The Story of the 34th Infantry Division
Book II • Pisa to Final Victory

Chapter XXI • BELMONTE
Dragging [pp. 31-34]

   The 85th [Infantry Division] had done a notable job in whittling down the enemy division which opposed them, and in scoring clean-cut advances against the stiffening opposition. As the 34th found to its cost, these advantages were made only by virtue of high determination and resource, for the pitiless rain had made communications so poor as to provide a major threat to the success of the offensive. The road net, though bad in our former sector, was virtually non-existent in the new one. Flash floods, colloidal mud, land-slides, poor drainage all contributed to the worries of the engineers. Truck-load after truck-load of rock was spread over the trails, only to sink into the apparently bottomless sea of mud. Bridges were washed out, forcing the infantry to use cableways, rafts, and mules - not merely for bringing up water cans, ammunition, and ration boxes, but also for the much more delicate work of evacuating the wounded. In the emergency, all kinds of troops, from clerks to general prisoners, were organized into work details to reinforce the engineers. The offensive, it must be admitted, had lost its momentum and was now grinding and shuddering forward, held back as much by its own drag as by the enemy's opposition. Indeed, the German situation was very poor. On one freak afternoon when the weather happened to clear, ground and air OPs of the artillery obtained direct observation on enemy field batteries, and our gunners proceeded to execute one of the most successful missions they had had in Italy. Firing almost without pause they placed heavy and accurate concentrations upon nearly every enemy battery and caused great destruction. The sharp drop in enemy artillery activity which followed was the direct result of this fine shooting. The Germans were definitely worried by our persistency, and on 19 October [1944] they began to commit the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division, hurriedly brought over from the Eighth Army front.

   In very heavy rain, the infantry of the 34th, supported by their teammates in the artillery, slogged forward over bare craggy hills and through swollen mountain torrents, taking successive objectives in the face of stiff resistance. Castel di Zena fell on 21 October, and the whole American front struggled on in appalling mud although by now casualties had greatly lowered our fighting efficiency.

   On 22 October yet another factor was introduced, when the [Fifth] Army Commander [LtGen Mark Clark] decided it was not possible to achieve the original goal of seizing Bologna and breaking out into the Po Valley. That task was more difficult and required more time and troops than was at first anticipated, and by the end of October theater reserves of ammunition, particularly for mortars and field artillery, had shrunk to such a low level as to make it dangerous to expend more in the prosecution of the attack. The order was given to halt the offensive and to dig in, in the best defensive situation locally available, pending a resumption of the attack at some later time. However, the 34th Division received permission to maintain its drive until the key terrain of M. Belmonte had been secured. This apparently minor feature was nevertheless essential to the occupation of a sound defensive line, since it gave observation southward and northward to whomever held it. So vital was it that, although the Germans had just committed a division to reinforce their line, they now ordered up Kesselring's own bodyguard - a battalion of five hundred good troops - to man part of the sector opposite the 34th Division. Thirty-six hours of heavy infantry and artillery fighting followed before the hill was taken by the 133rd Infantry and a defensive line was selected. At once mines and wire were laid in hasty field works pending the arrival of supplies for the construction of a more elaborate defense.

Chapter XX FLORENCE - MONZUNO Assaulting	Chapter XXII YEAR'S END Defending
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