France Fights On (English Translation) - Thread II - To the continent!

[Wings]

May 3rd, 1944

Strangle
Italian front - New operation against the Parma railway station and the lines leading south from it, led by the 325th FG with the 57th FG as cover. The Luftwaffe reacts in force thanks to the JG 77 and the JG 27 (which had detached part of its squadrons to the boot), but the qualitative gap between the equipment and the average of the pilots of the two camps is more and more obvious. Thus, although they were, for once, outnumbered (a hundred aircraft against a little more than 80 for the Americans), the Germans losefifteen Bf 109s, against eight Allied fighters. The triple of Major Herschel Green (317th FS), which gives him 8 confirmed victories, and the double of Captain Roy Thomas (65th FS), who now has 13 victories, are noteworthy. In the Luftwaffe camp, Oberleutnant Reinert obtains his 114th and 115th victories.
On the ground, it is the usual damage for this kind of raid. On the way back, however, a lone locomotive, caught near the Ostia Parmense tunnel, is strafed without mercy.

 

[Wings]

May 4th, 1944

Air warfare
Italian Front - New losses for the Luftwaffe during a mission by elements of the 3rd EC against artillery positions south of Firenzuola. A group of Bf 109s surprises the French at low altitude, but the high cover falls on the enemy formation and engage them with the advantage of speed and altitude. The French lose three aircraft (one pilot, recovered by Resistance fighters, joined the following month) against eight to the Germans. On the French side, Major Papin Labazordière and Captain Gabriel Gauthier both achieve a double victory (12 confirmed victories each) and the 9th victories of Captains José Falco Sanmartin and Roger Duval (GC III/3) are confirmed.

 

[Wings]

May 5th, 1944

Operation Olive
Rome - A staff meeting defines the final details of Operation Olive. The American planners had to solve a difficult equation: how to succeed in the same place with fewer resources what they had failed to do a few months earlier... The solution, which had to be accepted, came from the Italians.
Indeed, to fill the gap left by the departure of the 1st Armored, there are only the armored units of the cobelligerent army, commanded by General De Stefanis (2nd DB Testa di Ferro, 10th DB Piave, 132nd DB Ariete and 102nd Mechanized Division Trento). Clark therefore officially requested the inclusion of several of these divisions in IInd Corps in order to integrate them into the American battle plan. For good measure, the transalpine generals even proposed to use the 44th ID Cremona and the 1st Parachute Division Folgore, for a flanking maneuver.

 

[Wings]

May 6th, 1944

Rain
Italian Front - Heavy black clouds cover the center of Italy, limiting operations to a strict minimum.

 

[Wings]

May 7th, 1944

Strangle
Genoa - The Ligurian capital is attacked by no less than five Bomber Groups. Indeed, the 47th and 322nd BG of the 8th Air Force are joined by the 42nd Bomber Wing (17th, 319th, 320th BG) of the 15th Air Force. Nearly 200 Havoc and Marauder aircraft arrive by sea to attack, not the port which was no longer of any use, but the railroads along the quays and everything that looks like a railroad installation up the Bisagno valley.
The damage is extensive enough to completely interrupt traffic for several days. The American twin-engine planes only lose a few aircraft to the flak - a sweep carried out by the 57th FG half an hour before the raid nipped in the bud any possibility of reaction from the RSI air force (the group's newspapers announced that two Fiat were shot down).

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1944

Bingo
Italian Front - While behind the front, the Americans are attacking Axis logistics with Operation Strangle, further north, other Allies are doing the same with the Bingo missions. Today, it is the turn of the South Africans and the French. The Brenner Pass and its railway installations are once again attacked. JG 27 tries to intervene, but loses seven aircraft in exchange for six South African Spitfire Vs and four medium bombers. To assess these figures, one must take into account the relative attrition: the Allied squadrons suffer proportionally much less than those of the Axis, whose best pilots remain assigned to the defense of the Reich.

