Photo By Anna Ciccotti | Nineteen U.S. Army Garrison Italy leaders traveled from Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, and...... read more read more
Nineteen U.S. Army Garrison Italy leaders traveled from Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, and Camp Darby, Pisa, to southern Italy to learn more about the World War II battle sites around Monte Cassino and Anzio from May 1 to 4.
The garrison command team, Col. Matthew Gomlak and Command Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Dyon led the three-day staff ride that focused on the Allied Italian Campaign of 1943-1945.
“It was an honor to take members from all three cohorts, Italian nationals, service members and Department of the Army civilians to the Gustav Line and Anzio,” Dyon said.
“The goal of a staff ride is to achieve a few aim points: learn tactical, organizational, and strategic objectives, failures, and successes within the battle, and to honor the fallen that gave their full measure of devotion. In addition, it allows for discussion on how to take some of these lessons and apply them to the modern battlefield,” he said.
Dyon added that “this particular staff ride included a reflection on how the battle shaped and impacted the local Italian population during the campaign.”
“Monte Cassino and Anzio were selected because of their significance to our mission and purpose as the United States Army Garrison Italy,” said Capt. Joseph Hart, Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander, and planner of the staff ride.
The seven-hour drive from Vicenza to Cassino, 400-miles south of the garrison headquarters on Ederle, offered travelers an opportunity to team build while going over history timelines and related reading material.
A joint discussion highlighted how the Italian Campaign, known also as the Liberation of Italy, started with the Allied landings in Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the northward advance up the Italian peninsula off the mainland until the surrender of the German Armed Forces in May 1945.
Ahead of the terrain walk, Gomlak provided participants with an overview of the strategic setting, going over the grand scheme of the alliances with Great Britain and Russia and what the U.S. priorities were operationally after Pearl Harbor.
He noted how “1942 was a difficult year because Germans were not losing and the big fear was that the Russian army would collapse, as it was the only ground force that was occupying the Germans on the eastern flank.”
“In 1943, our leadership said the only way to win this war was to fight the German army in the plains of Europe,” Gomlak said. The U.S. government considered the European theater as the center of gravity so “it moved forward to mobilize and launch a cross-channel invasion first, and deal with the Japanese second,” Gomlak said.
While American operations remained focused on northern Europe, the Allies felt that Italy would be a weak entry point from which to gain ease access to mainland Europe. The Italian campaign would also serve to stretch German forces, Gomlak explained.
“The Italian Campaign is commonly overshadowed by the cross-channel invasion famously known as D-Day, 6 June 1944. However, more than 60,000 Allied troops perished between 1943 and 1945 in Italy,” said Charles H. Jacoby III, chief logistician at Camp Darby and retired Army officer.
In fact, after the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943, the Allies’ advance up northern Italy was nothing but easy.
Amid harsh winter weather, German forces tenaciously defended every mountaintop and valley from behind a series of fortified lines that stretched coast to coast from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic, and that hinged on the Abbey of Monte Cassino.
“Understanding the hardships and sacrifices of the Soldiers who fought in the Italian Campaign and the suffering of the Italian citizenry have really provided me a different perspective. After these visits, I more thoroughly appreciate the fact that I get to serve as a U.S. employee at Camp Darby,” Jacoby said.
As they approached Monte Cassino, participants got a glimpse of the battle geography including the rugged mountains of the Apennines south of Rome. The landscape helped to understand how German defenders were able to hold their positions and halt the Allies' advance to Rome for several months.
Participants walked the terrain along the main defense of San Pietro Infine, a village destroyed by Allied bombings as they sought to wrest control of the high ground.
“Standing in this town, walking through these stairs, it really clicks how brutal fighting was in the Italian campaign,” said Gomlak during a standing panel discussion inside the ruins of a bombed church and never rebuilt.
“Monte Cassino is like a little microcosm of what happened everywhere in Italy during the Italian campaign,” Gomlak said. “If you are German, you stand atop the hill and you see everything coming your way. If you are U.S., you soon realize that it's hard to resupply, it's just hard to take that highway 6 and get to Rome.”
“It's all about the geography, and you have to figure out how to get rid of all of these other fighting positions around that are launching artillery.”
In the belief that it was being used as a German stronghold, the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino stood in the way of the Allies’ march toward Rome. After a four-month battle with heavy losses on both sides, the 14th century old first house of the Benedictine order was destroyed by U.S. bombers in February 1944, with the Allies eventually breaking through in mid-May.
Commenting on how the abbey became the scene of arguably the most bitter fighting of WWII in Italy, Maj. Steven McDermott, garrison catholic chaplain said: “I don’t think anybody wanted to see the destruction of that beautiful monastery. Not the Germans, not the Americans, and certainly not the people and monks of Cassino. Everyone would agree that it was an absolute tragedy that so many innocent people were killed in the bombing.”
