Original subtitles

In 1943, it was one of our strategic aims

to draw as many German forces as possible

away from the Russian front and French coastal areas

and to contain them on the Italian peninsula

while liberating as much of Italy as might be possible

with the means at our disposal.

As the bulk of our supplies was directed to England,

for the forthcoming invasion,

operations in Italy had to be conducted

on an extremely limited scale.

Thus it came about

that during the winter months,

the number of allied divisions in Italy

was greatly reduced.

Yet so determined was their effort,

that they succeeded in holding in Italy

a very large number of German divisions

during the pre-invasion period

San Pietro in the 5th army sector

was the key to the Liri Valley.

We knew it and the enemy knew it.

We had to take it

even though the immediate cost would be high.

We took it

and the cost in relation to the later advance

was not excessive.

By its very nature

this success worked bitter hardships

upon each individual soldier

calling for the full measure

of his courage and devotion.

The response of our fifth army troops

provides an inspiring page

in our military history.

To these individuals,

living and dead,

and to those who now continue in their tradition

this picture is dedicated.

Liri Valley lies in the Italian midland,

some 60 miles northwest of Naples

to some 40 miles southeast of Rome,

a wide flat corridor

enclosed between four walls of mountains.

In winter the highest peaks of the Liri range

ascend to the snows,

but the valley floor with its olive groves and ancient vines,

its crops of wheat and corn

is green the year around.

That is in normal times.

Last year was a bad year for grapes and olives,

and the fall planting was late.

Many fields lay fallow.

There are two ways from the south into the valley:

One, a narrow pass

the other a high scenic road over the mountains.

They converge before the site of the ancient village of San Pietro

which for 700 years has stood

at the threshold of Liri valley,

welcoming the traveller.

The stones of its walls were quarried

out of the parent hills from whose slopes it arises.

Population 1412 in the last census.

A farming community.

Patron saint: Peter.

Point of interest: St Peters 1438.

Note interesting treatment of chancel

From the end of October 1943

until the middle of December,

San Pietro and the surrounding ground

was the scene of some of the bitterest fighting on our fifth army front.

The Italian campaign had entered its second phase:

to push forward again after a static period brought on by heavy seasonal rains.

Our battle lines were haphazard as the terrain itself,

with its flood-swollen rivers that twisted back and forth

across our line of march so that each river seemed like five.

And where there was no river to cross, a mountain blocked our going.

Each peak ahead being a few meters higher than the last we had won

so that each new peak had to be fought for: the hard, up-hill way with the enemy

looking down on our throats.

They had had time to fortify and camouflage their positions.

No amount of artillery fire or aerial bombardment could force them to withdraw.

That was for the infantry to do, employing those weapons that can find and destroy

life in narrow trenches, caves and fighting holes.

It was up to the man with the rifle, the man under fire from all weapons,

the man whose way all our weapons -- land, air and sea -- serve only to prepare.

It was up to the foot soldier to attack a hidden enemy

over ground that was sown with mines.

The anti-personnel S-mines that fly up at a footfall to explode beneath the groin.

Nowhere along the entire front were enemy preparations more elaborate

than in the San Pietro area.

For San Pietro stands at the threshold of Liri Valley and through Liri Valley,

wide and level, runs the mostly highly prized length of road south of Rome.

By early December, we had taken and were holding high ground to the northeast,

east and south of San Pietro, the Camino Maggiore hill mass being last to fall.

An Italian brigade under allied command had made a vain attempt to capture

Mount Lungo, possession of which would have acted greatly to our benefit in the

impending action.

The Italians were all but annihilated.

In view of their excessive losses,

further operations against Mt. Lungo's strategic heights were abandoned.

And it was decided to make a direct frontal assault on enemy positions in and

around San Pietro.

Elements of the 36 Texas infantry division were rotated from position to position

overlooking the valley,

so the troops might study the terrain ahead from various viewpoints.

Patrol activity was continuous.

Day and night units went out to reconnoiter the ground, draw fire, take prisoners

thus adding to the sum of our information about the enemy.

High points: Mount Lungo's 351 and Mount Sammucro's 1205 and 950

were all manned in force.

The town itself was strongly garrisoned

with numerous mortar, machine gun,

and heavy weapon emplacements.

Four enemy battalions were dug into a line of connecting trenches

and mutually supporting pillboxes in depth.

That extended from the base of Mount Lungo northeast across the valley floor

to the base of Mount Sammucro.

Another battalion was organized to defend

the high ground northwest of San Pietro.