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1944

Forced redeployments
Bologna - The officers present at the morning staff meeting in Kesselrings are very concerned - during the night the order for the immediate withdrawal of the 10. Panzer Division, which has to return to Germany for complete re-equipment. To compensate, Berlin promises the rapid arrival of the 24. Panzer, which had just been reconstituted. However, most of the crews of this unit have just graduated from the Panzerwaffe school, and experts suspect that its armor would be inferior in number and quality to that of the 10. Panzer.
In the meantime, the 29. Panzergrenadier and the 15. SS Panzergrenadier will have to extend their front to the east.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1944

Walrus
Adriatic Sea - The port of Fiume is the target of a particularly important attack: seven squadrons in all. The Beaumonts of Sqn 18, 55 and 69, supported by the Banshees of Sqn 39 and 603, and covered by the Spitfires of Sqn 92 and 126 manage to decoy JG 27 by first flying north towards Trieste before diving at low altitude at Poreč, crossing Istria and landing directly on their target, having avoided the usual flak corridors to the south. The damage inflicted on the port is significant; in addition, the corvette Sfinge is burned and the MS-43 sunk. Seven aircraft are lost, but four of them fell into the Adriatic Sea on the way back and their crews were recovered.

 

[Wings]

May 11th, 1944

Operation Olive
Viareggio, 06:00 - The Germans defending the Ligurian coastline see sinister shapes on the horizon that had become a little too familiar. They are the ships of the American support squadron, centered on the battleship USS New York and the cruisers USS Tuscaloosa, Savannah and Mobile. Soon, the ships' big guns and the 5th Artillery Group's tubes unleash hell on the front line.
As soon as the last shell falls, armor moves forward, preceded by bomb disposal teams that neutralize the first obstacles. They are Sherman tanks, not American but Italian: they are the 1st Rgto of the 132a DB Ariete. They soon come up against the first curtain of anti-tank guns of the 8. Luftwaffen Feld Division, supported by some ambush Tigers of the 506. sPzr Abt. On the right of the armoured vehicles, the Bersaglieri of the 7th Rgto advance on the other bank of the lake Massaciuccoli. The Italians progress with difficulty, but in the hills overlooking the plain, the 361st and 362nd RCT of the 91st US-ID also attack, at Montigiano and along the Provincial Road 1 towards Valpromano. Caught between the Italians and the Americans, and constantly under fire from the air force and artillery, the Germans retreat and the attackers achieve their objectives.
Meanwhile, the 363rd RCT of the 91st US-ID (363rd RI, 91st Cav Bn) hang on the slopes leading to Vetriano facing the Fallschirmjägers of the 4. FJ Rgt, still fighting.
.........
Offshore, the day is not easy. Around 09:30, the last two boats of Borghese, MS-584 and 586, launch themselves, for honor it seems, against the American ships. This attempt is mercilessly punished by the destroyers and patrol boats escorting the large ships and the two MS are put out of action. But this attempt was only a diversion to disperse the Allied squadron a little.
A few minutes later, numerous spots appear on the air surveillance radars. They are Ju 88s of KG 77 and Fw 190s of SG 2, covered by JG 77. But the task force is covered by the fighters of the 3rd EC based in Corsica, as well as by those of the Joffre, which had found the opportunity to perfect its training before leaving for Asia. Moreover, the 57th FG, back from a fire support mission, answers the call of the US Navy. In total, more than 150 aircraft are involved in the battle. The Germans lose twenty-one aircraft (six of them due to flak), against ten allied aircraft. Lieutenant Bédart, recently promoted, wins his sixth victory. At this date, all the pilots of the 2F and 4F squadrons have at least one victory. The results of the raid are null: no aircraft was able to launch its torpedoes or bombs.
.........
Inland, the 133rd IR of the 34th US-ID, accompanied by the tanks of the 752nd Tk Btn, attacks towards Piazza di Brancoli. They have to chase the paratroopers of the 3. FJ Rgt from Monte Pizzorne in order to open the door to the 34th Armoured Rgt Italia (ex-Littorio II), which enters the valley with the divisional engineers of the 10a DB Piave. The attackers are supported by all the artillery of the 1st Armored Corps. This attack is covered by the 135th RCT of the Red Bull and by the 9° Rgto of the Libertà along road 55, which effectively fixes in the hills the 1. Fallschirmjäger Rgt. However, in this sector, the advance stops at the end of the day in the twists and turns leading to the village of Boveglio, which takes on the appearance of a medieval fortress, perched on top of its hill.
To the west of Pistoia, the defenses of the Gothic line form a salient. This is attacked to the south by the 168th RCT, which allows the 82nd Motorized Infantry Rgt of the 102a Celere Trento to open the way to the village of Femminamorta, which was solidly held by the Landsers of the 258. Infantry Rgt (112. ID). But the German infantrymen are practically surrounded in this sector by the attack of the infantrymen of the 22° RI of the Cremona and the paratroopers of the 187° Rgto of the Folgore, supported by their divisional artillery.
Further north, the Italians succeed in another similar operation. The 22° RI of the Cremona and the 186° Rgto of the Folgore, supported by the artillery of the XXI° Fanteria Corpo, force the German defenses and allow the 81° Rgto of Motorized Infantry of the Trento to break through at the level of Cireglio and to exploit on the rear until the surroundings of Prunetta.
The situation becomes even more critical for the 112. ID that with the help of the artillery of the 20a DI Friuli and the Airacobra of the 4° Stormo, the 7° Rgto of mechanized Infantry of the Trento infiltrates until the south of Pontepietri. The Bersaglieri thus cut off Provincial Route 66, which would have allowed them to bring in reinforcements or organize a counter-attack.
At the end of the day, at the German headquarters, if the situation is considered to be under control in the coastal plain and in the hills by the 8. Luftwaffen Feld, the heavy tanks of the 506. sPzr Abt and the 1. Fallschirmjäger, it is not the same in the sector of the 112. ID which collapses. The 15. SS Panzergrenadier will therefore send reinforcements in the form of Kampfgruppe Gesell, centered on the 32. PzrGr Rgt and the 15. SS StuG Abt to counterattack.

