard time and repelled many attacks and every 82nd trooper had a hard fight. The men assembled as soon as they had landed, many found themselves all alone, but then when daylight came they formed bigger and bigger teams. The troopers even hooked up with the British and Canadian infantry.

The paratroopers were waiting for the reinforcements. In Tunisia the paratroopers of the 504th Regimenal Combat Team (1st and 2nd Bn 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and C Company 307th Airborne Engineers prepared themselves for the mission for to-night, but higher HQ decided to postpone the mission by 24 hours. They did not exactly know where the 505th + 504/3 were.

Planes were fixed up again for the upcoming mission, the battle for Piano Lupo, the Biazzo Ridge were to come.

On the internet I found the following article about the Italians fighting the Americans:

In 1947, Lt. Col. Dante Ugo Leonardi, formerly commander of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment of the Livorno Division, published a little book entitled "Luglio 1943 in Sicilia" (July 1943 in Sicily). The book is a modest addition to the plethora of WWII subject books. It is utterly forgotten today, and will not be resurrected. Yet it retains an intrinsic value which does not deserve to be dissipated by "wasteful time". Indeed it provides an Italian account, written by the unit's commanding officer himself, as one of the bloodiest actions carried out by an Italian infantry unit in WWII. Modern Italy does not even bother to devote to those unsung heroes a tenuous, fleeting thought. May this tiny contribution stand as a memorial.



Marching to Battle

3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment (commander: Col. C. Martini), led by Lt. Col. D. U. Leonardi, was attached to the "Livorno Infantry Division", which was deployed in Sicily in November 1942. The Division was nearly full strength; the artillery, engineers and 4 out of 6 infantry battalions were fully motorized (rarities, in the wartime Italian Army). It was the best Italian Division in Sicily, as it had been picked out and trained for the eventually evaporated Malta amphibious/airborne invasion.

In July 1943, the Division (commander: Gen. Giandomenico Chirieleison) represented the bulk of 6th Army's reserve forces; it didn't organically belong to either Army Corps (XII and XVI) constituting the 6th Army. Its acceptable degree of mobility made it the only Italian divisional sized unit suitable to be employed as Army level operational reserve. Unlike most other Italian units in Sicily, the Division's morale was relatively high and most officers' leadership quality was good. However, the insufficient training plagued "Livorno" as well as the vast majority of Italian Army outfits at all levels, and sorely reduced its effectiveness in combat. The Division's troops were green. They had never been tested in combat.

When the Allied invasion of Sicily was launched, 3rd Battalion's strength was 34 officers, 1100 NCOs and enlisted men, (4) 47/32 mm guns, (6) 81 mm mortars, 12 machine guns and a flamethrower squad. It had taken up quarters in the Caltanissetta-Belvedere-San Cataldo area, in the central-southern region of the island.

At 00:30 am, July 10th, 1943, a regimental dispatch-rider arrived at the Battalion's quarters carrying a written order. "Be this Battalion alarmed and ready for a possible action. Further instructions will follow." At 5:00 pm of the same day, the movement order was delivered to the Battalion:

"Enemy landed at Gela in the July 9th/10th night. Despite local defense reaction, enemy managed to establish a bridgehead. More landings ongoing in various southeastern coast localities. Enemy air activity much intense, especially along communication lines and over towns. This Battalion at 7:00 pm hours today, will initiate movement on vehicles towards Ponte Olivo (Gela Plain). Once arrived there, it will stop, waiting for further orders. ……1st Group [Battalion], 28th Artillery Regiment, specifically allotted to this Battalion for fire support. Direct agreement."

At exactly 7:00 pm the unit, in battle order, got on the trucks and vehicles and set off towards the assigned locality. The baggage (commander, Lt. S. Rossi) was left at the San Cataldo quarters: on the following day, it was destroyed by a heavy air raid, and the civilian population plundered all the surviving goods and materials.

Before dusk, an enemy aircraft formation strafed the traveling column. The attack caused limited damage (2 dead, 20 wounded, 5 vehicles damaged). It was the Battalion's baptism of fire.

In the darkness of the night, the column stopped in the town of Mazzarino and the officers asked a Carabinieri (military police) patrol about the right way to Gela. There were some groups of civilians, silent and cold. They looked by no means enthusiastic towards their own troops, as Leonardi later recalled.

At the Butera-Gela road fork, Leonardi received a written instruction coming from the Regiment commander:

"You will attack the Americans in the early hours of tomorrow July 11th, towards Gela. Deploy the Battalion, under the cover of darkness, between Ponte Olivo and Mount Castelluccio".

