Von Senger was restless, knowing he had a good position with 15th Infantry north of Oristano, but those troops were now under a great deal of pressure as 1st Canadian came onto the line, very eager to prove their worth. The Canadians had not land at Dieppe, for that operation was never staged in 1942, so this was their first action of the war. They had moved up on the left, through Torre Grande and Nurachi, and tanks from the 12th Battalion, 3 Rivers Regiment, stormed back over the small airstrip at Milis.
Now Von Senger’s mood improved with the arrival of the first units from the 90th Panzergrenadier Division from Corsica. Kube’s Pioneer Battalion and the 190th Panzer Battalion under Zunger were the first to arrive. They had moved by Siebel Ferry from Bonifacio, and landed at the small port of Saint Teresa. The Italian Cremona Battalion of light armor had come with them, and the rest of the 90th was heading south, where more barges and ferries were gathered at Porto Veccio for the sealift operation to Sardinia. Von Senger asked the Luftwaffe to concentrate heavily over those ports to protect the barges, and the move was planned at night. KG Keyser was next to be lifted, on the night of the 18th, and they would be followed by KG’s Panzenhagen, and von Behr, each being two battalion formations.
The, on the morning of the 18th, von Senger received a message from Kurt Student. Fresh off the trains from Syria, the 1st Fallschirmjager had arrived in Italy near La Spezia, and Hitler had ordered it to be ready to fly to Sardinia or Corsica at the discretion of the local commander. They would be ordered to fly directly to La Madalenna, which received two battalions on the 19th of June, with a third battalion flying into Porto Veccio on Corsica, where it would complete the journey via Siebel ferry. The shallow draft motorized barges that were conceived as part of the plan to invade England were now being put to very good use.
As it happened in Sicily, Montgomery had drawn the bulk of the best German troops to his front, and all these troops would eventually move south to shore up the lines of 15th Infantry. It was now clear that Patton was going to liberate Cagliari before 3rd Infantry could get much farther south.
“Monty took Oristano,” said Patton to Bradley as the two men drove forward. “Since then he’s push no more than seven kilometers north, and that was because they put in paratroops up there. In that time we’ve pushed all of 45 kilometers from our beachhead, and cut those Limeys off coming down from the north.
“George, you’re supposed to be cutting the Germans off, not the British. And don’t forget, Monty’s up against the German 15th infantry division.”
“Don’t sell these Italian fellow short,” said Patton. “They’ve been fighting like hell, but they can’t hold against our armor. I want to be in Cagliari tomorrow. All we need is another 15 klicks, but we’ve got to get through the Nembo Para Regiment first. We crack that nut, and it should be smooth sailing after that. Then I can get up north and take La Maddalena.”
“George, you sound like you’re late for dinner.”
“Well you heard the briefing—time is money, and I plan on spending mine well.”
On the morning of June 19th, the 601st Tank Destroyer company rolled onto the tarmac at the Elmas airfield, just five kilometers northwest of the port of Cagliari. The city was now being held by two Luftwaffe flak companies, the Cagliari Commando Battalion, and the Headquarters of the Sabaouda Division. The troops of that division had been largely destroyed, and general Battista feared he would soon become the first Italian senior officer to surrender and yield a major city and port on Italian homeland soil. The value of Cagliari could not be understated, and there were five airfields in that region that would allow the Allies to swarm in from North Africa and set up their hives on the island. From those fields, they could neutralize Italian and Luftwaffe units at Palermo and Trapani, thus opening the approaches to the Sicilian Narrows.
On the night of the 19th, 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 16th Infantry Regiment marched up the coastal road to the edge of Cagliari. They would try to take the port by storm, supported by two more battalions of TF Abrams mech infantry, and two more companies of light tanks. In this action, and at Decimomannu Airfield to the north, the Americans would face their toughest fighting since the landing. The Nembo Paras were putting up a tenacious defense, and the Cagliari Commandos moved from one warehouse to the next, fighting for every foot and building along the harbor.
The Americans had tried to sneak over the long narrow Barracone Isthmus, a finger of land that pointed to the northern edge of the harbor. It had one road, which ended in a short bridge to another spit of land which was an open field sport’s ground. Behind that was a canal, with yet another bridge, and then the outer buildings of the harbor. The first one they had to take was the Cement Works, used to build and fortify the moles and quays, and it was itself a solid concrete building, right at the edge of that canal.
The M5-Stuarts fired away at it, but made little impression. It was going to need fire from the Shermans, but they were having difficulty coming along that narrow road. Three tanks brought their bigger main guns to bear, and forced the Commandos to retreat, allowing the infantry to occupy those works, but the enemy had just fallen back to the next warehouse, and the fight began anew.
It took two hours to get forward to the grain stores, and then work towards the first big harbor mole, just west of the Coal Yard. Above that was the rail station, with more very sturdy concrete buildings that housed the engines and rolling stock, and between the two, were heavy walled warehouses.
These terrain features multiplied the defensive power of that single Commando battalion immensely, and the fighting would go on all night at the west end of the harbor. Coming from the north, the mechanized detachment from TF Abrams had to first take the city Power station, then the Phosphates Factory, another cement plant and smelting refractory, all tough fighting, with the bullets snapping off concrete and metal sided walls, and the infantry dismounting to try and make grenade rushes in the darkness. If the Italians were going to fight like this for the relatively small port of Cagliari, the US troopers could only imagine what it would be like trying to take a big city like Naples, or god forbid, Rome.
At 2AM, TF Abrams had cleared out the refractory, and was probing down Viale Trento, only to take more heavy fire from the first of several Army barracks buildings in the city. The Commandos knew every nook and cranny in the town, and they were using that knowledge to move about with good stealth, and surprise the Americans at every street corner. In spite of their skill and valor, Patton was informed that his men had taken the harbor just before dawn. The hold there was rather precarious, for only D Company, of the 66th Armored Cav, and 2nd Company of the 753rd Armored Battalion had made it to the big tobacco factory off Viale Regina Margherita.
In spite of the hour, the General took out a nice thick cigar and lit up in the grey dawn, which was exactly what the men of D Company were doing when they saw what was stored away in that tobacco factory.
General Battista would surrender that morning, but the Cagliari Commandos refused to lay down their arms. Instead they took the road out of the city, commandeering any vehicle they could find, and sped away toward San Gregorio to the northeast. The only forces still fighting were the Luftwaffe Flak guns near Monserrato Airfield.
The Nembo Paras still held Decimomannu field, but when they heard the Americans were behind them, there was a discussion as to what they should do. The way north was impossible, and they knew they were cut off. Colonel Lucerna considered surrendering, but the 12th Battalion refused, insisting the regiment should fight to the last.