French Navy Light Aircraft Carrier MN Joffre, Operation Olive, May 1944

 

[Wings]

May 12th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian front - Viareggio is now overtaken by the Ariete division, which remains however held in respect by the anti-tank of the 8. LFD and the 506. sPzr Abteilung, despite naval and air support. However a new threat appears for the German position with the 361st and 362nd RCT of the Wild West Division, which opens at Camaiore on the flank of the enemy support line.
In the hills, it is still a draw between the 4. FJ Rgt and the 363rd RCT, while a little further on, the 3. FJ, with its divisional support, still manages to block the Piave in the Borgo a Mozzano valley and in the Boveglio sector. Between the two branches of the Italian attack, in the hills, the 133rd RCT only slowly progresses beyond Piazza di Brancoli in its overrun action.
It is also a draw for the 1. Fallschirmjäger Rgt against the 135th RCT. The infantrymen of the Red Bull have taken Castel Vecchio but cannot advance beyond it. Indeed, the numerous small concrete works along the roads, the minefields, the machine-gun nests where the fields of fire overlap, are as many obstacles that must be eliminated each time by paying the price.
The village of Femminamorta is now completely surrounded. The 168th RCT closes the pocket, and lends some of the M-7s of its 756th Tk Btn to the 82nd Rgto of the Trento to exploit towards the north. In the village, infantrymen from the 258. Infantry Regiment are ordered to hold by fixing as many troops as possible to the south to allow for the counterattack of KG Gesele.
After traveling at night, the SS of KG Gesele counterattacks in the Prunetta sector, which is now threatened on two axes. They succeed in stopping the advance of the 81st Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Trento, although the latter is rallied by the 21st Infantry Regiment of the Cremona and supported by the 4th Stormo.
To the north, the 112. ID detached its pioneers and panzerjägers to counter the Bersaglieri of the 7th Rgto in the Fornace sector.
At the end of the day, Captain Fernando Malvezzi, of the 3rd Gruppo of the 4th Stormo, comes down from his plane exhausted after no less than five missions during the day. He wrote in his diary about the harshness of the fighting: "One thing is certain, it is that the Tedeschi defend themselves. Today I had to go to the front five times to drop my bombs and do strafing to support the Trento boys. I'm exhausted and my aircraft has also suffered a lot. The mechanics will probably be up all night fixing everything, if they can... if not, I'll take the mule. We lost two aircraft to flak today: Giuseppe should be back tomorrow morning after parachuting over our troops, Alberto crashed on landing, engine on fire; he got off with a few burns but he'll be out for at least two weeks. The Airacobra is a good aircraft in spite of its strange look, its tricycle gear and its central engine. It is robust and makes a good shooting platform. Of course, we were used to our agile and maneuverable thoroughbreds, and this one, a second hand aircraft, is quite different in the flying sensation. But let's not complain, it is more robust and better armed than our Freccia, and much better suited for the fire support missions that the Americans ask of us. One thing seems certain to me today: I made the right choice in continuing to fly for the King and especially for Italy. I have heard frightening accounts of what is happening in the north: when it is not the SS who are continuing the Blood Christmas, it is the Blackshirts who are massacring - perhaps worse. Mussolini must be eliminated, and those Germans, who nevertheless decorated me with their Iron Cross (which I no longer wear), will have to be prosecuted after the war for what they did to my country and its people."