Leonardi was quite surprised by the generic, insufficient information conveyed by the message. Where precisely was the enemy? Where was the beachhead's front? How strong was the enemy? Where were their forward lines, and where were ours?

At 11:00 pm, the column reached Ponte Olivo. The place looked deserted and nobody was around, except for a few soldiers guarding a bridge, who didn't even know the whereabouts of the nearest Italian units! No further information!

The troops dismounted and the whole Battalion headed south, by foot, wandering across the fields, literally seeking the first enemy line. After a few kilometers, the rambling Battalion came across an antitank unit in position astride Highway 117, the main road leading to Gela, but its commander had just arrived there, too, and did not know anything about the situation. Lack of information and disorganization were rampant that night. However, the antitank unit officer pointed to a nearby artillery battery. Perhaps they would have a clearer idea about the situation. The battery commander, a Lieutenant, finally accompanied the Battalion's officers to Mount Castelluccio (Castle Hill).

Up there, they found the 155th Bersaglieri Motorcycle Company, led by Lt. Franco Girasoli, wounded in action during the July 10th attack on the beachhead. His company, belonging to the Mobile Group E, had suffered heavily, and the remnants were holding the hill . It was the only Italian infantry unit left in the area prior to the 3rd Battalion's arrival. Girasoli was a capable and valiant officer and his elevated fighting spirit impressed Leonardi.



The preparations

Behind Mount Castelluccio there is a wide depression, seeming almost perfect as a safe deployment area for the Battalion; the men would have been sheltered from the enemy line of sight, and partly from enemy fire. However, very little information was available about the foe that the Battalion would have faced on the next day. It was American infantry, dug in along a row of hills not far away from Mount Castelluccio and south of it.

At dawn, the Battalion was ready for action. Units, weapons, the ammunition supply post had all been arranged and prepared the best possible way. No traces yet of the artillery Group which would have supported the Battalion's attack. According to the previous day's orders, a Battalion's company, (the 11th), was positioned quite far away from the other troops. This was partly due to a bad understanding of the orders issued and deployment errors caused by night movement across unknown areas. This would have had brought about several drawbacks and worries during the subsequent actions.

The Battalion's officers, while awaiting the attack order, inspected the terrain in which their troops would soon have crossed under fire. The nearest enemy elements were located on some hills around 800 meters south of Mount Castelluccio. Overhanging the flat terrain and completely bare, stretching between Castelluccio and the hills themselves, was devoid of vegetation (corn had been reaped just a few days before), and nearly featureless aside from a few shallow ditches here and there. The troops would have been fully exposed to automatic weapons fire for the whole duration of the action.

Lying on a hilltop, on the southern horizon, the town of Gela, nearly 4 kilometers away was visible, inviting and alluring. Farther south, the blue sea… powdered with countless Allied ships. It was a majestic sight.



The Plan

A Captain, quickly came from the Division HQ and delivered the attack order. Three strike columns would have simultaneously assaulted the beachhead, starting at 6:00 am, after 10 minutes of artillery barrage fire. Objective: Gela. The right column was the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the "Livorno" Division. The left column was the German "Hermann Goering" Division. The center column was the 3rd Battalion, 34th Inf. Regt. It was immediately obvious that while the main effort had to be exerted by the far stronger right and left columns, the 3rd Battalion would just have supported their drive by pinning down the Americans in front of it and pushing them back as the other two pincers progressed toward Gela.

The Battalion had no radio gear to get in touch with the other attack forces, and low hills separated it from the neighboring columns and even forbade visual contact. Thus each strike force was separated from the others and, as it turned out during the fighting, the counterattack was marred by the utter lack of both coordination efforts as well as American firepower .

Even worse, while the two main prongs of the attack were being stopped, badly mauled and driven back, the 3rd Battalion, without any knowledge of what was going on elsewhere, still kept on moving forward, eventually finding itself exhausted and stuck in the outskirts of Gela - alone and isolated.

Infantry reinforcements were promised - however, they never arrived.



The Assault

The Battalion was set up in assault array:

9th Company (Capt. Capello), forward left;

10th Company (Capt. Ferrara), forward right;

11th Company (Lt. Florio), behind the 10th;

12th (Heavy Weapons) Company (Lt. La Torre): 47/32 mm guns with the forward infantry companies; flamethrower squad with 9th Coy; 81 mm mortars on Mount Castelluccio;

HQ Company.

