Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

178
move in that direction. He had accordingly
arranged his defense to the detriment
of the Cisterna sector of his front
but to the advantage of the Caesar Line
against which General Truscott's forces
were now moving. 54
Although unfinished, the Caesar Line
could cause an attacking force some
trouble. Behind it numerous self-propelled
guns ranged the roads, firing
repeated volleys before moving to escape
the inevitable counterbattery fires.
South of Lanuvio and opposite the 34th
Division were two particularly challenging
enemy strongpoints, San Gennaro
Hill and Villa Crocetta, on the crest of
Hill 209. Before them was a series of
fire trenches five to six feet deep with
machine guns and mortars covering
every route of approach. Barbed wire
fronted the trenches. Even to draw
within striking distance of these formidable
obstacles the American infantrymen
would first have to cross open
wheat fields, then attack up steep slopes
in the face of heavy fire. 55
On the morning of the 29th the 34th
Division's 168th Infantry prepared to
assault those positions. At dawn, behind
a 30-minute artillery barrage directed
mainly at the fire trenches and wire,
the I st and 2d battalions attacked, the
former passing through the 3d Battalion,
which was to remain in reserve.
Two hours later Ryder observed that
the assault had gone "pretty well on the
left, slow on the right."·"o
What had held up the right were
three enemy tanks and a self-propelled
gun on San Gennaro Hill. Fire from
those weapons halted an attack from
5< MS # R-50 (Bailey) .
. >5 Fifth Army History, Part V, p. 127.
'" VI Corps G-3 .lnl, 290820B May 44.
CASSINO TO THE ALPS
the southeast by the 2d Battalion's
Company E, but the battalion's other
two companies, unaware that Company
E was pinned down, continued to struggle
up the western slope of the objective.
Reaching the railroad (the Velletri­
Rome line) that crosses the forward
slopes of Hill 209 and San Gennaro
Hill, Company F turned eastward and,
taking advantage of the shelter afforded
by the railroad embankment,
soon gained the crest of San Gennaro
Hill. To the west and somewhat behind
Company F, Company G moved cautiously
along a dirt road just south of
the railroad. 57
Both companies at that point had
dangerously exposed flan ks. At 1445
some men from Company F straggled
into Company G's area, saying that they
had been driven from the San Gennaro
Hill by a counterattack coming from
vineyards on the eastern slope. At the
same time, enemy fire from the rear
began to hit Company G. The men
nevertheless hurried forward to reinforce
their companions on San Gennaro
Hill. Sprinting through a hail of
hand grenades and bursts of small arms
fire, the men of Company G soon
gained the crest, but before they could
dig in properly on the exposed hilltop,
heavy enemy mortar fire forced both
Companies F and G to withdraw. The
survivors of the two companies fought
their way back down the hill through
groups of infiltrating enemy soldiers.
Shortly before dark the exhausted infantrymen
reached the same gully in
which they had spent the previous
night. There they met the first arrivals
'" VI Corps G-3 .lnl, 28--29 May 44; Fifth Army
History, Part V, pp. 127-28.