 

[Wings]

May 13th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian Front - After two days of fighting, the situation seems to be breaking down on the coastal plain. The Ariete and the 362nd Infantry Rgt (accompanied by the 701st TD Btn) are able to advance about five kilometers beyond Viareggio. In the hills, the situation is still blocked, or stable depending on the viewpoint. There is only a slight retreat of the 3. FJ Rgt, which is now fighting south of Bagni di Lucca against the 133rd RCT, whose Shermans are used mostly in infantry support.
While urban fighting continues around Femminamorta and in the village itself, the 168th Infantry Regiment of the 34th US-ID pushes westward across the hills and reaches the hamlets of Crespole, Calamecca and Casa di Monte behind the ridge line. It thus cut the main supply axis of the 1. Fallschirmjäger Rgt.
Just to the north, around Prunetta, the battle is still raging between the SS of KG Gesele and the two motorized infantry regiments of the Trento. The Italians put all their efforts into this sector to try to win the battle, with the help of the 756th Tk Btn and the support of the 4th Stormo, to which is now added the artillery of the Trento and Cremona divisions and the XXI Infantry Corps.
Finally, while the 7th Rgto of Bersaglieri is held in check in front of Fornace, the paratroopers of the 186th Rgto of the Folgore appear from the hills on the wing. The latter launch a bayonet assault against the positions of the pioneers, forcing them to retreat towards San Marcello Pistoiese, with the Bersaglieri on their heels.

 

[Wings]

May 14th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian Front - Along the coast, the entry into play of KG Becker, consisting of 33. PzrGr Rgt and the panzerjägers battalion of the 15. SS PzrGr, allows the defenders to halt the Italian-American advance, despite the 361st Infantry Regiment and the 751st Tk Btn coming back into line. The Ariete suffers against the 506. sPz Abt, because the Italians are equipped with the 75 short version of the Sherman, much less effective than the one that now equips all the American and French units. The Tigers and the JgPz IV have no difficulty, on this kind of terrain, to align their opponents at more than 1,500 meters - nevertheless, the schwere Panzer Abteilung has only 20 machines left in working order.
Meanwhile, if the 3. and 4. FJ Rgt of the 1. FJ Division are holding their own against the Piave and two RCT, the same cannot be said for the 1. Fallschirmjäger Rgt. In the Castel Vecchio sector, the latter is forced to withdraw because of the penetration of the 168th Infantry Rgt on its rear. To help it out, KG Gesele is forced to detach elements to the south, and the SS have to give up ground on its other wing to avoid being overrun by the Trento, the Folgore or the Cremona. The situation became untenable. In the area west of Monte Batifole and Ridge 1176, the German defenses are in danger of being cut in two.
However, unlike the Florence sector with the Lydia and Paula lines, the Todt organization had time to complete a double line of fortifications in this sector. It is the first system, called the Heydrich Line, that the Allies are (finally) breaking through. The Gothic Line itself is a second fortified system, on which the defenders will have to fall back.
.........
The aerial feat of the day takes place in the Castel Vecchio sector. Major Herschel Green, of the 325th FG, scores another hat trick, for a total of 11 victories. He scores his first two victories of the day against two Fw 190s of SG 1, surprised while attacking the GIs of the 34th US-ID. Later in the day, he finished off a Ju 88 that was coming in on one engine. Major Green thus becomes the "top scorer" of the 317th FS.