At 5:50 am, just when the supporting artillery should have opened fire, the I/28th Artillery Group was not ready to accomplish its fire mission yet. Major E. Artigiani, the Group commander, had reached Mt. Castelluccio just a half an hour before. Artigiani, inside a shell crater, was striving to establish a radio connection with his gunners. The guns were also arriving from the San Cataldo area, and had to be set up 2 kilometers north of the infantry forward line.

The attack was delayed until 6:30 am to allow time for the artillery to get ready, but when the order was issued, the guns didn't fire - they entered the fray later, when the attack had already been launched. The delay seemed to last forever and the Battalion's officers grew nervous with the tough situation. It was a three-pronged coordinated and simultaneous attack on a broad front to be executed by three separated strike forces. A further delay might cause very heavy consequences leading to an unqualified fiasco. On the other hand, attacking a superior enemy without artillery support meant running even greater risks with the troops possibly undergoing harsher punishment. Leonardi notes: "Under such circumstances, all that we can do is to trust the goodness of God". At 6:30 am, the troops, with the officers ahead of their men, leaped out and surged forward towards the enemy. As soon as the attack started, American guns and mortars opened a massive suppression fire on the attackers. Casualties began to mount up. Capt. D. Capello, 9th Company commander, was wounded twice very soon. 30 meters away from the Battalion commander, who was with 10th Company, a shell splinter lopped off a soldier's head.

The Battalion's heavy weapons, light guns and mortars, delivered blow after blow to the enemy positions, and this somehow helped to counterbalance the American fire, whose volume increased as the Italians got nearer.

Eight American infantrymen with 2 machine guns were inside a small house on the battlefield; their accurate fire was a serious hindrance to the Italian advance. Lt. La Torre, with a handful of riflemen, attacked the outpost with hand grenades. The Americans were captured. Sergeants E. Caponi and Q. Ghioni, 9th Company, proved their valor in the face of death, Ghioni being wounded twice, but going on leading his squad to seize an enemy automatic weapons post. He was eventually killed.

At around 8:00 am, the Battalion reached its first objective line. The US infantry encountered [probably, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment] was not solidly entrenched and made no further attempts to stand; it swiftly fell back, leaving several prisoners and weapons in Italian hands.

Italian losses had been quite heavy, but that was only the beginning. For along another chain of low hills, 500 meters south of the just seized position, a more solid and better organized American defense line [Darby's force] greeted the already worn out Italians with a withering fire. The worst was still to come.



The Slaughter

The much longed for artillery support at last thundered overhead and the first shells hit the US line. It was a morale boost for the green infantrymen, who had seen so many numerous comrades fall in their very first war action.

But it was a short-lived illusion. Hell broke loose as US naval gunfire added its weight to the field artillery and the heavy mortars and beat the battlefield like a carpet, hammering away at the unarmored infantrymen with huge violence.

The Battalion resumed the attack but the enemy reaction proved very tough this time, and movement was considerably slowed down while casualties became rapidly staggering. It took the companies 3 hours to cover 500 meters. Shells, splinters and bullets zinging and sweeping across in the thousands and exploding everywhere on the flat ground were simply slaughtering the men. It was a cataclysmic scenario and the uproar of landing shells, deafening. Yet the troops did not give up and persisted to advance. (Infantry elements of the German Hermann Goering Division, being as badly battered as the 3rd Battalion, broke and ran).

Unfortunately the pitiful training of the Italian infantry made things even worse. Instead of scattering across the field to increase the very few survival chances in the high explosive storm, many men formed packed groups, seeking refuge in the comrades' presence. Obviously, this automatic reflex was paid for with more human lives mowed down.

Finally, 9th Company communicated to the Battalion HQ that due to the bloody losses suffered and the relentless American fire, it was unable to further move. All company officers had been killed or wounded.

In the meantime, 10th Company was being cut to pieces. It had managed to get very near the US posts, but by now it was being hit frontally by a torrent of bullets, enfiladed from the left, and smashed by naval gunfire and mortars. The company commander, Capt. Ferrara, was heavily wounded and two out of three platoon commanders were killed.

An American machinegun selected as its target the Battalion HQ. The HQ personnel found a meager cover in a shallow ditch, but they were pinned down and couldn't move. Sergeant E. Benassi, lying in a ground hole, managed to take up a Breda submachinegun and a deadly duel began. Sgt. Benassi stood very slim chances of making it against the MG and everybody expected to see him die very soon. But a prolonged burst of the Breda silenced the MG a few minutes later.

