Cassino to the Alps - US Army Center Of Military History

RACE FOR THE PO
many of the Germans of the I Parachute
Carps the village's name signified their
fate. While the cordon thrown up by
the two Allied armored divisions was
sieve-like, it nevertheless served to trap
thousands of Germans, and many escaped
only by the expedient of swimming
the sprawling Po.
On the same day, the 23d, the 8th
Indian Division gained the Po three
miles north of Ferrara. By mid-day all
organized resistance on the Eighth
Army's front west of that point had
ceased, but farther east the LXXVI
Panzer Carps was still south of the river,
remnants of its 26th Panzer and 29th
Panzer Grenadier Divisions still posing
problems for the British infantry. Yet
the position of the units of the LXXVI
Panzer Corps was less than enviable, for
they were in effect hemmed in south of
the Po between strong British formations
on the west and the Adriatic coast
on the east. About the only way for
them to get across the river was to
abandon everything and swim for it.
Crossing the Po
By 22 April engineers of the IV
Corps had already brought forward
fifty 12-man assault boats for an early
morning crossing by the 87th Mountain
Infantry's 1st Battalion. It was to be the
first major river crossing by any contingent
of the mountain division, and the
troops had received little amphibious
training. 15
In view of the nature of the opposition,
that made little difference. Just
before the crossing was to begin enemy
20-mm. and 88-mm. guns opened fire
15 10th Mtn Div AAR, Apr-May 45. Unless otherwise
cited the following is based upon this source.
495
from the north bank, causing some
casualties among troops assembled for
the operation and delaying it, but supporting
artillery located the enemy guns
and drove them off. When the engineers
propelled the assault boats across
the river, not a man was lost.
On the far bank the assault troops
found little but abandoned weapons
emplacements. Only an hour had
passed before the 1st Battalion reported
the beachhead secure and ready to
receive the remaining battalions. After
nightfall, as engineers worked to build a
ponton bridge, the rest of the 10th
Mountain Division crossed the river, so
that at daylight on the 24th all but the
division's heavy equipment was deployed
north of the Po.
About the time the mountain infantry
began crossing the river, a regiment
of the 85th Division reached the Po on
the IV Corps right flank, while the 1st
Armored Division continued to cover
the west flank. His "wildest hopes"
exceeded by the bold thrust to the Po,
General Truscott prepared to take advantage
of it by bringing up the 34th
Division from garrison duties at Bologna
to free part of the armor to
exploit the crossing of the Po. Combat
Command A then moved eastward to
San Benedetto to join the 10th Mountain
and 85th Divisions in a dash to the
Adige River and Verona, whose capture
would further restrict the avenues
of escape still left to those German
forces in the western half of Italy.
Meanwhile, Combat Command Band
the 81 st Reconnaissance Squadron assembled
near Reggio, midway between
Modena and Parma, to assist the 1 st
Brazilian Infantry Division in rounding
up the remnants of the LI Mountain