 

[Wings]

May 15th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian front - While the situation is still blocked in the coastal plain, the front moves a little in the sector held by the 1. Fallschirmjäger. After four days of fighting, the men of the 363rd RCT finally reach the village of Pescaglia, six kilometers from their starting positions. However, everything could quickly start again: the 4. Fallschirmjäger Rgt simply takes refuge on the next ridge line.
In the neighboring sector, the Piave and the 133rd RCT finally emerge in sight of the villages of Fornoli and Bagni di Lucca. The men of the 3. FJ Rgt set up in hedgehog fashion + with the division's pioneers and panzerjägers. They also have a number of flak guns that significantly hamper the Allied efforts.
In the eastern part of the offensive, the Cremona and Folgore, supported by corps artillery, continue the pursuit until they reach the new fortification line. The German retreat allows the Trento to reorganize itself while the 4a DI Alpine Cuneense, in reserve for almost two months, moves up to the line to border the new enemy positions. On their side, the American 135th and 168th RCT finish cleaning the rear and regroup.

 

[Wings]

May 16th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian front - The situation seems to have stabilized, from the west, where the Allies do not make any significant progress, to the east, where the Italians simply border the second line of German fortifications. The German staff is relatively satisfied with this half-success in defence, but the front had become longer and it is necessary to find a way to disengage the elements of the 15. SS PzrGr. On the Allied side, the pause allows the 34th US-ID to regroup and redeploy.
.........
The war does not stop in the air. Lieutenant Alfred Froning (57th FG), who had to leave the front in a few weeks, had the opportunity to add two more victories to his record, for a total of 15. Like many pilots, Froning is somewhat superstitious and attributes his lucky star to the fact that he never went on a mission without petting Uncle Bud, the Fighting Cocks' mascot. And like many American pilots completing their tours of duty, he plans to bribe his mechanic to change the cowling on his nose art so he can take it home.

 

[Wings]

May 17th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian Front - Contrary to what the Germans believed, the previous day's break did not mark the end of the Allied offensive, but a time-out to catch their breath. And where they expected a new offensive from fort to fort along the coast with the help of the fleet, it is in the center that the Allies attack.
The 135th and 168th RCTs move into the Bagni di Lucca area and carry out an overrun maneuver that forces the paratroopers of the 3. FJ Rgt to abandon the town. Before the end of the day, the entire 1. Fallschirmjäger Division is ordered to withdraw and take refuge behind the second line of fortifications.

 

[Wings]

May 18th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian Front - The retreat that had started the day before inland obviously has consequences on the coastal plain. To avoid being turned by their left, the defenders have to retreat to new positions behind the mouth of the Magra, just east of La Spezia. To make their task easier, they ask the Italians of the RSI to defend the port. The San Marco regiment, always loyal to Count Borghese, goes to the front of the line alongside the SS of KG Becker. The new fortified line is based on the Carrara mountains, famous for their marble, and extends through Castelnuovo di Garfagnana to the north of Monte Batifole, along Route 12.
But at the end of this retreat, the 506. sPzr Abt falls to nine operational machines. Indeed, the slightest movement triggers the intervention of the allied aviation or artillery, and the machines victims of mechanical problems must be abandoned. A record is broken in the plain south of La Spezia by the 324th FG: that of the highest number of rockets fired in a day by a USAAF group, a record that would stand until the end of the war in Italy. In this sector, the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht was really done under a rain of rockets !
On the other side, the 132a DB Ariete and the 91st US-ID pursue the retreating enemy. But out of the three armoured battalions assigned to the Wild West Division, the losses amount to about fifty vehicles. As for the Italians, they leave more than sixty tanks on the field (the Ariete engineers lost their ten Sherman-Dozers). With such losses, the allied staff knows that the initial objective of Operation Olive, to take La Spezia, is probably out of reach.

