The Story of the 34th Infantry Division
Book I • Louisiana to Pisa

Chapter XVI • CECINA
Scattering [pp. 77-84]

   The Division spent two enjoyable weeks out of the line. The weather was fine and bivouac areas were selected on the sides of gently sloping hills overlooking the Mediterranean coast and the busy airfields and docks which, thanks to the rapidity of our troops' advance, were already in operation. For once, fatigue was not the most critical factor in influencing the withdrawal of the 34th from the line. A certain number of replacements had to be assimilated to replace losses incurred at Lanuvio, but even more important was the job of closing together all the units which, during the hectic days of the chase, had become scattered. The 135th Infantry was relieved of its attachment to the 1st Armored Division and rejoined the 34th in the Tarquinia area.

   A very important change in the composition of the Division took place at this time. So successful had been the experimental attachment of a unit of Japanese-Americans to a first-class fighting formation that the War Department had decided to attach an entire Regimental Combat Team of Nisei to the 34th Division, thus increasing its organic strength to four full combat teams. The 442nd Regiment, together with artillery [522nd Field Artillery Battalion], medical troops [442nd Medical Detachment], and engineers [232nd Combat Engineer Company], began the shaking-down process which always come whenever one joins a new unit. The 100th Infantry Battalion, by now battle-wise combat troops, though retaining their separate identity, were assigned to the 442nd Infantry.

   On 24 June the Division began the long dusty movements by truck from Tarquinia to the front, which by then had moved many miles to the north - so far north indeed, that it was a hard job to find an assembly area close enough to the front to make a relief possible before the pursuing troops had gone too far forward again.

   On 26 June the 133rd Infantry and 442nd Infantry, the latter in their first combat assignment, passed through elements of the 36th Infantry Division just north of Piombino, and almost at once ran into an enemy delaying line which was based on the line of hills running from Suvereto to the sea. The 442nd Infantry was committed to attack Suvereto from the south. In a brilliantly executed move the 100th Infantry Battalion, by-passing the town to the east, overran an enemy battalion command post, captured a great deal of German equipment, and captured and killed a large number of enemy troops. In recognition of this outstanding performance the 100th Infantry Battalion was awarded a unit citation by the War Department.

   While this action of the 100th Battalion was being supported by the rest of the 442nd Combat Team, who moved methodically through the hills to clear Belvedere, the 133rd Infantry's advance along Highway 1, parallel to the coast, approached gradually nearer to the defile at S. Vincenzo where the road and railway run almost along the seashore. Due to the high bluffs which push out from the main mountain mass on the right of the highway, any movement which seeks to leave the road is contained within a very narrow space. The enemy took advantage of his chance and deployed a force just south of S. Vincenzo which required our troops a whole day to clear. The Division's right flank during this time was being protected by the 168th Infantry who found the going extremely difficult due to the virtual absence of roads in its mountainous sector.

   The fighting in the next few days was of a very localized nature. Lateral communications were difficult and the Regiments, after being assigned the directions in which they were to make their attacks, completed their missions more or less upon their own initiative. Castagneto was cleared by the 133rd Infantry after an advance along the highway and thorough the hills to the right of it, causing the enemy very severe losses. The 442nd Infantry reached the Bolgheri River while the 168th Infantry cleared Monteverdi, during which an enemy group of battalion strength was hacked to pieces by the massed fire of all arms.

   On 29 June the 135th Infantry passed through the 442nd Infantry and the Division maintained a steady northward advance along a twenty-kilometer front. After several sharp clashes the Cecina River was reached on 30 June. At this time the 168th Infantry on the right found the going through exceptionally difficult terrain too slow for effective pursuit to be carried out. Accordingly, the troops were moved in trucks around the rear of the Division and re-entered the line preparatory to advancing north across the Cecina River to seize the town of Riparbella. The Cecina River was not a formidable barrier, consisting of a shallow stream running in a wide bed with many scattered banks of shale. A valuable enemy field order taken off a German prisoner disclosed that the enemy had retired to the north of the Cecina River and was going to delay our crossing for as long as possible. The German units consisted of the 16th SS Reconnaissance Battalion on the coast, while further inland was deployed the 19th German Airforce Field Division which had under its control a number of Turkoman troops from the 162nd Infantry Division (which had been very severely handled during the advances of the preceding few weeks). The enemy command had become so alarmed at the way in which their units were being scattered and confused by our thrust, that they had instituted a system of straggler patrols in their rear areas to seize any unfortunate German who did not seem to be doing anything, placed him, with others in the same situation, into small groups who were then committed to action.

   The crossing of the Cecina River was made along a front of almost twenty kilometers, and everywhere succeeded except in the extreme coastal zone where the SS troops defending the town of Cecina (on the south bank) put up a most stubborn resistance. The 133rd Infantry, in cooperation with the 135th Infantry on its right, made a pincers attack upon the enemy, who were decisively beaten. This was one of the sharpest actions in the history of the 133rd Infantry and also one of the most successful, for the enemy left many dead and prisoners and much equipment in our hands.

   The country through which the advance now had to move was very difficult. A series of jagged mountains separated by deep gorges and covered with forests and underbrush made communications very difficult and the supply of food and ammunition a matter of great exertion. The 135th Infantry, pinching out the 133rd Infantry, was now the left flank of the Division, while the 442nd Infantry held the center, leaving the 168th Infantry on the right.

   By 3 July a steady progress had resulted in the capture of Riparbella on the right while elements of the 135th Infantry entered Rosignano during the early evening. In this village the Germans put up a very stubborn resistance. The terrain in the area was such that it was not possible to flank the town since any attempt to do so would have exposed the encircling unit to fire from the town itself. There was nothing for it but to engage once again in the bitter house to house fighting with which the Division had become all-too-familiar during its earlier days in Italy.

   On the coast little possibility existed for speed since the road at this point ran along a ledge hewn out of the mountainside where it fell in a steep slope down to the sea. All that could be done was to block Highway 1 to prevent enemy units from harassing our left flank. The 168th Infantry on the right was, during this time, surrounding and annihilating whole companies who allowed themselves to become cut off during the defense of isolated hilltops.

Chapter XV THE BREAKOUT - ROME - CIVITAVECCHIA Chasing	Chapter XVII LEGHORN Slugging
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