Do they think we will simply withdraw from Sicily now? That won’t happen if I have anything to say about it, and at the moment, I am Oberbefehlshaber Süd, commander of all forces in Southern Italy. Rommel has wormed his way into Hitler’s good graces, and he has been given responsibility for the north, which is where he wants to build our primary defensive line. But I could fight them in Italy for months—for a year or longer if necessary. We should fight for everything in the south, Taranto, the big airfields at Foggia, and certainly Naples. That is where the Herman Goring Division goes—Naples. From there it can get to Messina on Sicily easily if the Allies do plan a landing there.
So, the next game has finally begun, and I must play out the opening very carefully.
Part X
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“The proud German army by its sudden collapse, sudden crumbling and breaking up, has once again proved the truth of the saying 'The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet.”
Chapter 28
Von Senger waited for darkness on the night of the 15th, but he had spent the entire day mustering all the rolling stock he could find and getting 15th Infantry to the rail yards. He would get a train south, as far as the town of Bauladu, about 15 kilometers north of Oristano, before he then encountered fallen trees piled over the line, with the tracks beyond torn up.
Colonel John Frost and his men had been busy that night as well. The Germans found no sign of the British paratroopers there, but they were forced to dismount and deploy. Von Senger knew the paras had taken the airfield at Milis, and he was going to take it back. He learned that the 152nd CCNN Battalion had already moved there, and was skirmishing with the paras north of the field. Now he would bring a little more persuasion to that argument, ordering Bushchenhagen to take the field, and then deploy his division for a counterattack towards Oristano.
He would bring the bulk of his division south, detaching one battalion in the north to reinforce the small port of Algheru on the west coast, and leaving one more at Puerto Torres north of Sassari. As for Cagliari, nothing more could get through there, so the best he could do was order the defenders to hold out as long as possible.
Bushchenhagen set up his headquarters in the larger town of Abbasanta, astride the main road and rail line north. Led by the Recon Battalion, he organized an immediate counterattack towards Milis, but ran into John Frost and his intrepid paras, well dug in and ready to fight just south of Bauladu. He knew the enemy was simply trying to delay his advance, for the weight of his division would surely prevail in time. But that time was expensive. He needed to get south as quickly as possible, for reports coming out of Oristano were not good. The Bari Division was still fighting in the city with the Division HQ and a single stubborn battalion, but the British had taken the segments of the city closest to the beaches, and flanked it to the west.
Further south, Terry Allan’s 1st Infantry was ashore and well established by noon the first day, and he hit four battalions forming a defensive front at mid-day, driving them back. Late in the day, Patton hustled more tanks from TF Abrams ashore, and he wanted to bulldoze his way inland as soon as possible. He would do exactly that, seizing Gonessa, a little over seven klicks inland, and then horse whipping his tanks onward until they reached the outskirts of Iglesias near dusk on the 16th of June. He would take that city with a night attack on the 16th. With all his initial landing objectives secured, Patton now began to organize for his drive east to Cagliari, but he would have competition.
Tanks and armored engineers of the 1st Tank Brigade had pushed inland quickly from the beaches, reaching the main road south and pushing off in that direction. They were supported by infantry from the 5th Division, and now the first footrace between Patton and Montgomery was underway. Who would take Cagliari?
Kesselring was watching the progress of the battle with some concern. The Allied plan was very good. The landing at Oristano Bay was strong enough to overpower the Bari Division before the 15th Infantry could arrive. Frost’s gallant defense, retiring from one prepared position to another as he fell back on the airfield at Milis, had delayed just long enough for Montgomery to push the last of the stubborn Italian defenders out of Oristano. The British were now assaulting the airfield there, though it had already been abandoned.
That was the real value of Southern Sardinia. The airfield at Oristano, and those at Villacidro, Decimomannu, Elmas and Monserato were among the very best on the island. They had been used to throw German an Italian planes into the Sicilian Narrows to harass and attack Allied Shipping, and their loss would be keenly felt. Soon it would be necessary to order those fields to be evacuated, reducing his air presence in the approaches to the Sicilian Narrows by 50%.
15th Infantry finally pushed Frost out of Milis, retaking that field after dusk on the 16th. That same night, as Frost was setting up defensive positions south of the field, the 7th Gordons came up, and they were a most welcome sight.
“Jolly good,” said the Colonel of the 7th when he found Frost. “We’ll take over here. Monty wants you down south at the Oristano Field. Get some rest if you can, because I think they’re bringing in transports with the first fighter group.”
That night, Patton pushed to the rail town of Musei, 25 kilometers inland from his beachhead, and the British had moved south to attack retreating elements of the Bari Division southeast of Oristano at San Gavino and Sardara. That was only ten klicks north of the big airfield at Villacidro, and the Germans sent orders to fly off any remaining squadrons there to alternate fields.
Monty had to make a decision as to his floating reserve. Rather than wait for Cagliari to be taken, which could take several days, he decided his beachheads were perfectly secure, and ordered 1st Canadian to begin landing at dawn on the 17th of June. The arrival of German troops north of Oristano had compelled him to get as much force ashore as possible. The 4th Mixed Division was still in Bizerte waiting for shipping to return for sealift. That force could land at Cagliari if it was cleared in time.
Needing armor support up north, Monty also recalled 1st Armored Brigade, leaving a reinforced regiment of the 3rd Infantry to continue the push south towards Cagliari. He was throwing a bone to Patton, who was hell bent on getting that port before the British could claim bragging rights.
To that end, a fast-moving battalion from CCA of 1st Armored had landed and ran like a halfback through a hole in the lines of the retreating Italians. They pushed all the way to Decimomannu, just five kilometers from the valuable airfield there, but had to stop when they ran into the Italian 184th Nembo Parachute Regiment. The resistance of the Italian Sabaouda Division was slowly crumbling, for there were only German Luftwaffe troops, a single field battalion and flak units, to try and give the division some support. They were fighting for native soil now, and acquitting themselves well, but the Big Red 1 and TF Abrams were simply too much for them.
At this time, the Italian senior commander on the island, General Basso, elected to begin moving the 203rd Coastal Division troops north. They were on the east coast, so the going would be slow, but it would at least give him something in reserve for the battle that would surely come north in time.