Page 142

Chapter 15 – Tenth Indian Division on the Gothic Line

Nine days after handing over on the Arno-Tiber Front, Tenth Indian Division moved forward through torrential rains, over mud-soup roads, to the relief of Fourth Indian Division on the line of the Rubicon. For a week well-nigh impassable tracks hampered troop movements and delayed the take-over. The men waited under the inclement elements with no more shelter than bivouac sheets provided. The effect of the weather on offensive operations is often emphasized in this narrative; it should be remembered that what hampers wheels and tracks can affect bodies as well. Only the highest discipline and assurance can sustain morale during comfortless days and nights in which nothing happens. It says much for Indian troops that during such periods they remained in good heart and in good health.

On October 3rd, 25th Indian Brigade took over from 7th Indian

Page 142

Brigade at Borghi, on the edge of the Rubicon Valley. 20th Brigade relieved 11th Brigade on the Montebello Ridge just north of the Marecchia. The Divisional front therefore ran north and south, with a sag in the centre. At its nearest point the Indian troops were little more than ten miles from the sea. Their mission was to thrust into the west in order to widen Eighth Army’s battlefield. The countryside lacked the substance of the Tiber landscape. The hills were little more than bare, sharp ridges, slashed by precipitous ravines. The area was heavily populated; everywhere solidly built villages and farmsteads provided the enemy with ready-made pill-boxes and strongpoints. The village church with its observation tower and the high, thick walls of the village cemetery, supplied the nodal points of such defences. As Allied artillery and aircraft were loath to attack consecrated ground, the Germans established their headquarters in sanctuary and enjoyed a measure of immunity during the early stages of any battle.

Once in the line, Tenth Indian Division lost no time in getting down to business. On the night after taking over, King’s Own clashed with a German patrol near Borghi, killing two scouts dressed in civilian clothes. The bodies identified One Hundred and Fourteenth Jaeger Division, old opponents from the Tiber basin, as on this front. Within forty-eight hours of arrival, a two-brigade assault went in. 20th Brigade struck from the Montebello positions for Sogliano, five miles to the west on the Rubicon. Starting four hours later, 25th Brigade also drove down the line of the Rubicon to clear San Martino. These attacks were destined to converge but not to meet, as the capture of either point would be sufficient to squeeze out resistance east of the Rubicon.

On the right of the Divisional front, King’s Own, using artificial moonlight, went over to the attack at 0300 hours on the morning of October 5th. Skirting San Martino they swung left-handed and advanced from the south. Against fierce opposition the leading company burst into the village. Out of the darkness a heavy counterattack surged. The British troops were thrown back, losing fifty men. A company in close support refused to give ground, and throughout the day counter-attack after counter-attack broke down. That evening a troop of North Irish Horse tanks arrived, and King’s Own smashed at San Martino again. By 2100 hours the village was in their grip. Before daylight 1st Durhams from 10th Brigade arrived up to strengthen the battle line.

On the left, 2/3 Gurkhas with tanks of North Irish Horse in support, led the thrust on Sogliano. After easy initial gains, stubborn fighting ensued at a cross-roads which offered the only breakaway route for the defenders. The Gurkhas stormed this position, and leaving a Mahratta company in garrison turned into the south, along the approaches to Sogliano. On arrival at the village the hillmen found themselves

Page 143

forestalled by fighting patrols of 1/2 Punjabis, their left flank neighbours, who on being held up on the approaches to Strigara, turned north and established themselves in Sogliano, afterwards exploiting into the north-west along a road which descends seven hundred feet with seventeen hairpin bends in less than a mile. This quick thrust served a notable end by seizing intact two important bridges across the Fiumicino River.

Early in the morning of October 6th, in thick fog and pouring rain, 1/2 Punjabis attacked Strigara anew. The abominable weather contributed its meed to the tenacious resistance of the garrison. The attack was suspended during daylight, but resumed immediately after dark, when the Punjabis were reinforced by two companies of 4/10 Baluchis. The Indians would not be denied, and after ninety minutes’ fighting Strigara was captured.

