Battle of Troina

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Troina


caption=Troina during World War II
partof=Invasion of Sicily, World War II
place=Troina, Sicily
date=July 31st 1943 – August 6 1943
result=Allied victory
combatant1=flag|United States|1912
combatant2=flagicon|Nazi Germany Germany
flagicon|Italy|1861-state Italy
commander1=George S. Patton
commander2=
strength1=
strength2
casualties1=
casualties2=

The Battle of Troina took place between July 31 and August 6, 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. Forces of the U.S. II Corps, part of U.S. Seventh Army, engaged in fierce fighting around the town of Troina in the central portions of Sicily along the Caronie Mountains. The battle focused around the fight for numerous hills and mountains surrounding Troina which the Germans heavily fortified and used as bases of direct and indirect fires.

Background

After so many days of combat the US 7th Army under Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr. On July 29, 1943 it was clear to the Allied high command and even the German High Command that Sicily was lost and the last step was for the some 80,000-100,000 American and British troops to break through the German and Italian Etna Line. Allied commanders had ordered the US 1st Infantry Division, and the US 9th Infantry Division to be pulled off the front and moved into the valley to attack the city of Troina. General Bradley and Patton ordered that the two Divisions be pulled out of the line once Troina fell. Troina was considered one of the main anchors of the Etna Line. Troina was defended by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division and Italian 28 Infantry Division Aosta. The Axis forces, entrenched in deep trenches, had easy sights on the incoming Allied soldiers, who had little cover.

The Battle

The Battle of Troina began on July 31st, when the Germans repelled an advance by the 39th Infantry Regiment, a 9th Infantry Division unit temporarily attached to the 1st Division. The setback forced Bradley and Allen to orchestrate a massive assault. Over the next six days the men of the 1st Infantry Division, together with elements of the 9th Division, a French Moroccan infantry battalion, 165 artillery pieces (divided among 9 battalions of 105-mm. howitzers, 6 battalions of 155-mm. howitzers, and 1 battalion of 155-mm. "Long Tom" guns), and numerous Allied aircraft, were locked in combat with Troina's tenacious defenders. Control of key hilltop positions see-sawed back and forth in vicious combat, with the Germans launching no fewer than two dozen counterattacks during the week-long battle.

The experience of Col. John Bowen's 26th Infantry Regiment was fairly typical of the action around Troina. The 26th's assignment was to outflank Troina by seizing Monte Basilio two miles north of town. From here, the regiment would be positioned to cut the Axis line of retreat. Bowen moved his soldiers forward on 2 August supported by the fire of 1 battalion of 155-mm. howitzers, 4 battalions of 105-mm. howitzers, and 4 "Long Tom" batteries. Despite this weighty arsenal, German artillery fire and difficult terrain limited the regiment's advance to half a mile. The next morning one of the regiment's battalions lost its bearings in the hilly terrain and wandered around ineffectually for the remainder of the day. A second battalion reached Monte Basilio with relatively little difficulty, only to be pounded by Axis artillery fire directed from neighboring hills. The 115th Panzergrenadier Regiment launched a failed offensive to retake the mountains; they were repelled by machine gun fire.

For the next two days the men on Monte Basilio were pinned down by artillery fire. Determined to hold Troina for as long as possible, the Germans reacted strongly to the threat the 26th Regiment posed to their line of communications. Axis pressure practically cut off the men on Monte Basilio from the rest of the 1st Division, and attempts to resupply them by plane were only partially successful. By 5 August food and ammunition stores were low, and casualties had greatly depleted the regiment, with one company mustering only seventeen men effective for duty.

It was at this point that the German infantry attacked again, touching off another round of furious fighting. During the battle, Pvt. James W. Reese moved his mortar squad to a position from which he could effectively take the advancing German infantry under fire. The squad maintained a steady fire on the attackers until it began to run out of ammunition. With only three mortar rounds left, Reese ordered his crew to the rear while he advanced to a new position and knocked out a German machine gun with the last rounds. He then shouldered a rifle and continued to engage the enemy until killed by a barrage of hostile fire.

Through the efforts of men like Private Reese, the 26th Infantry successfully held its position. The United States recognized Reese's heroism posthumously by awarding him the Medal of Honor. The Germans acknowledged the 26th Regiment's gallant stand by evacuating Troina later that night. Hard pressed by American forces all along the Troina sector and unable to dislodge the 26th Regiment from its position threatening his line of retreat, General Hube withdrew the badly damaged 15th Panzer Grenadier Division toward Randazzo. As the 9th Infantry Division took up the pursuit, the 1st Division retired for a well-deserved rest.

While the 1st Infantry Division battled for possession of Troina, General Truscott's 3d Division combated opposition at San Fratello, the northern terminus of the Etna Line. Here the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division had entrenched itself on a ridge overlooking the coastal highway. Truscott made repeated attempts to crack the San Fratello position beginning on 3 August, but failed to gain much ground. The strength of the German position prompted him to try and outflank it by an amphibious end run. On the night of 7-8 August, while the 3d Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, and 3d Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, seized a key hill along the San Fratello Line, Lt. Col. Lyle Bernard led the 2d Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by two batteries from the 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, a platoon of medium tanks, and a platoon of combat engineers, in an amphibious landing at Sant'Agata, a few miles behind San Fratello. The amphibious assault force achieved complete surprise and quickly blocked the coastal highway. Unfortunately, the Germans had selected that night to withdraw from San Fratello, and most of their troops had already retired past Bernard's position by the time the Americans arrived. Nevertheless, the 3d Infantry Division's combined land and sea offensive took over 1,000 prisoners of war.

Aftermath

Allied pressure had broken the Etna Line, but there would be no lightning exploitation of the victory. Taking maximum advantage of the constricting terrain and armed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of mines, General Hube withdrew his XIV Panzer Corps in orderly phases toward Messina.

Patton made a second bid to trap the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division on 11 August, when he sent Colonel Bernard on another amphibious end run, this time at Brolo. Once again Bernard's men achieved complete surprise, but they soon came under heavy pressure as the German units trapped by the landing tried to batter their way out. Bernard's group proved too small to keep the Germans bottled up, and by the time Truscott linked up with the landing force, the bulk of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division had escaped.

Allied Forces

*U.S. II Corps
**1st Infantry Division
***16th Infantry Regiment
***18th Infantry Regiment
***26th Infantry Regiment
**9th Infantry Division
***39th Infantry Regiment
***60th Infantry Regiment
**4th Tabor of Moroccan Goums
**91st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron

Axis Forces

*15th German Panzer Grenadier Division
*28th Italian Aosta Infantry Division