Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

THROUGH THE WINTER
The unsung heroes of the supply
operations were the engineer, transportation,
and quartermaster units. Transportation
units kept traffic moving over
roads that engineers not only kept open
but even managed to improve for the
heavy traffic scheduled for future operations.
Thousands of Italian civilians
helped. In addition to providing
warmer clothing and improved rations,
the quartermaster units operated and
maintained rest centers in the Arno
valley, including centers at historic Florence
and at Montecatini, where the
troops could enjoy the therapeutic
properties of sulphur springs long
famed among European upper classes.
Soft beds were among the amenities
that a fashionable watering place could
offer, even in wartime.
Even at the front life became more
endurable. An army-wide campaign to
winterize living quarters, made }X)ssible
by a static front, gave the infantrymen a
few more creature comforts. Although
men actually manning the forward positions
remained in foxholes, they made
them as comfortable as human ingenuity
could devise. In support and reserve
positions troops constructed snug dugouts,
and in some cases enjoyed the
comparative comforts of pyramidal
tents eq uipped with oil- or lignite-burning
stoves. For evacuation hospitals,
Nissen huts and other prefabricated
buildings replaced the tents. The men
would spend the winter in as comfortable
circumstances as possible fix a field
army in a war-devastated land.
Strengthening the Army
The winter lull also afforded Allied
commanders an opportunity to rein-
415
f()rce their armies. On 27 December,
about the time the Germans made their
brief f()ray into the Serchio valley, the
first units of the U.S. 10th Mountain
Division, under the command of Maj.
Gen. George P. Hays, landed in Italy,
and within two weeks the entire division
was ashore. 2 In late March the Japanese-American
442d Infantry, with attached
units, returned from France,
where the regiment had served since
September of the preceding year. At
the same time the Legnano Combat
Group, an Italian infantry unit of about
brigade strength, one of five trained
and equipped by the British, was assigned
to the Fifth Army. The remaining
four Italian combat groups composed
of veteran soldiers of the old
Italian army, joined the Eighth Army.
There were also a number of Italian
engineer, quartermaster, and medical
units assigned or attached to various
Allied commands. 3
Also in March the 536th and 527th
Field Artillery Battalions, both equipped
with powerful 8-inch howitzers, arrived
from the United States. Those were
later joined by the 530th Field Artillery
Battalion (I55-mm. guns), the 765th
and 766th Field Artillery Battalions
(I 55-mm. howitzers), and headquarters
of the 428th Field Artillery Group. In
addition there also arrived the 679th
Tank Destroyer Battalion, equipped
2Fifth Army History, Part VIII, pp. 72-73 and 91-
93; Alexander's Rpt to the CCS, The Italian
Campaign, 12 Dec 44 to 2 May 45, p. 24; Opns
Instructions No.2, Hq. Fifth U.S. Army, 9 Jan 45,
annex F. to above. Unless otherwise indicated the
following section is based on these references.
3See Coakley and Leighton, Global LogistiC-' and
Strategy, 1943-45, pp. 716-720, for details concerning
Allied use of Italian manpower following the
Italian surrender in September 1943.