Thus in two days Tenth Indian Division had cleared the line of the Rubicon on a front of approximately five miles. The axis of advance now turned into the north-west towards Monte Farneto, where a triangle of precipitous and difficult terrain confronted the assault brigades. Its apex was at Cesena, eight miles to the north. It was bounded to the north-west by Route 9 from Rimini to Casena. To the east the valley of the Savio divided these bad lands from the equally rugged foothills of the Apennines. These blunt upland capes thrust into the path of Eighth Army; until they were secured substantial forces could not find elbow room for battle, nor fan out on to the northern plains. These ten square miles of broken ground were held in strength and a major battle loomed.

Facing the left of the Indian front, two high bare hills stood sentinel. On the right Monte Farneto, sixteen hundred feet high, was protected by a maze of deep-cut watercourses, impassable to vehicles and in wet weather next to unscalable by men. More than two thousand yards to the west of Farneto stood Montecodruzzo. This abrupt buttress rose thirteen hundred feet above the plain, with steep and trackless slopes. Its crest marked the beginning of a long ridge arching into the north, which gradually fell away into hillocks towards Cesena. Along the summit of this ridge the hamlets of Montecodruzzo, Monte Del Erta, Monteguzzo and Monte Chicco possessed the natural defences of precipitous slopes, deep ravines on either side, and difficult approaches along a razor-backed crest. Behind Monte Farneto a similar system of ridges worked into the north in higgledy-piggledy fashion by way of Monte Spaccato, Monte Leone, and Monte Reale. Standing a few hundred feet above the flourishing town of Cesena, Aquarola represented the northern extremity of these features.

Tenth Indian Division was now confronted with its sternest test. The flexible tactics which had won ground at low cost in the Arno and Tiber valleys were no longer of avail. Two German divisions,

Page 144

strong and full of fight, held these ridge systems. Only a frontal assault could dislodge them, and that assault must go in against every obstacle that the terrain, the weather and the enemy could impose.

It was a mountaineers’ battlefield, and at this juncture Tenth Division had the good fortune to inherit 43rd Gurkha Lorried Brigade. This acquisition allowed General Reid to commit a strong force to the attack. On the night of October 6th, 20th Brigade opened the offensive. At 2000 hours. 2/3 Gurkhas and 3/5 Mahrattas trudged off on a long night march into the north. In the early hours they closed up on Monte Farneto. The pelting rain and the impenetrable night served well, for the enemy apparently had decided that hostilities were impossible in such weather. His forward positions were unmanned, and the two battalions swept over their objectives with little loss. At dawn the chug and roar of tanks announced the arrival of North Irish Horse, only an hour behind the infantry – a magnificent performance for tracked vehicles over such terrain.

The enemy was dumbfounded and disorganized. It was only at noon that the routine counter-attack mustered in the north. By this time the Divisional artillery had ranged; when an enemy force of battalion strength struck at Monte Farneto, it was thrown back. As a second counter-attack developed, the Air weighed in with fighter-bomber attacks. That evening Northumberland Fusilier machine-gunners backed the infantry in smashing a third assault. All night and all next day counter-attacks of varying strength proved equally fruitless. A forward section of Mahrattas was destroyed in the mortar barrage which preceded one rush. Another section under Lance Naik Keshav Shinde disappeared in the melee as their enemies swept over them, but they emerged battling to clear their post with bomb and bayonet. An enemy order picked up on the battlefield instructed the Germans that they must regain Monte Farneto or perish in the attempt.

On the evening of October 7th, 25th and 10th Brigades went into action against a ridge taking off from Monte Farneto into the north. Within seventy-five minutes of leaving their start lines 3/18 Garhwalis beat down opposition and swept over Monte Gattona and San Lorenzo. Thirty-eight killed and fourteen prisoners were the trophies of this sharp encounter, which cost the Garhwalis less than a dozen casualties. To the south-west of the Garhwalis, 3/1 Punjabis ran into almost impassable ground, with deep nullah-like watercourses and gradients too steep to be searched by gun fire. A church on the left flank had been strongly fortified. Attempts to reach it failed. A similar situation confronted 2/4 Gurkhas of 10th Brigade, who attacked between the Punjabis and Monte Farneto. They had been directed on San Paolo, situated on a road junction to the left flank rear of Roncofreddo, one of the bastions of the enemy defences. The Gurkhas closed on the village to encounter another Mozzagrogna. House by house the hamlet

Page 145

was cleared, but as the battling hillmen fought forward fresh enemies sprang up behind them. As usual the cemetery and the church became the chief centres of resistance; among the tombstones ferocious fighting ensued. Dawn brought no cessation, for in the last hours of darkness the Germans managed to infiltrate reinforcements into the northern fringe of San Paolo. Throughout the day fighting flared up again and again. In the end the series of quick deadly clashes proved too much for the enemy, who withdrew the remnants of his garrison during the next night.

