San Pietro Page #2

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from Mount Lungo overlooking our advance.

Which continued

another 200 to 400 yards.

Many men gave their lives in

attempts to reach pill-boxes ..

To throw hand grenades through

the narrow gun openings.

The 3rd Battalion was committed.

But the advance never got more than

600 yards past the line of departure.

Our initial assault on San Pietro had

been repulsed. With heavy casualties.

The attack on hill 1205 however,

was a brilliant success.

Leading elements of the 1st Battalion

had gained the summit of the objective.

Before a strongly entrenched enemy

knew that an assault was in progress.

To the right of 1205, the 3rd Ranger

Battalion had captured its objective.

But only after successive

attacks and costly casualties.

For on 950 the enemy

was not taken unaware.

Counter attacks were to be

expected. On both 1205 and 950.

They were not long developing.

The fist was launched during

the early daylight hours.

And even as it was beaten off,

another took form.

Day and night, they followed.

Unremitting violence.

The toll of enemy dead mounted

with each new attempt.

The German prisoners

captured on 1205 and 950.

Said they had been ordered to

retake those positions at all costs.

In addition to defending

hill 1205, the 1st Battalion ..

Obedient to the field order, undertook

the reduction of enemy defenses.

Which were organized along

the ridge running west.

On the 12th of December ..

The 1st Battalion was reinforced

with the 504th Parachute Battalion.

Which took over and maintained

the defenses of 1205 and 950.

Thereby enabling the 1st Battalion ..

To throw its entire remaining strength

into the assault along the ridge.

But the first string had dwindled

and shrunk in the five days passed.

There was now a question if its existing

numbers were sufficient to prevail.

Reports during the night

of the 14th December.

Stated that the enemy was

offering bitter resistance.

And that the issue was in grave doubt.

Meanwhile, on the olive terraces below.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions had twice

again attempted to reach their objective.

Both times they came up against a wall

of automatic weapons and artillery fire.

Volunteer patrols made attempts to reach

enemy positions in the new strong points.

Not a single member of any such

patrol ever came back alive.

Our attacking forces were furnished good

aerial cover by allied fighter patrol.

But now and then, enemy planes slipped

through to bomb and strafe our positions.

Which, to all purposes had remained

unchanged .. since the first day.

To break the deadlock, orders were given

for a cordinated divisional attack.

2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 143rd to

proceed in the execution of the orders.

Acting in conjunction, Company A

of the 753rd Tank Battalion ..

To attack San Pietro from

the east over the high road.

1 Battalion of the 141st to attack

over the flat valley floor.

After nightfall on D-day,

the 142nd Infantry Regiment ..

To attack Mount Lungo.

The earlier decision not to

attack those strategic heights.

Having been reversed in view

of the present critical situation.

In preparation for the attack,

all 5th Army artillery within range ..

Including tanks and all-tracks.

Was directed against San Pietro.

And the surrounding area.

H-hour. 12 hundred hours.

D-day the 15th of December.

The 141st Infantry advance some

400 yards from its line of departure.

To be worn down and held powerless

under the weight of enemy fire.

The 2nd and 3rd

Battalion of the 143rd ..

Advanced some 100 yards

beyond their former positions.

To a point almost directly

before forward enemy defenses.

And again they were forced to take such

cover as the quaking earth could offer.

And the tanks.

Orders were for them to enter the town,

locate and destroy heavy weapons there.

Which were leveled against

our attacking foot-soldiers.

The high road in to San Pietro

is a narrow mountain road.

And from the beginning of its

winding decent into Liri Valley ..

It was under direct enemy observation.

Sixteen tanks started down that road.

Three reached the outskirts of the town.

Of these, two were destroyed

and one was missing.

Five tanks were immobilized

behind enemy lines.

Their crews having to abandon them.

Five tanks hit enemy

mines within our lines.

And were thereupon

destroyed by enemy gunfire.

Four tanks returned to the bivouac area.

After dark, two companies.

One from the 2nd Battalion

and one from the 3rd.

Finally succeeded in penetrating

enemy positions before San Pietro.

But receiving both frontal and flanking

fire, they were forced to retire.

Company E having been reduced

in strength to a handful of riflemen.

And Company L fairing little better.

On the mount Sammucro ridge ..

The 1st Battalion fought its way within

a hundred yards of the objective.

But it had paid for ground gained

at the rate of a man a yard.

It did not have the strength to

carry the fight any further forward.

On Mount Lungo however,

despite bitter resistance.

Battalions of the 142nd, in successive

waves, kept pushing upwards.

Until in the early daylight

hours of the 16th December.

Its foot-soldiers had gained the summit.

And were wiping up what

remained of a stubborn enemy.

And that height proved to be a key

position in the enemy plan of defines.

For even as Mount Lungo fell.

The enemy, throughout the San Pietro

area, made preparations to withdraw.

Almost invariably the enemy would

counter-attack to cover a withdrawal.

The first violent thrust was

delivered within a few hours.

And thereafter, counter-attacks

came in waves.

The roar of the blasts mingling with

the rush and fury of the next to break.

Many companies lost all their officers.

Enlisted men came forward

as inspirational leaders.

To rally their battered companies

into resisting yet one more onslaught.

Our artillery was brought to fall within

100 yards of our front-line elements.

After five hours, during which

the earth never ceased to tremble.

The counter-attacks ended.

Indicating the withdrawal of the

enemy's main body had commenced.

Trying to keep contact with the enemy,

our patrols immediately pushed ahead.

Entering the town they discovered that

San Pietro was ours for the taking.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions.

Less than a rifle company in strength.

Wearied to death, but who were alive.

Stumbled forward, past San Pietro.

To consolidate gains and

re-establish contact with the enemy.

Now taking up new positions

some five kilometers beyond.

That is the broad shape

of the battle of San Pietro.

Which was to be the first of

many battles in Liri Valley.

It was a very costly battle.

After the battle, the 143rd

Infantry Regiment alone ..

Required 1,100 replacements.

The lives lost were precious lives.

To their country .. to their loved ones.

And to the men themselves.

For the living of the

143rd Infantry Regiment ..

More than 100 decorations for acts of

valor above and beyond the call of duty.

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