 

[Wings]

May 19th, 1944

Italian front - As the American troops are finishing their work on the German position, drawing the outline of the new line, the order to stop the operation is given, as the armoured losses are too high. In front of the war correspondents, General Clark presents the operation as an essentially American success: the Hun had been pushed back and although La Spezia had not been liberated, the port has been neutralized because it is now within artillery range. The Americans thus counterbalance the British success obtained the previous month.
Later, in his memoirs, Mark Clark would make amends by acknowledging the preponderant role played by the Trento, Cremona and Folgore overun on the right wing, as well as the sacrificial spirit of the Italian armoured troops. At the time, the generals of the co-belligerent army had to agree to remain discreet, already happy that they had been trusted, while being aware that the Americans had not really had a choice.

 

[Wings]

May 20th, 1944

Operation Olive
Italian Front - General Kesselring himself comes to La Spezia to listen to the reports of the battle that had just ended. The massive engagement of Italian armor was a bad surprise. The losses suffered and the extension of the front line required the commitment of part of the 15. SS PanzerGrenadier, which found itself somewhat fixed in the front line, while the arrival of the armored division promised by Berlin is still awaited. Priority will be given to the replenishment of the equipment of the 8. Luftwaffen Feld Division, especially its anti-tank equipment, and the 506. sPzr Abt, which had been very hard hit. The 258. IR of the 112. ID literally sacrificed itself at Femminamorta; the survivors will be regrouped in a divisional rifle battalion.
For the future, Kesselring is lucid. Of course, the Americans and their Italian allies could only hope to advance in this mountainous sector by losing people, but a possible breakthrough would be definitive and would undoubtedly lead to a resumption of the war of movement like in the previous year, with no terrain to hold on to. However, the German general thinks that such a breakthrough is more likely to come from the British, who had shown great strength the previous month. Upon arrival, the 24. Panzer Division would be deployed in front of them, like the 10. Panzer before. But it will be necessary to prepare evacuation plans - without telling those boasts of the RSI - and new defense lines, even if it means converting some of the Südwall equipment, which is now useless!
.........
Now within range of the Allied artillery, the port of La Spezia is neutralized. With it, the last hopes of attacking the Allied convoys vanishes. At night, the corvette Diana, which had been lucky until then, leaves the port to find refuge further north. The Xa MAS is practically gone. Most of the men who had not already volunteered to defend the city with the San Marco Regiment are thinking of enlisting elsewhere.

 

[Wings]

May 21st, 1944

Walrus
Trieste - Business is picking up in the Adriatic for the RAF formations. Arriving in the harbour in the early morning, the Wellingtons of Sqn 70 and 214 are able to take care of their aim and their bombs are particularly effective. In the shipyards, the corvette Berenice is burnt, the Sibilla is thrown against the doors of the dry dock and the Fenice is laid on her side. These ships were never repaired (they were scrapped on site at the end of the conflict). JG 27 tries to react, but it is without counting on the escort of Sqn 73 and 92, which effectively protect the bombers. Lieutenant Marshall (Sqn 73) obtains his 10th victory and Lieutenant Gasson (Sqn 92) his 7th.
Later in the day and further south on the coast, the MS-25 and 32 are surprised at sea west of Pula by a marauding Banshee flight from Sqn 39. The two patrol boats are chopped by the 4 x 20 mm of the twin-engines. During the same patrol, Lieutenant Cox, who already had four victories on Beaufighters, becomes an ace by shooting down an isolated Bf 110. He is the first ace on the Banshee in the Mediterranean, where the short distances generally limit the aircraft to support or anti-ship missions, rather than long-range hunting.
At that time, the Axis navies have only five patrol boats and a small corvette left in the Adriatic.

 

[Wings]

May 22nd, 1944

Reinforcements
Bologna - The first elements of the 24. Panzer Division promised by the OKW two weeks earlier arrive by train. Although its equipment is as modern as that of the unit it replaced, its Panzer Regiment does not have any Panthers, but one Leopard and one Panzer IV H battalion. In addition, the average age of the crews is much lower than that of the 10. Panzer.