10th Brigade had despatched 4/10 Baluchis to seize ground on the approaches to Montecodruzzo. In an advance along slopes slashed by innumerable ravines, the Baluchis encountered heavy going. Whereupon 43rd Brigade, was ordered to concentrate on this flank, and to devote itself to the assault on the western ridge system.

On the right of the Divisional battlefield 3/1 Punjabis, thwarted in their first assault, succeeded brilliantly on the night of October 9/10th. In an attack on Roncofreddo, they swept through the town in dashing style. Unfortunately Lieut.-Colonel Clifford was killed next day, the second commander of this battalion to fall in Italy.

No rest was vouchsafed the enemy. When, after fanatical resistance, he relinquished San Paolo, the Durhams of 10th Brigade passed through at once to attack Monte Spaccato, on the next ridge to the north. As at Monte Farneto the miserable weather was turned to good account. During a period of ground mist the Durhams, who were no mean woodsmen, found a number of gaps in the enemy’s defences and filtered through. When the sun broke out, the Germans, going about their morning chores, found “C” Company of the North Countrymen embedded in their midst. Fierce hand-to-hand fighting followed. All company officers became casualties, but the Durhams clung to their positions. Two bodies could not occupy one space so the enemy, throwing in a counter-attack as a screen for his purpose, fell back to a reserve line of defence.

By the evening of October 10th Tenth Indian Division was master of the forelands of the peninsula of high ground which blocked the way to the plains. Only on the extreme left, where 4/10 Baluchis had encountered tough going, did the enemy hold ground below the main crests. 43rd Brigade now entered the battle. On the night of October 11th, although neither tracks nor wheels nor animals could negotiate the greasy rain-soaked slopes of Montecodruzzo, three companies of the 2/6 Gurkhas made their way up the hillsides. One company walked into an outpost of the Twentieth German Air Force Division. The, sentries slept. Three were killed and six captured without alarm. At first light the hillmen stood on the crest of Montecodruzzo, having seized the hamlet and the large square church. It is difficult to understand how the enemy, at a time when he was rising to frenzy in his attempts to regain Monte Farneto, should have allowed its companion

Page 146

ridge system to have been virtually unguarded. Indeed of the two features Montecodruzzo was of greater importance, as it ran at right angles to the crests against which the other brigades of Tenth Division were launched, and so constituted a flank menace to successive enemy defence positions. Yet for the two days 2/6 Gurkhas continued to consolidate and to prepare for the next phase with little interference from the enemy.

On the afternoon of October 12th, after a long and arduous march, 2/10 Gurkhas arrived at Montecodruzzo. Two companies immediately pushed forward towards Monte Del Erta. Once again Germans on outpost were found asleep, and fifteen prisoners taken. Tenacious resistance from enemy-held houses slowed down the progress along the narrow ridge, but after bitter fighting, in which elements of two German divisions were identified in successive counter-attacks, the Gurkhas established themselves in the Monte Del Erta. From Montecodruzzo, 2/6 battalion moved up to leap-frog their comrades and to push through to Monte Chicco, the last high knoll and dominating position, which stood above the river Savio where the triangle of high ground approached its apex.

