Battle of Rapido River

Battle of Rapido River
	Part of the Winter Line and the battle for Rome, ; Italian Campaign of World War II
	; American soldiers bring back wounded during the attempt to cross the Gari River near Cassino, Italy, January 1944.
Date	20–22 January 1944
Location	Gari River, Italy 41°26′N13°50′E / 41.44°N 13.83°E
Result	German victory
Belligerents
United States	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Mark Clark ; Geoffrey Keyes ; Fred Walker	Heinrich von Vietinghoff ; Frido von Senger und Etterlin
Strength
36th Infantry Division	15th Panzergrenadier Division
Casualties and losses
155 killed; 1,052 wounded; 921 captured or missing	64 killed ; 179 wounded

Last updated March 19, 2024

The Battle of Rapido River was fought from 20 to 22 January 1944 during one of the Allies' many attempts to breach the Winter Line during the Italian Campaign of World War II. Despite its name, the battle occurred on the Gari River.^[3]

Units of the US 36th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Fred Walker crossed the Gari River in boats and seized the west bank of the river. However, the Americans were cut off from reinforcements and subjected to heavy fire and counterattacks from elements of the German 15th Panzergrenadier Division. The 36th Infantry Division suffered very high losses, and after two days of fighting, the survivors retreated across the river.

Background

In late 1943, the Italian Campaign had reached a turning point. The Allied advance through Italy had bogged down around Monte Cassino, which was a crucial point in the Axis defensive position known as the Winter Line. As a result, Allied commanders planned to outflank the Germans with Operation Shingle, an amphibious landing at Anzio. To assist in the landing, Allied forces to the south were to launch attacks in the days leading up to Operation Shingle by seizing German positions across the Garigliano and the Rapido River.

It was hoped that German forces would be drawn away from Anzio to counter those attacks. However, the simultaneous attack at Anzio limited the availability of air support for the river crossings.^[2]

Lieutenant General Mark Clark, commanding general of the US Fifth Army ordered a crossing of the Gari River, south of Monte Cassino, with two regiments (the 141st and the 143rd Infantry) of the US 36th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Fred Walker. After a bridgehead had been secured, an armored advance was to proceed across the Liri Valley.^[1]

Battle

On the night of 20 January 1944, the US 36th Infantry Division, under command of Major General Geoffrey Keyes's II Corps, fired an artillery barrage of 31,000 rounds on German positions across the Gari River, which resulted in only negligible damage. Feint attacks were conducted by the 34th Infantry Division to the north, near Monte Cassino, to divert attention from the main advance. After the barrage, the 141st and the 143rd Infantry Regiments were ordered to cross the river, which began at 19:00. Initial casualties were inflicted on the Allies by landmines on the east bank of the river, although engineers were tasked with clearing approaches to the river. German artillery responding to the American barrage also hit elements of the 141st Regiment before they were able to reach the river. Two rifle companies of the 143rd successfully crossed the river, but German fire resulted in the loss of too many men and landing boats, and the foothold was abandoned. The 141st fared even worse, withdrawing with heavy casualties after landing directly opposite a German minefield.^[1]

The next day, both regiments were ordered to perform another attack beginning at 16:00. Although the assault met with more success, the American foothold was still unsustainable, as withering fire from the 15th Panzergrenadier Division prevented the construction of pontoon and Bailey bridges by engineers. Without the bridges, armor could not assist in the attack, and the infantry were left to fight on their own, which resulted in devastating casualties for the two regiments. After more than 20 hours of fruitless combat, both were ordered to withdraw. The 143rd was able to withdraw relatively intact, but much of the 141st was left stranded since their bridges and boats had been destroyed by enemy fire. The German defenders mounted a counterattack against the trapped Americans and captured hundreds of soldiers.

Major General Fred L. Walker decided against committing the division's last regiment, the 142nd Infantry, and the battle concluded at 21:40 on January 22.

