150Close Combat
“Corporal Joseph Toporski, a paratrooper from Milwaukee, shot two snipers and was looking for a third when an Italian girl named Marissa tapped him on the shoulder as he peered around a building and asked him if he would like to go to her apartment and listen to American phonograph records. Corporal Toporski took an hour off for recreation. He got the third sniper on the way back to his unit.”
From Yank, an American military publication
With the collapse of Sicily, Eisenhower wants to land on the Italian mainland. When he receives permission to proceed, he plans a diversionary attack across the Strait of Messina, carried out by Montgomery’s Eighth Army on September 3. While there is good progress initially, Montgomery is cautious a trait the Germans capitalize on by fighting an effective rear guard action. Eisenhower’s main assault is an amphibious landing near Salerno on September 9. General Mark Clark commands the U.S. Fifth Army, which includes both American and British divisions.
The British First Airborne Division lands by sea at Taranto and captures the port city without opposition. The main landings near Salerno face strong resistance, but as more troops land, the beachheads are quickly expanded. Montgomery’s advance is still slowed by poor roads and German demolition crews who blow up bridges and other structures to slow the Eighth Army’s advance. By September 11 a pattern begins to emerge: the Allies make progress early in the day, but are pushed back by the end of the day. Morale among the Allied troops begins to flag in the face of tough German resistance.
By September 13, the Germans believe they can drive a wedge between the American and British sectors of the Salerno Beachhead. Units from the 16th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions slam into the Allied lines, and some German units drive to within one mile of the beach. But concentrated naval fire prevents the Germans from gaining a decisive victory; as the Allied lines stabilize, Eisenhower and Alexander agree on rapid reinforcement of the beachhead. On September 13 and 14, General Ridgeway’s 82nd Airborne Division parachutes onto the beach. While the Germans continue to pound the Allied lines, air support and naval fire again prevent them from breaking through. They regroup on September 15, and the next day again try unsuccessfully to crack the Allied lines.
By the end of the month, the Allied armies are making steady progress north; the Germans fight delaying actions in several places, giving many of their units time to withdraw to the predetermined defensive lines. They blow up bridges and leave booby traps to further delay the Allied advance, but on October 1 Naples falls to the Fifth Army.
The Germans plan to fall back to two intermediate defensive lines before they reach their primary defensive positions at the Gustav Line (which runs from the mouth of the River Garigliano in the west to the mouth of the River Sangro in the east). The hilly terrain is excellent for defense the Allies are funneled into valleys or forced to fight their