On account of the importance of the Chicco position, it had been decided to synchronize its assault with a similar attack on the parallel ridge system to the east, where Monte del Vacche occupied a similar knoll at the northern extremity of the high ground. To expedite this operation, Durham Light Infantry lost no time in exploiting their success at Monte Spaccato. On October 12th a daylight patrol worked across the Soara Valley, on to the forward slopes of the rising ground to the north. “A” company followed up, and after a sharp fight, in which twenty-three prisoners were taken, established a firm grip upon the crest of the ridge. Simultaneously, on the left, 2/4 Gurkhas moved against Monte Bora, situated on a subsidiary spur of the main saddleback. When the leading company was held up, Major Scott brought forward a second company to attack from flank. His men were caught in the open by enemy tanks which raked them with high explosive and machine-guns. Major Scott was wounded but remained with his men. At dawn next morning both Gurkha companies dashed at the objective. Major Scott’s men thrust directly against the centre of the German resistance, a thick-walled farmhouse with out-buildings, which spat fire in all directions. The company was pinned down but their commander snatched a Bren gun from a dead man and raced in, firing as he ran. Struck again, he went down, but was on his feet at the head of his Gurkhas when he fell riddled within ten yards of the enemy. His men surged over the farmhouse and wiped out the garrison. A heavy enemy shoot compelled a temporary withdrawal, but other companies immediately moved up and retook the position.

The stage was now set for the master assault on Monte Chicco. At

Page 147

2200 hours on October 13th, 2/6 Gurkhas passed their start line with “D” Company leading. The tiny hamlet of Monteguzzo, built on a knife-edged ridge, was overrun after a stiff resistance. “B” and “C” Companies pushed through, and savage fighting developed among the bare hummocks of the narrow crest.

Swept from the crown of the hill, the Germans rallied and infiltrated along the slopes clinging tenaciously to every yard of ground. Bomb squads crept up to toss grenades into groups battling their way forward on the summit above them. For a mile behind the fighting enemy artillery searched the ridge top, so that supplies and reinforcements ran the gauntlet of incessant shellfire. By dawn, 216 Gurkhas had reached Monte Chicco, to be held up by furious assaults from three sides. Both 2/8 and 2/10 battalions sent companies forward, and the struggle mounted in bitterness throughout the day. Fighter bombers from the Corps “Cab-rank” intervened with well-timed and accurate dive attacks on enemy mortar teams. Major C. W. P. Head, artillery liaison officer, followed the thick of the battle. As the day wore away, he embodied more and more artillery in his fire plan. By evening all the Divisional gunners were enrolled in a box barrage programme which protected the flanks and front of the heavily engaged hillmen. When night fell a heavy shoot by spandaus and mortars seemed to presage a continuation of the tense struggle, but it turned out to be deception fire, under cover of which the Germans withdrew. By dawn the fighting had died away, and the Gurkhas walked freely along the high ground above the deep valley of the Savio.

On the parallel ridge system, 4/10 Baluchis, who had been held up in front of the Soara Valley, likewise found their front empty next morning. They pushed on until at Monte Reale they could see above the diminishing ridges the spires and turrets of Cesena, less than three miles away. Cesena by now was almost in the grasp of the Forty-Sixth British Division, advancing from the south-east in the plain below. On the night of October 16th a Baluchi assault at battalion strength sent the last enemy rearguards scurrying from Monte Reale. A few hours later 3/1 Punjabis passed through and seized Aquarola, a mile nearer Cesena. The battle was not yet over. In San Demetrio, on a lower and intermediate ridge, the enemy stood at bay. For fourteen hours the battle ebbed and flowed around the church and square. Two platoons of Punjabis infiltrated during the night, and having established themselves, beat back assault after assault. A German tank moved up and shelled them at point blank range. Even then the panzer grenadiers could not close. At dawn the Punjabis emerged from their battered refuges to find the Germans gone.

Tenth Indian Division had accomplished its mission. In this skilful and bitter fighting it had doubled the width of the front through which Eighth Army might advance on to the plains. Its next directive called

Page 148

for an abrupt change of direction. With British troops converging on its immediate front at Cesena the axis of advance wheeled from north into the west, where beyond the Savio Valley the enemy lay entrenched in a series of strong hill positions. Even before the close of the Monte Chicco-Monte Reale fighting, patrols of both 25th and 43rd Brigades had explored the eastern banks of the Savio, mopping up rearguards and selecting crossings. There were no roads leading from the ridges into the valley below, and the main lateral road (Route 71) followed the enemy’s side of the river. It was essential that the Savio should be crossed at once. As ostentatiously as possible (in order that the enemy might be led to believe that the full strength of the Indians was arrayed on the eastern bank), 2/6 Gurkhas, from 43rd Brigade, and 3/18 Garhwalis from 25th Brigade, sent strong fighting patrols to probe the river line. The Garhwalis effected a lodgement on the far bank at San Carlo, five miles south of Cesena, and the Gurkhas with less difficulty crossed some three miles further up the river.