Areas before these positions were heavily mined,

and held a confusion of barbed wire and booby-traps.

On the afternoon before, D-Day and H-Hour were communicated to battalion commanders.

December 8th, at zero six two zero hours

the first battalion of the 143rd infantry regiment

to attack the summit of 1205.

Having moved up the mountain under cover of darkness, and upon achieving

its objective to attack along the ridge to a point northwest of San Pietro.

The 3rd Ranger battalion likewise to attack 950.

Another feature of the Mount Summocro hill mass.

The 2nd Battalion of the 143rd to attack over the terraced olive orchards

northeast of San Pietro.

The 3rd battalion acting in support to follow the 2nd at 400 yards.

Of the original force to establish the beachhead at Salerno

The 143rd had since spent all but a fort-night in action.

Under extremely bitter weather conditions.

At Salerno, at the [Valterno?] crossing it had taken mortal punishment.

The task ahead promised no less bloodshed, yet it was undertaken in good spirits

and high confidence.

The 1st battalion began the long, rugged climb up Mount Summucro.

(explosions)

As night fell, artillery opened up.

And throughout the night hours, intense fire was layed down on the enemies

main line of resistance.

(explosions)

(machine gun fire)

It had rained most of the night. And was raining at H-Hour

when the 2nd and 3rd battalions crossed the line of departure.

(explosions)

Some 200 yards forward they encountered mines and automatic fire from pillboxes.

(machine gun fire)

(explosions)

Mortar and artillery were deadly accurate by reason of excellent enemy observation

from Mount Lungo, overlooking our advance.

Which continued another 200 to 400 yards.

(explosions)

Many men gave their lives in attempt to reach pillboxes and throw hand-grenades

through the narrow gun openings.

The 3rd battalion was [inaudible]

(explosions)

(explosions)

But the advance never got more than 600 yards past the line of departure.

Our initial assault on San Pietro had been repulsed,

with heavy casualties.

The attack on hill 1205 however, was a brillilant success.

Leading elements of the 1st battalion had gained the summit of the objective

before a strongly entrenched enemy knew that an assault was in progress.

To the right of 1205, the 3rd Ranger battalion had also captured its objective,

but only after successive attacks and costly casualties.

For our 950, the enemy was not taken unawared.

Counter-attacks were to be expected on both 1205 and 950.

They were not long developing.

(explosions)

The first was launched during the early daylight hours

and even as it was beaten off another took form.

(gun fire)

Day and night they followed, with unremitting violence.

The toll of enemy dead mounted with each new attempt.

But German prisoners captured on 1205 and 950

said they had been ordered to retake those positions at all cost.

In addition to defending hill 1205, the 1st battalion,

obedient to the field order, undertook the reduction of enemy defenses

which were organized along the ridge running West.

(heavy gunfire)

On the 12th of December, the 1st battalion was reinforced by the

504th parachute battallion.

Which took over and maintained the defenses of 1205 and 950.

Thereby enabling the 1st battalion to throw its entire remaining strength

to the assault along the ridge.

But the 1st's strength had dwindled and shrunk in the 5 days past,

and it was now a question as to whether its existing numbers

were sufficient to prevail.

Reports during the night of the 14th of December stated that the enemy

was offering bitter resistance and that the issue was in grave doubt.

Meanwhile, on the olive terraces below, the 2nd and 3rd battalions

had twice again attempted to reach their objective.

Both times they had come up against a wall of automatic weapon,

mortar, and artillery fire.

Volunteer patrols made desperate attempts to reach enemy positions

and reduce strongpoints.

Not a single member of any such patrol ever came back alive.

Our attacking forces were furnished excellent aerial cover by

Allied fighter patrols.

But now and then, enemy planes were able to slip through

and to bomb and strafe our positions.

Which to all purposes had remained unchanged since the first day.

To break the deadlock, orders were given for a coordinated divisional attack.

The 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 143rd to proceed in the execution

of the original orders.

Acting in conjunction, company A of the 753rd tank battalion to attack San Pietro

from the East over the high road.

One battalion of the 141st to attack over the flat valley floor.

After nightfall on D-Day, the 142nd infantry regiment to attack Mount Lungo.

The earlier decision no to attack those strategic heights having been reversed

in view of the present critical situation.

In preparation for the attack, all 5th Army artillery within range, including tanks

and all-tracks, was directed against San Pietro and the surrounding area.

(soldier) Firing!

(Blast!)