The Battalion was thus stuck on open ground and being quickly chewed up by a hail of lead and steel which no other troops in the world could have withstood for a longer time. Losses were horrendous and the breaking point was near.

That very moment, however, the reserve company, the 11th, sprang forward and hit the American elements, enfilading 10th Company, while the remnants of 9th and 10th Company joined the assault getting within hand-to-hand combat distance.

The enemy avoided the infantry shock by disengaging and withdrawing. More prisoners and abandoned equipment were seized.

The fighting petered out. At 11:00 am, the Battalion seized the American line, and fire ceased.

Leonardi inspected what was left of his exhausted unit. 10th Company was reduced to 30 men and no officers; they formed a platoon under Lt. Petrillo. The other companies were not in much better shape. 9th Company's strength was halved.

Lt. Baldassare, commander of the recon platoon, was ordered to go on patrol duty and observe the enemy's moves. Later during the day, he sent the following message back to the Commander: "No traces of Americans in the area we patrolled. They are still falling back into Gela. Patrol stands near the Gela roadblock. Waiting for orders."

It was clear that the Americans had retreated into the town of Gela. Fighting inside the town in those conditions was out of the question; a folly, which would have destroyed the Battalion to the last man. Nothing was known, moreover, about the outcome of the other two prongs' attacks.

Nevertheless, Leonardi thought it expedient to take advantage of the lull by pushing forward at least on the outskirts of the town, to the Gela roadblock.

While the troops were progressing, the Regiment commander, Col. C. Martini, sent an encouraging, cheerful message, praising the Battalion for its "superb behavior in battle" and "the brilliant result attained".

Just when the companies had reached the Gela roadblock position and were digging in, naval gunfire suddenly hit them murderously. Major Artigiani was killed and several officers and soldiers wounded, including Lt. Baldassare and Lt. Mascellani, platoon leader of the 11th Company.

Leonardi wrote an abridged report to Col. Martini, pointing out the heavy losses suffered (only 400 men were left) and the critical conditions of the unit, as well as the utter impossibility to go farther. Ammunition, fuel for the supply vehicles (mostly "motor tricycles"), and reinforcements were urgently asked for. The Regiment commander replied that he had already requested reinforcements and they should have been on the way; the Battalion had to consolidate its gains, guard the conquered position and repel any attacks until the arrival of the reinforcements.

In the afternoon, some reinforcements arrived. Not the infantry battalion expected, but the 3rd (divisional) mortar company of the Livorno (commander, Capt. A. Abate). Disappointment was bitter. The men couldn't believe that the Division would have left them in the lurch. A mortar company was a joke of a reinforcement in those conditions. Anyway, the 81 mm mortars were set up on Colle Frumento, a nearby hillock. During the day the mortars opened fire on enemy objectives on several occasions. The unit was well led and well trained. It managed to escape encirclement and destruction on the following day.

Leonardi went personally to Col. Martinis´s HQ post, to further clarify the situation and beg for more reinforcements. The Colonel was very sorry, but he was unable to pour more troops into the battle. The other two battalions of the 34th Regiment had been detached from the Regiment and assigned to other tasks elsewhere. Leonardi remarks that this splitting up of the Regiment was a disastrous mistake, as it prevented a build-up of striking power which would perhaps have allowed the Italians to retake Gela.



The Night

At nightfall, the Battalion was informed that the other pincers of the Axis counterattack had been driven off with heavy losses. At that point, it was obvious that the all-out counterattack had failed, but the Battalion still was anxiously awaiting reinforcements. Gela was just a few hundreds meters south of its positions.

At 10:30 pm, an exchange of shots alarmed the left flank of the Battalion (held by 9th Company). A few American reconnaissance or raiding parties had tried to pass it and some elements had managed to infiltrate the Company's rear before being repulsed. 9th Company had some casualties.

At midnight, the last dreams of victory vanished. The Battalion was ordered to withdraw to Mount Castelluccio and hold the hill at all costs against any enemy attacks for the following day. It also allowed the rest of the Livorno Division to disengage, then reconstitute a defensive line farther north.

Though extremely disappointed and embittered, having to evacuate the battlefield they had conquered with the loss of so many comrades, the troops marched back to their start line. The seriously understrength 9th Company was left at the Gela roadblock as a rearguard.

As they were retreating to Mt. Castelluccio, they heard the uproar of battle coming from the positions they had evacuated. 9th Company was under attack. The Americans were coming to finish off the depleted Battalion, regain the lost ground, and secure a larger perimeter to the beachhead.

