Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

BATTLE FOR THE PASS
tor, were at the top of the summit. An
hour later the rest of Fulton's company
and of the 3d Battalion also made it.
Taking advantage of the excellent
observation atop Monticelli, Fulton directed
artillery tire that broke up a
series of counterattacks while the rest of
the regiment gradually consolidated its
grip on the mountain. After nightfall,
as wounded were still being evacuated,
a company of the 361st Infantry, which
had been attacking west of Monticelli,
arrived to dear the enemy from Monticelli's
western crest, where the intrepid
Private Johnson was still holding almost
single handedly what had once been
Company B's left Hank. Denied the
honor of reaching Monticelli's summit,
Company B had nevertheless played
the key role in the breakthrough, for
the company's determined advance up
the mountain's western ridge and its
dogged defense had made possible the
3d Battalion's final and successful assault
on the summit.
More than 150 enemy dead were to
be counted in Company B's sector
along with at least 40 attributable to
Private Johnson'S steadfast defense of
the company's left flank; the company
also took 40 enemy prisoners. Company
B lost 14 men killed and 126 wounded.
By 18 September the 'western height
overlooking II Giogo Pass was firmly in
American hands, while in the meantime
just to the east of Highway 6524 the
85th Division's 338th Infantry had
reached the top of Monte Altuzzo after
a five-day tight similar to that experienced
by the 363d Infantry. Farther to
the east, the 339th Infantry had by
noon of the 17th captured the neighboring
peak of Monte Verucca and
during the afternoon the 337th Infan-
335
try on the corps right flank occupied
Monte Pratone. 9
Once the 363d Infantry had captured
the summit of Monticelli, the
361st Infantry followed enemy withdrawal
onto the hills west of Monticelli.
Meanwhile, slightly farther to the west,
a two-regiment containing attack had
carried the 34th Division to within
striking distance of the Futa Pass. By
fostering the illusion that the Futa Pass
was the t(:>cus of the Fifth Army offensive,
as noted earlier, the 34th Division
had assured that no enemy t(xces from
that sector would be shifted to II Giogo
Pass. That ruse undoubtedly contributed
to the breakthrough at II Giogo
Pass. 10
East of II Giogo Pass and the II
Corps sector the British 13 Corps, constltutmg
the Fihh Army right wing, had
played a similar role by pinning down
enemy troops that might otherwise have
been shifted westward to oppose the
army's main eHurt. As were units west
of the pass, the British corps was
echeloned to the rear of the 1 I Corps.
The flank units nevertheless had advanced
sufficiently to afford favorable
jump-off positions t()r exploiting what
amounted to a breakthrough of the
Gothic Line seven miles wide astride II
Giogo Pass, and troops on the Fifth
Army's extreme west wing had drawn
up to the line.
The six-day tight had taken an inevitable
toll of the three assault divisions of
" See Mathews, "Breakthrough at \ionte Altuzzo,"
in Three Battlrs for a detailed account of the
breakthrough operation in the 85th Division sector.
III In the course of the attack, 2d Lt. Thomas ":.
Wigle, Company K, 135th Infantry, distinguished
himself in action on 14 September on Monte
Frassino, He was posthumously awarded the Medal
of Honor.