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

Chapter IX • SALERNO - BENEVENTO
Hurrying [pp. 29-33]

   The 34th Infantry Division was in Army reserve for the Salerno operation. No one knew, when the operation was started, exactly how it would go - everyone was tensed, alert for anything, plans were as flexible as possible. To begin with, the 151st Field Artillery Battalion was detached from the Division, and landed under command of the 36th Infantry Division on the Salerno beaches on D-Day - 9 September 1943. At once the Battalion was in the thick of it. German tanks and infantry slashed savagely at the beachhead, trying to drive it back into the sea. The 105mm howitzers were dragged off their landing craft and rushed up the sandy slope to the very perimeter of the beach. Firing at maximum rate over open sights the 151st Field Artillery decisively smashed the enemy Panzers who drew off but to come again and again. One battery was overrun by tanks. The gunners coolly withdrew, deployed as infantry with their '03 rifles, counter-attacked and recaptured their guns. At a time when the entire Salerno enterprise was threatened with costly failure, the men of the 151st Field Artillery Battalion stuck it out and won. The Chief of Staff of the 36th Infantry Division said, "The beachhead would have been destroyed if it had not been for the early arrival of the 151st Battalion thirty minutes before the first counter-attack." For eight days the Battalion shot it out with the Germans and fired more rounds than during the entire Tunisian campaign.

   The news of this performance filtered back to the Division poised at the port of embarkation. So this was Europe!

   The 135th and 168th Regimental Combat Teams set sail from Oran for Naples, but at once it became clear that the great port would not be taken in time to be used for their convoy. It was still not even certain that the beachhead would be held. Word was flashed to the 133rd Regimental Combat Team, still at Oran, to load their ships - for combat. In less that forty-eight hours, working day and night, the 133rd RCT waterproofed all its vehicles, stored its equipment not needed for fighting, stripped for action - ready, if necessary, to make an assault landing to restore the beachhead.

   Travelling fast, the 133rd's ships arrived off Salerno a few hours after the 135th and 168th Combat Teams. These latter troops, since they had been ordered to load for landing in a port, found it a slow business to transfer themselves, their baggage, their weapons, vehicles and stores to landing craft and "ducks" for the choppy passage to the beach. On the other hand, the 133rd, loaded and equipped for the task, smoothly disembarked everything in twelve hours and formed upon land - ready to go. They did not have long to wait.

   The situation on shore was roughly this: the German Command, realizing that its attempts to contain and then to smash the bridgehead had failed, had decided to relinquish its hold on the southern portion of the perimeter and to swing back to the north, while retaining the high ground north of Salerno as a hinge. It would then be possible to form a single front from one side of Italy to the other. It was necessary to prevent the Germans from organizing their defense at their leisure. Higher headquarters therefore directed the 34th Division to form a task force consisting of the 133rd Infantry, 151st Field Artillery Battalion, and attached anti-aircraft, engineer, medical and reconnaissance troops, together with the necessary staff, and to push on as swiftly as possible to block off the enemy route of reinforcement between Benevento, sixty miles to the north, and the battle area. Once the highway leading south from this town was cut we could take the initiative and push on rapidly across the Calore River and take the fight to the enemy.

   Accordingly this task force passed through the 45th Infantry Division on 28 September 1943 at S. Angelo di Lombardi and, pressing up Highway 7, made their first contact with the enemy along the Calore River near the town of Montemarrano. The German troops consisted of armored infantry, self-propelled guns, and engineers in half-tracks from the 26th Panzer Division - a very efficient organization whose armored counter-attacks against the beachhead had proved so nearly fatal.

   It was not the Germans' intention at this time to fritter away resources by fighting pitched battles at frequent intervals. Instead, their engineers, covered by the infantry, demolished every bridge and prepared road blocks at awkward points so that our advance could not possibly be as rapid as would have been desired. Furthermore, in order to discourage any undue boldness on our part, each U-curve and ledge in this serpentine highway was covered by fire from high-velocity weapons and small arms, necessitating wide out-flanking movements into the hills alongside the road. Great endurance was required of our troops since speed was absolutely essential.

   By 29 September our troops had occupied the heights west of Chiusano and it was in taking this objective that the 100th Infantry Battalion first met the enemy. As the advance pressed on to the northwest, Montemiletto was captured and by the evening of 1 October advance elements of the 133rd Infantry reached the outskirts of Benevento. The next day the town itself was occupied and a bridgehead was secured across the Calore River without too much difficulty since, due to the speed of our advance, the German engineers had not had time to demolish the bridge very thoroughly. While there was a great gash in the masonry, the structure was still firm enough for our foot troops to cross, and when a truck-load of German engineers with a truck-load of explosives came back that night they were surprised by our infantry and were forced to beat a hasty retreat before they could even start work.

   It would be difficult to overestimate the endurance and the aggressiveness of troops who, in spite of continuous rain and in the face of delays caused by stout enemy resistance, continued to press on and finally forced the enemy out of a vital road junction and river crossing, making an advance of 40 miles in rugged country in five days.

   While the 133rd Infantry Task Force was scoring the first of the Division's great successes in Europe, the 135th and 168th RCTs devoted themselves to training in the use of close-combat anti-tank weapons and in preparing themselves for the fierce fighting to come. At each successive assembly area which was occupied in the wake of the rapid drive to Benevento, not a moment was lost, for in spite of the vigorous training in [Africa], the ferocity of the combat in Italy had made a deep and startling impression on those who had tasted it. Those for whom the experience had yet to come wisely devoted all their energies to learning the lessons of other soldiers' experience.

   With Benevento in our hands, the barrier of the Calore River crossed, this sector was handed over to the 45th Infantry Division, while the 34th assembled 30 kilometers to the west, preparatory to relieving elements of the 3rd Infantry Division along the Volturno River.

Chapter VIII TRAINING FOR EUROPE Preparing	Chapter X VOLTURNO Spanning
Return to the beginning, The Story of the 34th Infantry Division Introduction, Foreword, Contents

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