After approximately one hour of fighting, 9th Company, outflanked and running short of ammo, either escaped to join the Battalion on Mt. Castelluccio, or was scattered in the darkness.

In his book, Leonardi praises the fine and effective American night combat training. In night actions, they usually showed a high fighting ability, skillful surprise, exploitation and tactical proficiency. It was the result of a thorough and intense training with tactical and operative success as the prize. This special ability contrasted with the sad and absolute inferiority of Italian regular infantry in night combat. In the Italian Army, night combat was considered to be an "exceptional" situation and as such, scarcely taken into account!

On Mt. Castelluccio, there still was the 155th Bersaglieri Motorcycle Company, or rather, the few remnants of it. The skeleton Battalion took a hastily arranged defensive position on the hill.



The end

Just before dawn, July 12th, 1943, a brief but crushing artillery barrage fell on the hill, "with telling effects" as the US official history remarks. Field guns as well as naval guns lobbed hundreds of shells at the Italian positions wreaking havoc among them. When the barrage ceased, US infantry came up, attacking frontally first, then outflanking and encircling the Italian units.

At 7:00 am, after a desperate fight, the enemy spearheads were 50 meters away from the Battalion HQ. The surviving elements were overwhelmed by the attackers and captured.

After 24 hours of bitter struggle, the valorous 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, no longer existed.

70% of the Battalion's initial strength were dead, missing or heavily wounded. That was the blood price paid for the clash between flesh and iron.



Three strike columns would have simultaneously assaulted the beachhead, starting at 6:00 am, after 10 minutes of artillery barrage fire. Objective: Gela. The right column was the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the "Livorno" Division. The left column was the German "Hermann Goering" Division. The center column was the 3rd Battalion, 34th Inf. Regt.



all the best from Nijmegen



Jan Bos - AIRBORNE !

[Kiwiwriter]

Good post. What's the source for all this fascinating research? Inquiring minds want to know.

[admin]

Good post. What's the source for all this fascinating research? Inquiring minds want to know.

Kiwi,

I believe Jan is researching a book about the Sicily Invasion. I believe he went last year.


Jim

[Kiwiwriter]

Good post. What's the source for all this fascinating research? Inquiring minds want to know.

Kiwi,

I believe Jan is researching a book about the Sicily Invasion. I believe he went last year.


Jim

That works for me. Nothing like visiting the scene of the crime.

[admin]

Today, sixty years ago, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division and the aircrewmembers of the various Troop Carrier Groups wondered what had happened. It was Monday 12 July 1943.

Yesterday evening, 11 July 1943, 144 C-47s and C-53s left Tunisia for dropzones in friendly held territory in Sicily. On board of these sky-train were the paratroopers of the 1st and 2nd Battalions 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion with their 75mm pack howitzers and C Company 307th Airborne Engineers.

What was considered as a milrun run, turned out to be the worst nightmare. Allied gunners opened up on the imconing planes, the result wad that 23 transports were shot out of the sky. Young American lives were lost to American gunfire. Over 40 planes limped back to Tunisia, several never to be in the sky again.

The glidermen of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment were supposed to board their CG-4A Waco gliders to go to Sicily, but the mission was cancelled.

Back in Tunisia, the Troop Carrier personnel licked their wounds, so did the paratroopers in Sicily. They lost friends, of course war is hell and you could be killed, but not by friendly fire. Brigadier General Charles L. Keerans Jr (82nd Airborne Division Executive Officer) was killed. His name appears on the Wall of Missing of the Sicily-Rome Cemetery at Nettuno. General Keerans was the first high ranking officer to be killed in the North Africa-EuropeanTheater. His plane (316th Troop Carrier Group) was blown out of the sky. Paratroopers of the 376th Parachute Field Artillery on board of the same airplane remembered the general very well, as well as Major Tracy Jackson, 52nd Troop Carrier Wing. Both men flew as observer. At the time Tracy Jackson was killed, he still had his Captain bars on his uniform. Unknown to him was the fact that he had been promoted to Major.

There is a strange fact in connection with General Keerans. I also have reports from a crew from the 314th Troop Carrier Group that the general was on board of one of the their planes. This particular plane was also shot down, the crew wounded but made it to the coast of Sicily. General Keerans was not wounded/injured and went inland. he was never seen again.

