“Find the infantry,” said Patton. “Get it from Allen if you have to, but I want this ready to go when I give the word.” Delay was not a word in Patton’s vocabulary.
“We’ve got 1st Infantry in the center of the island,” said Bradley. “What about Matt Ridgeway’s troops?”
“Brad, that’s a great idea. We could even consider another small air landing. Hell, the British pulled that off on the first night of the invasion. If we get stuck, I want a way to get in behind their line and unhinge the defense. Let’s plan it.”
By the 22nd of June, 4th Mixed Division had landed at Cagliari and moved north to Oristano, giving Monty his four divisions. Now he began to plan his big “breakout” attack, intending to apply pressure all along the line, preceded by all his artillery. It was an attack of the sort he might have planned at El Alamein, a battle that was never fought in this history, thanks to Brigadier Kinlan’s strange and unexpected arrival.
The plan would line up his divisions from the coast and east as far as Lake Tirso just east of Abbasanta: 1st Canadian, 51st Highland, 4th Mixed and then 3rd Infantry. Beyond his far right, Allen’s 1st US Infantry had come up near the mountain town of Sorgono. Monty at last thought he could get moving again.
“Now Patton is hung up in the high country,” he said. “So we’ve simply got to break out and push north to settle this matter.”
Monty had four divisions to Patton’s two, better terrain in front of him, and support from the navy along the coast. All he had to do was get through the Germans. It was the sheer weight of that attack that would do the job. The Germans had been fighting for a solid week, and many battalions were worn down. The heavy naval bombardment on the coast was as horrific as it was effective, with 15 inch shells plowing into the ground and sending up huge geysers of dirt and rock.
The 3rd Division front was largely screened by Italian remnants in the high country, a few Sardinian cavalry battalions, the Isili CCNN Battalion, and some Blackshirt motorcycle troops. They could not hold the steady advance of the British infantry, held up more by fatigue and the hills they had to climb than by anything the Italians were doing. This had prompted von Senger to pull out five battalions of the 15th Division to backstop that segment of the front, which thinned out the entire German line. Two divisions were trying to cover over 50 kilometers, and it would not do.
Monty’s attack had convinced von Senger that his game here was all but over.
“We can no longer hold this line,” the General told 15th Division commander Buschenhagen. “If we continue to fight here, we’ll simply be overrun. So we must pull out, and things are about to get very fluid now. There is no way we can hold the remainder of the island, particularly the northwest around Sassari. Therefore, we will pull out under cover of darkness tonight, and fall back towards La Maddalena. Student moved two regiments there from Corsica, and the front narrows toward the tip of the island. This is our only option with the forces available, and we must also get our Luftwaffe squadrons to Corsica.”
It was a grim but realistic assessment of Axis prospects on the island. The Bari and Sabaouda Divisions were mostly destroyed, 203rd Coastal Division was in the woodland on the east coast waiting for Patton to clear the roads and reach their lines. The Calabria Division was at Nouro, and that night, the 15th Infantry slipped away, up the main road to that city. The Italians retreated as well, but with little transport, they were mostly on foot. That fact would see them fall well behind the German columns, and they would become the de facto rearguard, just enough of a nuisance to slow Montgomery’s pursuit down.
Yet Monty did not have the same temperament that would have seen Patton fuming at his men to keep moving. Instead, he paused after dusk to ‘assess’ the situation, telling his division commanders that they would renew the big push at first light. This would give him time to freshen up the artillery and ‘sort things out,’ as he described the situation.
The morning of the 23rd, his second attack seemed to hit thin air, blowing right through the remnants of the Italians, with 51st Highland storming into Abbasanta, and the Canadians pushing up the coast through Modolo. They eventually caught up with the Germans, and thought it wise to organize instead of trying to mount an attack from march.
As for Patton, when he heard that Monty was launching a big push, he decided to play his trump card. At dawn on the 23rd, a reinforced regiment of Ridgeway’s 82nd Airborne would fly all the way from Tunis and Bizerte, intending to land in the rolling farmland between Dorgali and Orosei on State Highway 125. The paratroopers would come down all over the place, some landing on rooftops, barnyards, and bales of hay. At the same time, a battalion of Darby’s Rangers, and 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 101 Royal Marine Commandos, would hit the coast north of Orosei near Cala Liberotto.
These landings were behind the headquarters of General Sardi’s 203rd Coastal Division, which was most alarming when he realized that his retreat and supply route up the coast was now cut. His men were still fighting to delay the American advance in the rugged woodland, but he soon learned that there was a long column retreating some 15 kilometers to the north… and they were Germans. He did not have to scratch his head too much longer to decide what to do. If the German 15th Infantry was retreating north, he had no desire to try and become a war hero here.
The war itself had become hugely unpopular throughout Italy, particularly when Allied bombers staged raids on the harbor at Naples and on the outskirts of the Eternal City, Rome. With Matt Ridgeway’s tough paras behind him, and a snarling armored task force coming at him with dismounted infantry backed by tanks, he opted to try and seek terms. General Sardi chose to surrender, and all but one battalion of the 203rd Coastal Division simply evaporated, like mist in the woodland. Only the Logudoro CCNN and 2nd Blackshirt Battalion would fight on near Dorgali, and the intrepid Cagliari Commandos, now reduced to 10 squads, would try and hold on the river near Orosei with the help of the San Efiso CCNN Battalion.
Now it was Monty’s turn to do some broken field running. With the Germans withdrawing, the way north was suddenly wide open. He ordered the divisional band of the 51st Highland to break out the fife and drums, and the skirl of the pipes could be heard in the streets of Macomer as his men marched through.
The plan now was a simple one. 1st Canadian was tasked with driving up the coast and dealing with the 204th Coastal Division. They were to go all the way to the northwest segment of the island, and secure Alghero, Sassari and Porto Torres. 51st Highland would push through Macomer, but follow the rail line northeast to Chilivani and secure the airstrip there. They would then continue on the main road towards Olbia on the northeast coast. The other two British divisions would push due north to Chilivani and follow the 51st, or take parallel roads that made their way through the highland north of the Capitol at Nuoro. That objective would fall to Patton, as he had already cut the road to the east and west of that city.
From Kesselring’s perspective in Italy, it seemed that the entire defense of Sardinia was suddenly collapsing. He called von Senger to find out what was happening, and the General assured him that this was a planned withdrawal.
“We have to get to a position where they cannot turn our flanks. I will retrench on the line from Olbia to Porto Cruzitta, and hold that as long as possible to cover La Maddalena. As for the Italians, they are dissolving quickly. Quite frankly, this will likely have repercussions in Italy proper. You had better look over your shoulder.”
“What about the Luftwaffe?” asked Kesselring.