(artillery blasts)

(artillery blasts)

H-Hour: 1200 hours.

D-Day, the 15th of December.

The 141st infantry advanced some 400 yards from its line of departure.

To be borne down and held powerless under the weight of enemy fire.

The 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 143rd advanced some 100 yards beyond their

former positions, to a point almost directly before forward enemy defenses.

And for the third time, they were forced to take such cover

as the quaking earth could offer.

And the tanks:

Orders were for them to enter the town and to locate and destroy

the heavy weapons there.

which were leveled against our attacking foot soldiers.

The high road in the San Pietro is a narrow mountain road,

and from the beginning of its winding descent in the Liri Valley,

it was under direct enemy observation.

Sixteen tanks started down that road,

3 reached the outskirts of the town.

Of these, 2 were destroyed, and 1 was missing.

5 tanks were immobilized behind enemy lines, their crews having to abandon them.

5 tanks hit enemy mines within our lines and were thereupon destroyed

by enemy gunfire.

4 tanks returned to the bivouac area.

After dark, two companies: one from the 2nd battalion, and one from the 3rd

finally succeeded in penetrating enemy positions before San Pietro.

But receiving both frontal and flanking fire, they were forced to retire.

Company E, having been reduced in strenth to a handful of riflemen,

and company L faring little better.

On the Mount Sammucro ridge the 1st battalion fought its way to within a few

hundred yards of the objective.

But it had paid for the ground gained at a man a yard.

And it did not have strength to carry the fight any further forward.

On Mount Lungo however, despite bitter resistance, battalions of the 142nd

in successive waves kept pushing upwards

until in the early daylight hours of the 16th of December,

its foot soldiers had gained the summit and were wiping up what remained

of a stubborn enemy.

And that height proved to be a key position in the enemy plan of defense.

For even as Mount Lungo fell, the enemy throughout the San Pietro area

made preparations to withdraw.

Almost invariably the enemy will counter attack to cover a withdrawl.

The first violent thrust was delivered within a few hours.

(explosions)

And thereafter, counter attacks came in waves. The roar of the last mingling with

with the rush and the fury of the next to break.

Many companies lost all their officers. Enlisted men came forward

as inspirational leaders to rally their battered companies and resisted yet

one more onslaught.

Our own artillery was brought to fall within 100 yards of our

front line elements.

After 5 hours, during which the earth never ceased to tremble, counter attacks ended.

Indicating the withdrawl of the enemies main body had commenced.

In an effort to maintain contact with the enemies, our patrols immediately

pushed ahead.

Entering the town they discovered that San Pietro was ours for the taking.

The 2nd and 3rd battalions, less than a rifle company in strength,

weary to death who were alive, stumbled forward, past San Pietro,

to consolidate gains and re-establish contact with the enemy,

now taking up new positions some 5 kilometers beyond.

That is the broad shape of the Battle of San Pietro.

Which was but the first of many battles in Liri Valley.

It was a very costly battle.

After the battle, the 143rd infantry regiment alone,

required 1,100 replacements.

The lives lost were precious lives: to their country, to their loved ones,

and to the men themselves.

For the living of the 143rd infantry regiment, more than 100 decorations

for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.

Many among these you see alive here, have since joined the ranks of their

brothers in arms who fell at San Pietro.

For ahead lay San Vittore, and The Rapido River, and Cassino,

and beyond Cassino, more rivers, and more mountains, and more towns;

more San Pietros, greater or lesser. A thousand more.

As the battle passed over and beyond San Pietro, westward,

towns people began to appear, coming out of their caves in the mountains

where they had stayed in hiding during the enemy occupation.

They were mostly old people, and children.

The towns people were warned against enemy mines and booby-traps,

which were in the process of being cleared.

Children are able to forget quickly.

Yesterday they wept, today there are smiles, and even laughter.

Tomorrow it will be as though the bad things had never happened.

(choir singing)

Living was resumed in San Pietro.

Our prime military aim, being to engage and defeat the enemy,

the capture of the town itself, and the liberation of its people

is of an incidental nature.

But the people in their military innocence look upon us solely as their deliverers.

It was to free them and their farmlands that we came.

Behind our lines, Southwest of the sea, the fields are green with growing crops,

planted after our coming, by other people of other towns who believed likewise.

The new one earth at San Pietro was plowed and sown.

It should yield a good harvest this year.

And the people pray to their patron saint to intercede with God on behalf of those

who came, delivered them, and passed on to the North

with the passing battle.