The Wartime Experience of John Gay Bascom
by John Bascom
“The Attack that Wasn’t”
November – December 1944
The onset of
November saw the 34th Division, it’s constituent and sister units on
a broad defensive east – west line across the northern Apennines centered on
Route 65. The assault had stalled due to
a combination of German tenacity, well planned and constructed fortifications,
horrible weather even by the standards of the Apennines, and a serious
depletion of men, equipment and supplies.
The Allies
main thrust against the Germans was the invasion of northern Europe through
France at Normandy in June 1944. By
November, the main European assault had driven the Germans from France and
Belgium back into the motherland.
American troops had approached the western German border and were
threatening the Rhine. Berlin would then
be within striking distance. The thrust
into Germany was receiving top priority for men and equipment. Our forces in northern Italy were a neglected
stepchild, contributing to the shortages that made cracking the Gothic Line
increasingly difficult.
The Germans
were not fairing well either. Their
homeland had been subjected to relentless strategic bombing for four
years. Thousands of huge, heavily laden Allied
planes rained hundreds of tons of incendiary and high explosive bombs on German
cities daily. Smaller aircraft swooped
in on their military concentrations, strafing, bombing and launching
air-to-ground rockets. The Allies had
established near complete air superiority and had largely destroyed the German
Air Force and Navy. Industrial capacity
was crippled, German equipment had been decimated on a wholesale basis, and
countless thousands of Nazi soldiers had been killed, wounded or captured. And the Russians had turned the tide and were
advancing rapidly on Germany from the east.
The Germans’ main priority was protecting the homeland, and Italy was an
afterthought. As such, their men,
equipment and supplies were dwindling in Italy as well, more so perhaps than
those of the Allies.
For both
sides the battle in Italy was seen as a secondary front designed to frustrate
the enemy. The Allies sought to pin
German forces down to prevent their use in the main defense of their country
further north in Europe. The Germans
realized they could not defeat the Allies in Italy, who enjoyed a huge advantage
in manpower and materials. Their
objective was to stall our advance, keep our forces from reinforcing the
assault that was proceeding well across northern Europe, and only secondarily
to protect their southern borders.
German leadership in Italy had long wanted to fall back into the more
defensible Swiss and Austrian Alps to avoid further carnage. Italy itself was seen as being of little
strategic importance. But Hitler had ordered
a “no retreat” policy, so the Germans fought on across the Gothic Line.
General
Clark’s plan to crush the Gothic Line and pour into the Po Valley by the end of
October had failed. The infamous
Apennine winter would soon make maneuvering for an attack virtually impossible. Against this backdrop, a renewed assault
toward the Po was ordered to begin in November before the worst of the winter
weather could set in.
In early
November, Dad’s 3rd Battalion was in reserve in Montecatini. Many of the men were billeted in hotels or
other buildings in the town. They were finally
able to shower, relax, socialize and even attend a few movies. There was mail to and from home. The commanding generals visited the area to
commend troops and award medals.
Training was also conducted and fresh troops and equipment arrived.
The R&R
did not last long. General Clark was
still committed to reaching the Po before winter. For the time being, the II Corps’ line deep
in the northern reaches of the German Gothic Line was still held by our
troops. November saw the opportunity to
improve our positions, destroy enemy guns and fortifications with heavy
artillery, and conduct reconnaissance and harassing raids preparatory to a
major assault being planned for December.
By November
11th, Dad’s 135th Regiment moved back onto the front
lines to Barbarola, a tiny village astride Route 65. It was only two miles south of recently taken
Livergnano and eighteen miles south of the Regiments’ main objective, Bologna. To the north were the commanding and
strategically important heights of Mount Belmonte. They were ordered to conduct two patrols
nightly and target known enemy positions for artillery and mortar fire.
Mount
Belmonte was a rugged, sprawling area of deep gorges, steep cliffs, and narrow,
muddy trails. Located just north of the tiny village of Zena and lying only ten
miles south of the Bologna objective, the mountain was strategically
positioned. It dominated the approaches
the 34th Division would have to use if it were to seize
Bologna. It would have to be taken
before a breakthrough in the center of the Gothic Line could be achieved. As such, my father’s 135th
Regiment was ordered to attack it.
Mount
Belmonte was more than a simple military objective. It was a strong point, a lynchpin in the
German Gothic Line. To say it was
heavily fortified or defended would be a vast understatement. A huge, mountainous area rather than a single
peak, it was awash in enemy entrenchments, bunkers, defensive barriers and
crack German troops. Moving onto its
face, patrolling the area was difficult and dangerous. Our units regularly received machine gun and
mortar fire. Uncharacteristically clear
days occasionally allowed our aircraft to effectively bomb and strafe enemy
positions to our front. For its part,
the enemy fired tank, artillery and machine gun rounds into our positions with
regularity. They, too, continuously
patrolled, assaulted our positions or counterattacked those they had recently
lost. Once our units gained a ridge or
prominence, they immediately made preparations to repel the almost certain
counterattacks. All the while, our
patrols constantly met and exchanged fire with those of the Germans.