The careful reader may have noted that 20th Brigade disappeared from this narrative after relief at Monte Farneto. During the bitter fighting on the saddlebacks, Central India Horse had been exploring the upper Savio in search of fords. At Cella, well to the south of Montecodruzzo, a shallows was discovered. On October 20th, 20th Brigade with three field regiments under command, unobtrusively and without opposition crossed the stream at this point and turned into the north. Moving rapidly through the hills, by the evening of October 21st the patrol screen was approaching Monte Cavallo. the first of the fortified positions west of the Savio. The Brigade was ordered to attack three hours after a similar assault was launched by 25th Brigade upon Tessello, two miles further north.

At 1700 hours on October 21st, 25th Brigade began to cross the Savio through San Carlo. King’s Own in the lead immediately deployed, and moved up a broad spur leading into the hills. 3/18 Garhwalis infiltrated on to high ground along a narrow re-entrant, while 2/4 Gurkhas headed directly up the slopes towards Formignano, a village prominently perched on the crest of the ridge. Concurrently 20th Brigade closed up from the south against Monte Cavallo, less than a half-mile south of Formignano. 2/3 Gurkhas led the latter advance, with 3/5 Mahrattas in close support.

The night was dark and weather conditions appalling. Everywhere the dogged infantry slogged through squelching mud. Before midnight all five leading battalions were committed to stubborn fighting. Situation reports at dawn showed no objectives gained. King’s Own and Garhwalis had been thrown back by a savage counter-attack from a newly arrived assault battalion. 2/4 Gurkhas were no more than halfway to Formignano. On the slopes of Monte Cavallo 2/3 Gurkhas and 3/5 Mahrattas were pinned down.

Page 149

An episode during the counter-attack on the Garhwalis deserves to be recorded. The Indians ran out of ammunition and the over-bold enemy closed in for the kill. Naik Trilok Singh, with his section’s last round spent, told his men to sit tight. He would go and fetch an enemy machine-gun. He stalked a spandau crew as they crept forward, killed them in hand-to-hand fighting, and brought back gun and ammunition in time to beat off the next counter-attack single-handed. Unfortunately this fine soldier died later in the day while covering the withdrawal of his section.

During October 22nd 1/2 Punjabis moved up to reinforce the fighting line, while 2/6 and 2/10 Gurkhas crossed the Savio to fill the gap between 20th and 10th Brigades. That evening for the first time in Italy, 20th Brigade staged a set piece attack behind a heavy shoot. 10,000 shells were cast on the enemy positions; a general assault went in all along the line. On the slopes of Monte Cavallo, 2/3 Gurkhas crept forward; a swift rush out of the dark won home everywhere. Strong parties of the enemy were mopped up; a havildar engaged in clearing houses flushed nineteen Germans with smoke grenades and took all prisoner. 3/5 Mahrattas passed through the hillmen and after bitter and confused fighting closed upon the crest of Monte Cavallo. The defenders struck back in reckless counter-attacks, during which the Mahrattas held their fire until the Germans were silhouetted on the skyline above them. At first light on October 23rd Monte Cavallo was captured. The exhausted Germans for once failed to muster sufficient strength for the customary counter-attack.

Indian Sappers and Miners working at top speed had thrown two Bailey bridges over the Savio. Supplies and support weapons now reached the fighting men in the hills. 43rd Brigade retrieved the two battalions loaned to 20th Brigade, and began to leap-frog into the north-west. 20th Brigade thrust in the same direction on a slightly different axis, and likewise made ground rapidly. 25th Brigade turned due north, to cleanse the broken ground above the west bank of the Savio. By the sad irony of war, in the course of an advance in which little except bickering occurred, three outstanding personalities of Tenth Indian Division were killed. The O’Neill, commanding North Irish Horse, was struck by a shell. Major Anandrao Kadam, a highly esteemed Mahratta company commander and athlete, who had risen from the ranks, fell, together with Captain “Tim” Hodge of 68 Field Regiment, one of-the best-known artillery officers in the Division.

