Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

A DIVERSIONARY OPERATION
would, in the meantime, deal with any
enemy troops still left around the outflanked
Futa Pass.
For all the promise afforded by the
Santerno valley and Route 6528 as a
route over which the Fifth Army might
come more quickly to the aid of British
forces east of Cesena, the mountainous
terrain flanking the valley soon proved
to be the most formidable the 88th
Division had yet faced in the Italian
Campaign. For over half of the thirty
miles between Firenzuola and Imola the
black-topped road followed the winding
Santerno River through a narrow gorge
flanked by high mountains with steep
slopes cut by narrow ravines through
which small streams descended to the
river. As far as the village of Castel del
Rio, ten miles northeast of Firenzuola,
and a road junction beyond it, the last
important road junction before Imola,
only a few trails led from the main
road into the mountains.
Since passage through the Santerno
valley hinged upon control of Castel del
Rio, General Kendall, who had been in
command of the division since July
when an ailing General Sloan had returned
to the United States, focused
from the first on taking the village and
nearby road junction. That feat depended
on gaining the flanking high
ground, a task which he assigned to
Colonel Fry's 350th Infantry and to
Colonel Crawford's 349th Infantry. The
high ground in hand, Kendall planned
to send Colonel Champeny's 35lst Infantry
down the main road to Castel
del Rio. 13
13 88th Division Opns Rpt and Jnl, Sep 44.
Unless otherwise indicated the following is based
upon this source.
Battle For the Mountains
345
During the night of 20 September,
Colonel Fry's and Colonel Crawford's
regiments moved through the 85th Division
right wing from an assembly area
near Monte Altuzzo. At dawn on the
21st the two regiments, in columns of
battalions, began advancing over narrow
mountain trails generally toward
Castel del Rio, ten miles away. An
intermittent misty rain, interspersed
with patches of fog, made movement
difficult and at times hazardous for
men, mules, and vehicles. Under those
conditions it was particularly fortunate
that neither regiment encountered significant
resistance. Indeed, the two regiments
forged so far ahead of the
British I st Division, the adjacent unit of
the 13 Corps, as to expose the 88th
Division's right flank. That night an
infiltrating enemy patrol taking advantage
of the gap surprised and captured
an entire battalion command post.
Despite that incident Colonel Fry's
troops, by the 23d, had captured Monte
della Croce, three miles southeast of
Castel del Rio, and to the left Colonel
Crawford's regiment held Monte la
Fine, three miles west of the village.
Those successes prompted General
Kendall to release Colonel Champeny's
351 st Infantry and send it down the
main road with the mission of bypassing
Castel del Rio and taking the
road junction beyond the village. Dawn
on the 24th found all three of the 88th
Division's regiments deployed across a
five-mile front from Monte La Fine to
Monte della Croce. (Map XII)
The Tenth Army left flank had been
pushed back to within fifteen miles of
the Po Valley, yet there had been no