“Being on this battlefield tour, we are reminded that we must never trivialize or glorify war. While there are times it is necessary to stop an aggressor, it will always bring terrible suffering, death, and destruction. These war memorials and cemeteries serve this purpose… they are a constant reminder, what happens when people embrace an evil path,” McDermott said.
“The destruction of the Abbey on Monte Cassino was a leadership failure that served as a lesson learned for us all. Physically seeing the terrain and how difficult it must have been to have fought there made me realize just how great the sacrifice was of the many men who gave their lives there,” Hart said.
The itinerary included stops along the banks of the Rapido River and the Liri Valley.
“Three months following the first American combat landing on the continent of Europe, on the shores of the Gulf of Salerno, the Soldiers of Texas’ 36th Infantry Division bravely faced one of their most pivotal battles in World War II. On Dec. 12, 1943, these formidable infantrymen engaged the German army in the small towns of San Pietro Infine and San Angelo in Theodice, liberating the Italian citizenry from their hostile oppressors. The Italian people have marked the sacrifice of those soldiers who died crossing the River Liri with lasting monuments depicting the globally recognizable T-Patch and tributes to those who wore it during World War II,” said Jennifer Nader, native of Texas, currently serving at Camp Darby in the public works directorate.
“The attempted crossing of the river was one of the costliest failed attacks made by American forces in the Italian campaign, with nearly 1,700 men killed, wounded, or captured,” Nader said.
“I was particularly moved while standing at the banks of the Rapido River and thinking about the 36th Division's challenges as they attempted a winter wet gap crossing within an extremely well arrayed and prepared German defensive position,” Gomlak said.
“I also thought about the broader context of Italy serving as a theater that assured the Russians kept German Divisions occupied. It was a heavy price to pay for a secondary theater,” he said.
Visiting the Cassino battlefields, members of the staff ride found that the most poignant locations were the war memorials and cemeteries. Those include the Italian, Polish, the Cassino War Cemetery and especially the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, which is the larger of two permanent World War II military cemeteries in Italy.
A plaque by the entrance says that in the burial ground are the remains of 7,861 American men and women who died in the battles of Sicily, Salerno, Monte Cassino, Anzio and Rome.
“At the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, what impacted me the most was visiting the grave of Cap. Henry Waskow. After reading his story and understanding his courage and humility, visiting his grave site was an emotional experience. Seeing his name on his gravestone made me feel like I was in his presence. He was a great American who inspired his men and who chose to fight for all the right reasons,” said Hart.
Hart shared how Waskow served as a shining beacon for freedom and hope for a better future, one that he ultimately would not live to see. “As a fellow captain and company commander, Waskow sets the highest example to me of what it means to be an officer. At the young age of 26 he died, leaving behind a profound vision for why he served and sacrificed and a legacy which will not be forgotten,” he said.
A tour of the landing sites of Anzio and Nettuno was combined with a stop at the site of the Cisterna battle. A plaque in English, German and Italian honors those who “fought and died.” For American forces fighting their way north to Rome, Cisterna was the site of a heroic but hopeless stand where only eight men out of two Ranger battalions escaped German troops.
“Part of our namesake, Col. William Darby played a key role in the fighting at Anzio when his Rangers were all but completely wiped out in the fighting,” said Hart.
“It was incredible to acknowledge that 755 Rangers were killed in action the night of Jan. 30, 1944. That number is slightly greater than the average infantry battalion today. I don’t think we can comprehend a death toll like this in our recent conflict environments. The cost to combat tyranny in Europe was immensely high but the result was the liberation of our Italian allies and the eradication of the Nazi party. It is humbling to revisit the sacrifices of our past generations and to reflect on what we were willing to fight and die for,” Jacoby said.
He added that Darby would still manage to lead the remainder of his battalion to Torbole, Lake Garda, where he was killed a few days before the surrender of the Third Reich.
Commenting on the value of the staff ride, Hart said that: “It was rewarding because many of us learned the truth about part of the war that most of us knew little about.” According to Hart, in the American public education system, students are taught a great deal about World War 2 in both Europe and in the Pacific, but the emphasis on the war in Europe is certainly on D-Day in France and the fighting that took place in northern Europe afterwards.
Dyon added that: “It was a great ride that created some bonds of friendship with co-workers that do not normally see one another and that brought back some intense shared experiences with team members from other directorates.” Hopefully, this will encourage others to make the trip, he said.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2023 10:43 |
| Story ID: | 446488 |
| Location: | VICENZA, IT |
| Web Views: | 108 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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