The enemy had dropped back everywhere to the line of the Ronco, which paralleled the Savio ten miles further west. The river was in spate, a turbulent torrent twelve feet deep. The weather had broken completely, and every valley bottom was aswirl with storm water. 43rd Brigade on the night of October 25/26 closed up on the Ronco to the north of Meldola, and pushed a patrol across. Simultaneously

Page 150

Naba Akhal Infantry, which had rejoined 20th Brigade on October 23rd, reached the river, about the same distance south of Meldola. Two companies crossed and seized a position on the western bank. Here they were isolated, without support weapons; but they immediately despatched strong fighting patrols which contacted groups of 15th Polish Cavalry Regiment, thus closing the front.

Although resistance along the Ronco was spotty, the enemy was known to hold substantial forces in the neighbourhood of Forli, a few miles away. The Divisional sappers at once set to work to bridge the river. An aerial ropeway was slung over a two hundred foot gap, and the remainder of Nabha Akals rode in slings to the west bank. Next day 43rd Brigade discovered a damaged aqueduct to the north of Meldola, which was made into a bridge by knocking down the side walls of the channel. The Gurkhas crossed and consolidated a shallow bridgehead. Tenth Division established advanced companies for two and a half miles on either side of Meldola, and the forward brigades immediately despatched strong forces to deepen the perimeter. On October 28th Nabha Akals drove enemy rearguards off the height of land between the Ronco and the Rabbi, the next river to the west. A rapid stroke by 43rd Brigade followed. In a thrust into the north 2/6 and 2/10 Gurkhas advanced across the open fields towards Forli. Both battalions after sharp fighting broke through the enemy defensive cordon, taking forty-five prisoners and killing many more. By now the Germans had had enough. On October 30th a wireless intercept revealed them to be retreating everywhere. Forty-Sixth British Division, Tenth Indian Division and Third Carpathian Division were all converging on the Forli airfields, and the Indians in the centre were squeezed out of their front. First the Gurkha Brigade, then 20th Brigade was withdrawn. Finally 25th Brigade handed over to British troops, and the Indians went back to well-earned rest.

These operations among the eastern spurs of the Apennines revealed Tenth Indian Division in its most adept role. Concealment, unobtrusive infiltration, followed by a violent pounce upon enemies taken unawares – so ran the tale of attack after attack. General Reid’s slogans inculcated his division with a dominant idea in terms sufficiently simple to be understood, sufficiently explicit to serve as a standing guide and instruction. With vile terrain and abominable weather fighting half the enemy’s battle, the Division refused to be held up, or even slowed down, in its relentless march across ridges and rivers. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the narrative must follow the fortunes of the infantry, and it is only on occasion that a “Shabash” can be given to the other half of the Division – the gunners, sappers, and men of miscellaneous services who shared in full the rigours of every occasion. The lot of artillery in mountain warfare is not a happy one, yet the British gunners throughout found means of

Page 151

intervening effectively on every call. Their losses were commensurate with their activities: during the advance along the Tiber Valley, 68 Field Regiment had more casualties than some of the infantry units which it supported. The sappers likewise were full partners in every enterprise. Without their clever improvisations and endless hours of work in the mud and rain, the enemy could not have been brought to battle. Colonel Datt’s medical units achieved an astonishing level of efficiency, not only in the handling of casualties, but in field hygiene and in the prevention of ordinary illnesses. The anti-tank and antiaircraft regiments, in lieu of regular employment, became maids of all work. In the course of the advance 13 Anti-Tank Regiment raised mines, manned mortars, maintained smoke-screens, built Bailey bridges, and provided crews for field guns and howitzers. Between the Savio and the Ronco this regiment had rafted their guns, had winched them up cliff-sides, had slung them across ravines on aerial ropeways, hand-hauled them through shallows, and towed them with oxen across the hills. 30 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment had been equally versatile: a field poet catalogued its enterprises in a blithe parody of “IF”, the last stanza proclaiming:

“If you can drive a tractor in the darkness,

Along a road that winds both up and down,

If you can winch a Bofors up the starkness

Of some foul mountain feature without frown;

If you can lay a line, or spot a mortar,

Or organize the traffic on its way,

If you know how to be a ration porter

Then you’ll know why you joined the Light A.A.

It was the spirit behind this versatility that broke the Nazi grip on Italy.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
hosted by ibiblio Support Wikipedia