The Last Great Cavalryman by Richard Mead

Author:Richard Mead
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783408931
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-06-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

River and Mountain

‘The last two nights,’ Dick wrote to Lettice on the day Naples was liberated, ‘I have had a pleasant site alongside some world famous ruins.’ At Pompeii his HQ was not far behind the forward troops, who were mostly bypassing Naples in response to Clark’s determination to keep pushing forward as fast as possible. Although delayed by demolitions, X Corps reached the River Volturno by 5 October and closed up to the south bank on a 20-mile front three days later. Reconnaissance patrols reported that all the bridges had been destroyed and that the Germans had dug in on the other bank in strength, so an assault crossing would be necessary.

Positioned on the right at Capua was 56 Division, where it was in contact with 3 US Division, part of VI US Corps. It had been reinforced by 168 Brigade, back again after its exertions in Sicily, but had lost its GOC, Graham having broken his shoulder when his jeep tumbled into a bomb crater. For the next three months it would have four brigades rather than the usual three and it acquired an excellent GOC in the shape of Gerald Templer, whom Dick was delighted to have under his command.1 Elsewhere, 7 Armoured Division was concentrated near Santa Maria la Fossa, and 23 Armoured Brigade opposite Cancello, whilst 46 Division extended the line from there to the sea. Both the Commandos and the Rangers had been transferred out of the corps, Dick writing warm letters of thanks and congratulation to their commanders.

‘The Volturno is the very devil,’ wrote Dick in his diary on 9 October, ‘v. high banks and after the recent rains over 6 ft deep everywhere.’ It was also, in his sector, over 100 yards wide for most of its length and flowing at 4 miles per hour. The steep and slippery banks rose to 20 feet on the northern side, where a belt of trees gave good cover for the defenders, who were also well protected by minefields: it was thus a considerable obstacle. The enemy’s stand on this river, albeit a brief one, was to give the Allies a serious jolt. From Eisenhower downwards, many believed that the Germans would now conduct a withdrawal to the line of the Apennines north of Florence, where intelligence reports had been received of fixed defences being constructed. On the enemy side, even Hitler was in favour of a withdrawal north of Rome, arguing that the southern half of the peninsula would be impossible to hold after the desertion of the Italians, and he was supported in his view by both the OKW (Armed Forces High Command) and Rommel. Neither he nor the Allies had reckoned with the stubbornness of the man who would, over the next year, conduct the one of the most skilful withdrawals in military history. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring believed that the topography of Italy offered unparallelled opportunities for defence and he was loathe to let the Allies advance so far north that they could use the captured territory for bases to bomb Germany.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.