Aggressive
patrolling, firefights, assaults and ambushes continued through
mid-November. On the 18th of
November, Company L and other elements of the 135th were relocated
to the village of Sassi, where they continued to receive enemy artillery
fire. Mount Belmonte remained firmly in
German hands. But my father would
revisit it again and again before it finally fell.
On November
20th, they moved farther back to Barbarola south of Livergnano,
where they had originally been located earlier in November. Two days later they fell back behind the
front lines to Barberino for some well needed rest after being encamped in the
field for most of the month. By the
evening of the 25th, the entire 135th Regiment was in
reserve at Barberino. Training resumed
and a few one day passes to Florence were granted. General Bolte, commanding officer of the
entire 34th Division, presented the Combat Infantry Award to
the 135th Regiment in recognition of their distinguished performance
in the Gothic Line campaign.
Commanding
generals were planning a new, intensified assault and the rest at Barberino was
not to last long. Company L was
dispatched once again to Barbarola and then marched forward to Sadurano,
situated east of Route 65 about two miles from Livergnano. The weather had remained cool and rainy all
through November, and the area where they were ordered to encamp in tents was
covered in nearly a foot of water and slush.
Fortunately for Company L, it was soon ordered to move out and reinforce
the sister 133rd Regiment near the village of Quercito where living
conditions were slightly more tolerable.
Another assault on stubborn Mount
Belmonte, still partially occupied by the Germans even after two weeks of
bloody attacks, was scheduled to begin in a few days.
A flock of
twenty-five sheep was obtained to probe for mine fields. A German deserter was captured who reported
that some twenty agents had been sent to infiltrate the American line including
six women. Our combat patrols
increasingly received machine gun, artillery and mortar fire. Heavy rain and enemy fire were delaying any
new major attack. Still, unit officers
were meeting regularly to discuss plans for the long-awaited main assault. The Germans, perhaps sensing an attack,
increased patrolling and shelling activities.
The men were in high anticipation.
Still, rain
and fog delayed action. On the
occasional clear day, allied planes attacked enemy positions to our front. Some minor repositioning occurred and
aggressive patrolling continued. About December
16th, the 3rd Battalion was ordered to return to Barberino,
marching cross country through rain and thick mud. There the 135th was reinforced
with two additional battalions from a sister unit, bringing the total to five
battalions.
Winter
weather was beginning to arrive. Snow
and ice covered the hilltops and roads.
The men were issued cold weather gear, including white “snow parkas” for
some. A Christmas dinner was served for
those in reserve including the 135th Regiment, and church services
were available.
Having been
thwarted in efforts to attack earlier in December, the American senior commanders
had been planning the long-delayed offensive against the length of the entire
coast-to-coast Gothic Line to begin on Christmas Eve. The goal was to surprise the Germans and
finally break through before the worst of the winter weather. It would be the last chance before
spring. The date for the attack had been
continuously postponed due primarily weather, and Christmas would be the latest
it could be launched.
The Germans,
however, had learned of the preparations, and planned their own preemptive
assault before the Americans could attack.
They initiated a major, multi-division thrust southward along the Mediterranean
coast against the recently arrived American 92nd Division, which the
Germans viewed as particularly vulnerable.
The enemy’s aim was not to defeat the Allied armies there, but to create
a major diversion designed to draw Allied reinforcements from the center of the
Gothic Line to the coast in defense of the 92nd. In in so doing, it would spoil the assault on
the center of their lines. The strategy
worked. Allied commanders became aware
of the Germans’ plan a few days before it was to begin, and units were shifted
eastward to block the German onslaught.
Elements of the 135 Regiment were moved west near Lucca in the 92nd
Division’s sector near the coast to help them stop the Germans.
Also
significant was the Germans’ pre-Christmas thrust into Allied lines in Belgium,
the famous Battle of the Bulge. It
met with some initial success, although it was ultimately turned back, in large
part by the counterattack of Patton’s armored forces at Bastogne. Nonetheless, the Allies were alerted to the
fact that the Germans did not intend to go quietly into the night. All this increased the anxiety of commanders
further south in Italy.
Ultimately, the German assault against the coastal 92nd Division was halted, but equipment and forces had been reduced and realigned in the II Corps along the Route 65 sector. By the time the threat had passed, the weather had taken a bad turn and it was too late into winter for the planned breakthrough assault to Bologna to occur any time soon. Any such action against the center of the Gothic Line would have to wait until spring.
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Next Installment: Holding on in the Winter; Cold, Snow, Slush, and Sickness
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