Do you know that operation Husky was the second airborne operation in the North African Theater of Operations. The first one was in November 1942 in Morocco, when planes left England and dropped or airlanded their troopers. Operation Husky was the second one, and it also could have been the last one. Soon investigations started, the American public was kept unaware about the tragedy. In April 1944 the first articles appeared in the newspapers.

On 2 August 1943 General Matthew Ridgway wrote a lenghtly report about this tragedy and [then] Colonel James M. Gavin went to the States to talk with the US government, who wanted to stop the American effort of the dropping paratroopers. It was not almost the end for the paratroopers, but also for the Troop Carriers.

In Tunisia several Troop Carrier Groups prepared with the mission for to-morrow, operation Fustian: dropping British paratroopers and towing british infantry to eastern Sicily. Their target: the Primosole Bridge.

In the meantime the 504th and 505th Combat Teams were doing their job: attacking the enemy.

I am looking for the names of the crews of the planes that barely made it back to Tunisia, also would like to know the tailnumbers of these planes, also would like to know who had wounded and killed crewmembers and paratroopers on board.

all the best from Nijmegen

Jan Bos

[admin]

Dear friends,
another day has passed, also sixty years ago in Sicily and Tunisia. The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment started their training soon, no date was selected to fly them to Sicily. The Troop Carrier were still checking their battle riddled airplanes. Some of the planes could not be repaired again and were used for spare parts. Others were patched up and were able to fly again soon. Also in Tunisia 2,000 British paratroopers went to the American airfields and prepared themselves for the mission of tonight. They were to be dropped near the Primosolo bridge is eastern Sicily. British gliders with glider field artillery were towed by British planes.

In southern Sicily small bands of troopers of the 82nd Airborne Division formed bigger units.It was a mixed bunch of all units. The battle for the Biazzo Ridge was over. The paratroopers won the battle, but at high costs. The bodies were buied in a temporary cemetery on the ridge. The graves were shallow. Just a few feet of ground, then solid rocks. In a later stage of the operation the bodies were reburied at the temporary cemetery at Gela-Ponte Olivo.

The American paratroopers in eastern Sicily were taken out of that region and send to the direction of Gela. The men used horses and carts, walked or went aboard several LST's and LCI's that sailed them westward.

Losses were sustained by the paratroopers. Chaplains from the Troop Carriers were sent to southern Sicily to find the locations where C-47s and C-53s had crashed. When they checked with the locals, they went to wreckage and retrieved the bodies from the planes. The men were buried in the Gela 2-S cemetery.

Soon bodies washed ashore, most of them were found floating in the Mediterranean Sea, at the Gela pier. They were picked out of the water and buried at the Gela cemetery.

all the best

Jan Bos

[Frank]

It is a long time ago that someone has posted a message about this topic. Doesn't anybody has some info to share about Sicily?

[admin]

It is a long time ago that someone has posted a message about this topic. Doesn't anybody has some info to share about Sicily?

Frank,

Here is some info from an interview I did with Frank Mansolillo.

Interview with Nick Mansolillo

Our drop zone was Gela we got hit by our own Navy we were 27 miles off the Drop Zone. I was in heavy weapons. My weapon was the .50 caliber machine gun. Friendly fire hit our plane. Our Right motor was on fire I could see this when I jumped. The crew had to battle to keep us up. Ten guys went out on the stick while the plane was level. I was number 18 in that plane I was next to last to jump. I was with the machine gun Sgts. They were Sgt. King and Sgt. Lafebre. Lt. Mills and Lt. Sweeney (Philippine fighter) were also in our stick. Our plane started to loose altitude and go into a dive. Sweeney could not jump he was next in line. Finally the pilot managed to level the plane off so the remaining 7 or 8 guys could get out. We had lost altitude we were just above tree top level it seemed. We had just enough to brake the chute for us to get out it was a tough landing. We landed in an olive grove. We were all separated from the other 10 guys they could have been 10 miles from where we landed as it turned out it took us a week to meet up with the other guys. In our plane 2 were Killed 5 or 6 were wounded. We had objectives that did not happen we did what we could do. Lt. Mills he got wounded as soon as he hit the ground. He lost his trigger finger and a bullet crised his temple. I saw him a year later in England they evacuated him right away.
©2002

[Frank]

Jim,

An amazing story. Shall I post here the Sicily story of Private Fred Moore of the British 1st Parachute Battalion?

Frank

[admin]

Jim,

An amazing story. Shall I post here the Sicily story of Private Fred Moore of the British 1st Parachute Battalion?

Frank

Please do!