Aftermath

No significant gains were made in either assault, and the original objective of luring away German forces was entirely unsuccessful.^[4]

Significant controversy followed the American defeat, with Clark criticizing Walker's execution of the battle plan. Walker responded that the entire battle had been foolhardy and unnecessary, and that Clark's plan, which Walker had protested, was all but guaranteed to fail. The battle was one of the largest defeats suffered by the US Army during World War II and was the subject of an investigation in 1946 by the US Congress to establish responsibility for the disaster.^[2]

War Secretary Robert P. Patterson prepared a report in response to the congressional investigation in which he concluded that "the action to which the Thirty-sixth Division was committed was a necessary one and that General Clark exercised sound judgment in planning it and in ordering it."^[1] Colonel Miller Ainsworth, president of the 36th Infantry Division Association, testified before Congress against Patterson's conclusions, and criticized what he perceived as Clark attempting to evade investigation of his conduct.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Monte Cassino</span> Battle of World War II

The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome, was a series of four military assaults by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The objective was to break through the Winter Line and facilitate an advance towards Rome.

The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944. The battle began with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle, and ended on June 4, 1944 with the liberation of Rome. The operation was opposed by German and by Italian Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernhardt Line</span>

The Bernhardt Line, or Reinhard Line, was a German Army defensive line in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. Having reached the Bernhardt Line at the start of December 1943, it took until mid-January 1944 for the US Fifth Army to fight its way to the next line of defences, the Gustav Line. The Bernhardt Line was defended by XIV Panzer Corps, part of the German Tenth Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">36th Infantry Division (United States)</span> US Army National Guard formation

The 36th Infantry Division ("Arrowhead") also known as the "Panther Division", the "Lone Star Division", "The Texas Army", and the "T-patchers", is an infantry division of the U.S. Army and part of the Texas Army National Guard. The 36th Infantry Division was organized during World War I (1914–1918) from units of the Texas National Guard and of the Oklahoma National Guard. As an all-Texas unit, the Arrowhead Division was called to service for World War II (1937–1945) on 25 November 1940, was deployed to the European Theater of Operations in April 1943, and returned to the Texas Army National Guard in December 1945.

Mark Wayne Clark was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II.

Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy during World War II. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but the Allies landed in an area defended by German troops. Planned under the name Top Hat, it was supported by the deception plan Operation Boardman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allied invasion of Italy</span> 1943 military campaign of World War II resulting in the fall of Fascist Italy

The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily. The main invasion force landed on the west coast of Italy at Salerno on September 9 as part of Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria and Taranto.

The 2nd New Zealand Division, initially the New Zealand Division, was an infantry division of the New Zealand Military Forces during the Second World War. The division was commanded for most of its existence by Lieutenant-General Bernard C. Freyberg. It fought in Greece, Crete, the Western Desert and Italy. In the Western Desert Campaign, the division played a prominent role in the defeat of German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the British Eighth Army's advance to Tunisia.

The 90th Light Infantry Division was a light infantry division of the German Army during World War II that served in North Africa as well as Sardinia and Italy. The division played a major role in most of the actions against the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert Campaign and eventually surrendered to the Allies in the final stages of the Tunisia Campaign in May 1943. It was re-constituted later in 1943 and deployed to Sardinia and when the expected Allied invasion of Sardinia failed to materialise, the division was moved to Italy. It was engaged in actions against the Allies in Italy from 1943 to April 1945 when the division was listed as "destroyed" in the Po River valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Diadem</span>

Operation Diadem, also referred to as the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino or, in Canada, the Battle of the Liri Valley, was an offensive operation undertaken by the Allies of World War II in May 1944, as part of the Italian Campaign of World War II. Diadem was supported by air attacks called Operation Strangle. The opposing force was the German 10th Army.

