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

Chapter XXII • YEAR'S END
Defending [pp. 35-42]

   Thus the great Gothic Line offensive ended - without fanfare, without being planned by the army, almost without being noticed by the world. And thus, also, insidiously, began the phase of the Italian Campaign which became known to those who were in it as the Apennine Winter. It is well here to run over in our minds, just as the soldiers of the Division did, what had been achieved and what had been lost as a result of the weeks of strain, suffering, and depletion since the first day of September [1944] when they began to climb the hills north of Florence. First, and without question, the Gothic Line, the intended bastion for northern Italy, had been destroyed. All that was now left were the deserted pillboxes, the twisted guns, the bedraggled wire of the conquered defenses. Secondly, the Apennine Mountains, which were the real protection of the Po Valley, had been climbed and the peaks left many kilometers in our rear. While the chain had not been completely pierced, the 34th Division was now facing down-hill and for the first time in many a month looked upon the enemy from higher hills than he possessed. Thirdly, a strong, well-rested enemy force had been routed, depleted, and was, at the time when the fighting died down, so exhausted as to be capable of only very limited operations. All that represented a clear-cut gain; but what was the cost? We had suffered heavy losses; no less than 107% of rifle company officers had in two months become casualties. We had become disorganized and tired so that concerted action, where each element supported the others, became daily more difficult to accomplish. We had run out of artillery and mortar ammunition, so that in default of heavy weapons' support any further advances by our weary foot soldiers would have had to be made at the cost of much heavier losses than we has suffered already. Let it be frankly said that our success was not complete. The energy and blood so freely expended would have to flow again in order to force a way through the last few kilometers of mountains which alone separated us from the rich valley of the Po. But before we could even begin to make further efforts, we needed, above all, rest.

   It was the beginning of November, winter was almost upon us, our defenses were flimsy, our resources slim. The 34th Division had to buckle down to a program of extensive preparations calling for the greatest initiative and skill in improvisation before it could, with reasonable safety, relax and recover some of its strength. During the long autumn nights, in dank fog and heavy rain, carrying parties stumbled along hill trails carrying barbed wire, mines, and sandbags to improve the hasty defenses. Soon we had a barrier between us and the Germans which gave protection from surprise attack and permitted us to devote more time to protect troops from the weather In the Apennines, small stone-built farmers' cottages are scattered sparsely in the hills; every effort was made to use these as shelters and as supply bases. Straining the overworked American ingenuity, the infantry devised dugouts, hewed caves, piled sandbags, and arrived somehow at rough dwellings where men could obtain shelter from the wind and cold, and protection from enemy fire, and a place to warm coffee or to light a pipe. Up on the mountain peaks haggard soldiers looked through their glasses and could discern the shining city of Bologna dimly through the fall haze. And they could also see little groups of Germans digging, carrying, and laboring in much the same way as our soldiers, to gain some place to live in during the coming weeks. Gradually, as the days went by without major action on either side, a routine of life became established as the cold hand of winter pressed more heavily upon the mountains. The troops in the frontline were thinned out so that as many as possible could be brought back for a rest, bath, and clean clothes. Patrols became the chief activity of the infantrymen, and as time passed and the Germans became more and more firmly seated in their positions, the risks to each scouting party grew. As if fretting at the ammunition restrictions imposed upon them, the artillery and mortars growled a little, popped out a few shells, and returned to stony silence. The rain grew colder and turned to sleet, the mud grew deeper and thicker, the wounded lay longer and suffered more. The winter was going to be rough.

   When the Gothic Line offensive was called off, it had originally been hoped that the delay in resuming the attack would be comparatively short - a matter of four or five weeks. Plans to go on with the drive were therefore kept going and a target date of 8 December was originally set. This was later postponed until the weather cleared sufficiently to make it reasonably certain that we should have two consecutive days of good flying weather, for it was necessary to offset the shortage of artillery ammunition by maximum use of air bombardment. A new provisional date of 18 December was fixed, but this again was cancelled due to bad weather; it was lucky that it was, for the least citizen of Loiano apparently knew all about it several days in advance. The Germans would have been waiting for us.

   As the troops in Italy then waited for further orders, news came from Belgium of a German counter-offensive in strength that had apparently taken the troops there at a weak point and was making headway. Almost immediately, reports came from the Tyrhennian seacoast that German troops were massing for a possible drive down the Serchio Valley with the apparent objective of cutting the supply lines of the Fifth Army and of destroying our main base at Leghorn. Almost hourly these rumors grew in number, although at no time did it seem that there was more than doubtful evidence in their support. Nevertheless, the protection of Leghorn was deemed to be so vital that the very highest authority directed that Allied dispositions be at once changed to concentrate sufficient troops on the west flank of the Fifth Army to prevent such a possibility from being realized by the Germans. Since the main weight of the Fifth Army had up till now been concentrated astride Highway 65, in view of the resumption of the attack upon Bologna, the new directive forced the complete abandonment of our offensive plans. Two full Allied Divisions were hurriedly dispatched to reinforce the western coastal sector, while the 135th Combat Team, together with the medium tank battalion then supporting the 34th Division, were also sent to prepare defenses in that area. On 26 December an attack by an estimated two battalions of Germans was launched down the Serchio Valley and gained a few kilometers before it was stopped. In view of the radical change which had been made in the deployment of Allied forces, further plans for the offensive were dropped, and the Allies had to postpone their all-out attack until the coming of Spring brought good weather.

   Just before the new year, the 34th Division was relieved in the line and went back to the vicinity of Pietramala and the Radicosa Pass for a little rest and training. As a training vehicle it had to choose and begin the construction of a belt of defenses, whose task it would have been to prevent any remotely possible German thrust from cutting the lateral highway between Highway 65 and the east, pending the organization of a counter-attack force to restore the original line. By now it had snowed heavily, and the hardships of digging in the frozen, rocky ground and of working instruments in the vicious wind made this so-called rest period almost as much strain as service in the line, for Radicosa Pass was practically at the summit of the Apennines.

Chapter XXI BELMONTE Dragging	Chapter XXIII NEW YEAR Patrolling
Return to the beginning, The Story of the 34th Infantry Division Introduction, Foreword, Contents

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