Roffeno, Northern Italy, 8:30 AM, April 19th, 1945: American aircraft bomb German positions. This was one of many significant engagements during the five months the 10th Mountain Division fought in Northern Italy. |
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From
The Blizzard
(10th Mountain's newspaper): "For 40 minutes Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Liberators dived and soared over Roffeno Ridge, strafing, firing rockets, dropping high explosives and oil bombs, then wheeling through 200 foot towers of smoke of their own building. 'Give em hell' muttered the infantry, as the ground shook.... Villages in the placid-appearing valley disintegrated amid pin-prick flashes." |
Hidden beneath camouflage, an artillery unit provides much-needed support to 10th Mountain infantrymen on the front lines.
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Combat in Italy took the lives of 969 men. Immediate and expert care by medics in the field saved the lives of more than 4,000 men wounded in action.
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"Even the dirt and the desperate weariness on this man's face cannot
hide the cocky confidence that comes with victory and pride in a job
well done."
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Congressional Medal of Honor winner
John D. Magrath was a junior in high school
in 1943 when he
enlisted. In April 1945, only three weeks before Allied victory in Europe,
he was killed on a volunteer mission in battle. For his bravery he was awarded
the highest honor a soldier can receive.
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In this liberated town near Lake Garda, Italy, soldiers waited for hot food, a luxury they were often denied during their battle north.
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Soldiers of the 10th escort a few of the Germans taken as prisoners of war.
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General George B. Hays (left) questions captured Lt. General Hildebrandt of the Marco Polo Division of the German Army at 10th Mountain Division headquarters, Lake Garda, Italy, May 1945.
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Surrounded by the ruins of battle, this Company I soldier of the 87th Mountain Infantry
Regiment finds comfort in a letter from home. |
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Another soldier, in the postscript to a letter he wrote home in February 1945, had this to say about the importance of mail call: "Received a letter from you, Mom, and you Dad, the other day. These letters are our crutches over here. Thanks very much," signed, Bill.
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