General Sir Alfred Dudley Ward,, commonly known as Sir Dudley Ward, was a senior British Army officer who saw distinguished active service during the Second World War and later became Governor of Gibraltar. Serving as an ordinary soldier for three years before being sent for officer training in 1926, slow peacetime career progression saw Ward achieving the rank of captain only in 1937. However, the Second World War, which began just two years later, allowed him to demonstrate his high ability as both a staff officer and a commander of troops in the field. Receiving command of the 4th Infantry Division at the unusually young age of 39 years and 3 months old, he led the division in Italy and Greece from 1944 to 1945. After the war ended in 1945, Ward went on to hold several staff and field appointments at the highest levels, including Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff (DCIGS) and Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine, retiring as a full general in 1965.

The 44th Infantry Division was formed on 1 April 1938 in Vienna, about two weeks after the Anschluss of Austria. It first saw combat at the start of the war in the Invasion of Poland, and also took part in the Battle of France in 1940. After a 9-month period of coastal defence the division was transferred East. On 22 June 1941, the division took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, attached to Army Group South. It remained in the east after the failure of "Operation Barbarossa", taking part in defensive actions for the winter against the Soviet Army offensives near Izum and Kharkov. Refurbished, the division participated in the German summer offensive, and was subsequently destroyed with the 6th Army at Stalingrad in January 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of San Pietro Infine</span> WWII major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign

The Battle of San Pietro Infine was a major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign of World War II involving Allied forces attacking from the south against heavily fortified positions of the German "Winter Line" in and around the town of San Pietro Infine, just south of Monte Cassino about halfway between Naples and Rome.

Anzio order of battle is a listing of the significant formations that were involved in the fighting for the Anzio bridgehead south of Rome, January 1944 – June 1944

Operation Diadem order of battle is a listing of the significant formations that were involved in the fighting on the Winter Line and at the Anzio bridgehead south of Rome during Operation Diadem in May - June 1944 which resulted in the Allied breakthrough at Cassino and the breakout at Anzio leading to the capture of Rome.

Thomas Edward McCall was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions during the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II.

Battle of Monte Cassino order of battle January 1944 is a listing of the significant formations that were involved in the fighting on the Winter Line January 1944 during the period generally known as the First Battle of Monte Cassino.

Major General Fred Livingood Walker was a highly decorated senior United States Army officer who served in both World War I and World War II and was awarded with the second highest military decorations in both wars, the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). During World War I he commanded a battalion on the Western Front, fighting with distinction in the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918. During World War II, Walker commanded the 36th (Texas) Infantry Division throughout its service in the Italian campaign, from September 1943 until June 1944.

15th Panzergrenadier Division was a mobile division of the German Army in World War II.

The Gari is a short river that flows in Monte Cassino, Italy at the southern end of the region of Lazio. The Battle of Gari River, better known as the Battle of Rapido River, one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian Campaign of World War II occurred in 1944, along its banks.

References

citations

1 2 3 4 U.S. House, Committee on Military Affairs (1946). The Rapido River Crossing. U.S. Govt. print. off.
1 2 3 Schultz, Duane (2012). "Rage Over the Rapido". History Net.
↑ 1944: la battaglia di S.Angelo in Theodice e la confusione tra i fiumi Rapido e Gari Archived 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine , 1944: the Battle of St. Angelo in Theodice and the Confusion between Rapido and the Gari Rivers.
↑ Patrick, Bethanne Kelly (8 November 2017). "Rapido River Disaster". Military.com.

Sources

Schultz, Duane (2012). "Rage Over the Rapido".

External links

Winter Line Stories Original stories from the front lines of the Italian Campaign by US Army Liaison Officer Major Ralph R. Hotchkiss

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[HR-1] 1 2 3 4 U.S. House, Committee on Military Affairs (1946). The Rapido River Crossing. U.S. Govt. print. off.

[HN-2] 1 2 3 Schultz, Duane (2012). "Rage Over the Rapido". History Net.

[3] 1944: la battaglia di S.Angelo in Theodice e la confusione tra i fiumi Rapido e Gari Archived 17 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine , 1944: the Battle of St. Angelo in Theodice and the Confusion between Rapido and the Gari Rivers.

[military-4] Patrick, Bethanne Kelly (8 November 2017). "Rapido River Disaster". Military.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]