"Lessons from Current Operations": 5th Ind Inf Bde [Jan.1944]

Discussion in 'Italy' started by Charley Fortnum, Jun 22, 2016.

  1. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    There's nothing deeply revelatory contained within this document, but it does provide a good ground-level snapshot of infantry tactics and difficulties in this theatre at this stage of the war. I thought somebody might like to see it.

    It's interesting, for instance, to learn that there were differing views among the troops about the effectiveness of PIATS owing to restricted range and misfires and that confidence in the mortars was also low owing to range. The point about large concentrations of artillery fire proving more a hindrance than a help (as it produced such excellent cover and impassable terrain) would be tragically found all too true in Cassino a few months on from this report.

    Particularly, though, I'm taken with the almost slapstick vignettes: sharing a semi-detached house with Germans and bickering through the wall about the size of red-cross flags; being lured into a building with no stairs only to have grenades rain down from the first floor.

    One also wonders whether NCOs were prone to exaggeration (presumably over enemy numbers and levels of success) as this paper alleges; the high casualty rates for junior officers has been observed in many other places.

    Flamethrowers, it notes, were a psychological weapon.

    Plenty of colour and food for thought.

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    dbf likes this.
  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Thanks for sharing this - have you a reference for it?
    One of my Dad's relates to street fighting (in Beringen) - where the Germans used some full length mirrors in upstairs windows to trick them into firing initially at reflections.
     
  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Ah, yes, sorry.

    Found here: WO 169/18845 5th Indian Infantry Brigade: H.Q. (Jan-Dec: 1944)

    Edit: Mark IVs firing down the aisle with the Bn. HQ escaping to the vestry by burning the door down with a flamethrower !
     
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  4. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    From the same file: German 1 Para Division - Instructions for Withdrawal & Delaying Actions.

    This is the classic 'initial resistance, withdraw, shell pre-targeted positions and repeat at new line' that you've read about in so many books. One wonders how much this intelligence - when acquired - came as a news to the Allies. They must have encountered it time and time again. I've lost count of the number of times the Germans appear to be ready to put up a fight and then vanish in the night leaving the position deserted -- and then hit it with the big guns shortly after it's been occupied.

    From my reading of 4th Ind Div paperwork thus far, they seem very keen on 'Experience-analysis-training-in-light-of'. I wonder how much this was Tuker's influence at work? Somebody must have read this in the U.S. publication cited and decided it was worth a wider distribution ('careful study') - has anybody come across a copy in any other diary?

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