Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

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tions encompassing Monte Grande and
Monte Belmonte that afforded control
of the commanding heights east of
Highway 65. Monte Belmonte finally
had fallen to the I33d Infantry after
loss of Monte Grande and Hill 568
prompted German withdrawal. West of
the highway control of the heights was
reversed, for the Germans still held
Monte Adone and the Monterumici hill
mass.
To the west the positions of the II
Corps tied in with those of the 6th
South African Armoured Division, under
Fifth Army control. Throughout
the month the South Africans, reinforced
by the I st Armored Division's
CCB, had covered the left flank while
the 13 Corps' 78th Division covered the
right. Given the limited strength of
those units and the unfavorable terrain
over which they had to operate, they
could do little more than try to keep up
enough pressure to prevent the enemy
from shifting units from their fronts to
reinforce the sector opposite the II
Corps. Since most, if not all, of the
German units moving to halt the II
Corps had come either from the Tenlh
Army opposite the Eighth Army, or the
XIV Panzer Corps opposite the U.S. IV
Corps, they apparently fulfilled their
mISSIon.
Operations on tlu? IV Corps Front
Still holding an elongated 50-mile
front, extending from Forte dei Marmi
on the ligurian coa,st to a line just short
of the Reno River in the east, General
Crittenberger's IV Corps had two general
missions: protecting the Fifth
Army's left flank and organizing and
training the two recently arrived divi-
CASSINO TO THE ALPS
sions-the Brazilian Expeditionary
Force's 1 st Division, commanded by
Maj. Gen. J. B. Mascarenhas de Morales,
and the American 92d Division.
As part of that training, regimental size
combat teams were to participate during
October in limited-objective type
operations.
The operations began on 6 October
when the BEF's 6th Regimental Combat
Team attacked a sector held by the
Italian Monte Rosa Alpine Division. Crossing
the Lima Creek at Bagni di Lucca,
12 miles north of Lucca, the Brazilians
advanced northward up the Serchio
valley for eight miles against light resistance.
Showing little eagerness to stand
and fight, the Italians fell back slowly
into the high mountain fastness they
knew so well. On the II th the Brazilians
captured the town of Barga, and at
the end of the month the operation
came to an end. 29
At the same time, Maj. Gen. Edward
M. Almond's Task Force 92 began an
attack on the coastal flank to afford
combat experience for a contingent of
the 92d Division. The task force consisted
of the 92d Division's 370th Regimental
Combat Team and the 2d Armored
Group made up of the 434th
and 435th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalions,
converted into infantry and supported
by the 751st Tank Battalion and
the 849th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
The mission was a limited objective
attack toward the town of Massa, six
miles northwest of Forte dei Marmi, but
rather than launch a frontal attack
against the still intact Gothic Line de-
29 J. B. Mascarenhas de Moraes, The Brazilian
Expeditionary Force Uy Its Commander, 2d Ed., Rio de
Janeiro, 1965, pp. 57-73.