Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

STALEMATE ALONe THE CAESAR LINE 17S
the west to the Prefetti Canal in the
east, broke up the assault. No sooner
had the attack failed than the Germans
launched a tank-supported counterattack.
After beating back the enemy
force, the Americans settled down for
the night at the foot of the ridge.
After two days of fighting, the main
body of the VI Corps still was almost
two miles short of Campoleone railroad
station and the town of Lanuvio, the
immediate objectives. Yet in spite of the
slow progress, Truscott still believed the
enemy front to be weakly held and
alerted General Harmon to assem ble
his armor for an attack through the
45th Division's lines on the 29th.
Walker's 36th Division had already relieved
the armored division south of
Velletri.
Truscott Commits His Anrwr
During the night of 28 May General
Harmon assembled his armored division
behind the VI Corps' left wing to
exploit \;,'hat appeared to the corps
commander to be a potentially soft spot
in the enemy's defenses opposite the
45th Division. The terrain there seemed
to be favorable for the use of armor.
To give Harmon a more extensive road
net, Truscott, after co-ordinating with
Fifth Army headquarters, shifted the
corps' boundary slightly to the left into
the British sector. At the same time,
General Ryder's 34th Division, now
screened on its right by the 36th Division,
was to try once more to break
through at Lanuvio, while General Eagles'
45th Division was to regroup and
follow in the wake of Harmon's armor.
That night General Eagles sent the
179th Infantry into the line east of the
Albano road to screen the armored
division's preparations, and General Ryder
prepared to launch the 135th Infantry,
less one battalion, in a renewed
attack against Lanuvio in the morning.
Before dawn on the 29th the 1st
Armored Division moved to a line of
departure alxmt 1,200 yards south of
Campoleone station, and at 1530 the
division attacked. On its left was CCB,
supported by the I80th Infantry, and
on the right, CCA, supported by the 3d
Battalion, 6th Armored Infantrv. Offshore
a French cruiser lent additional
support, its guns firing at targets in the
vicinity of Albano. To a staff officer of
the I80th Infantry observing Harmon's
armored units as they rolled forward,
the attack "looked like a corps review."47
During the morning the armored
units advanced easily against light resistance.
CCB quickly cleared a rear guard
from the Campoleone station and then
continued northward along the sides of
several scrub-covered gullies. After
crossing the Albano road, CCA also
wheeled northward. Early that afternoon,
as the armor approached the
outpost positions of the Caesar Line,
opposition increased sharply. Heavy fire
from enemy armor and artillery
smashed against CCA's front and right
flank, while at close range small detachments
of enemy infantry armed with
Panzerfausts ha'rassed the American
tanks. The tanks, nevertheless, continued
to advance, too br in fact, for they
bypassed many strongpoints that held
up the infantry. That happened, for
example, when men of the 180th Infantry
tried to follo\\ CCB's tanks into
Campoleone station; enemy automatic
"45th Diy G-3 .Jnl. 29l(BOB I\Ll\ 44; \,1 Corps
G-3 Jnl, 290920B Ma\ 44.