entry
Jan 2005
entry Jan 2005
(This
is
the third in a series of oral
history narratives about WW2 in
southern Italy. This edited
narrative is the result of
interviews with Herman Chanowitz,
former captain in the 2nd Tactical
Air Communications Squadron, and a
veteran of the Allied campaigns in
North Africa, Italy, France and
Germany. He is a long-time resident
of Naples.)
(note: Herman Chanowitz passed away in June, 2012. See this link.)
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San Pietro
There was this horrible battle when
they landed in Salerno to try to get up to Rome by
Christmas time. In order to do that, they had to
take what is known as Route 6.
Route 6 passes by a town named Mignano —the Mignano
Gap —and then it goes to San Pietro and Cassino.
From Cassino, it goes through the Liri Valley and
gets to Rome. It's the Appian Way. The Italians
convinced the Germans that the gap at Cassino was
one that was difficult to penetrate.
Within the ruined church of
the old town of San Pietro.
The Germans did a wonderful job of
defending it. They told their people that they had to
hold the Allied forces back so they didn't get to
Cassino by Christmas. They needed that much time—this
was in October, 1943—to prepare the defensive sites.
San Pietro was 20 kilometers in front of—south
of—Cassino. There was a terrible battle fought there
[in San Pietro]; it started somewhere around the 8th
or 9th of December. The town of San Pietro,
itself, is in the valley between two hills, Monte
Lungo and Monte Sammucro. It's just off of Route 6.
Another town there is Venafro. Going up that
particular valley, you come to Monte Lungo.
It was the 36th
Division that was given the task of trying to conquer
San Pietro. But before they did that, they had to take
Monte Lungo. The Italians, for the first time, had an
expeditionary force [ed. note: the newly constituted Italian
1st Motorized Brigade] and they wanted very much to get into the
act. This was the first time they were working with
the Allies, so they were given the task —if they
wanted it— of conquering Monte Lungo, just south of
San Pietro.
What happened though was that they
were told that there weren't too many weapons up there
and that it shouldn't be difficult to take. When they
started up the hill, they were slaughtered. The
Italians said that there were a lot of weapons up
there that the Americans had said wouldn't be there.
It was a German trap. An American regiment from the 36th
Division —I think it was the 143rd Regiment— finally
took the hill . I think it was next day or the day
after. Then you had to take the hill of Sammucro, and
then you get into the town of San Pietro, which was
sitting in the valley.
What you have now at the foot of the
hill is an Italian cemetery for the Italians who were
killed trying to get up that hill. Across the street
from the cemetery is a war museum. And, of course,
there's a nice road you can take to get up to the top. I've taken people up there.
Italian
muleteers removing
the fallen
All of this happened in late November
and early December. They made a movie about it: The
Battle for San Pietro. John Huston. There is
also a guy from San Pietro, a school teacher named
Maurizo Zambardi. I think he's in his forties. He's is
very good with history and has written a lot about it.
It was a very big battle, on
the outskirts and in the town, itself. House to house.
The town was ultimately destroyed. Then the Germans just
withdrew to the next position, Cassino, itself. There
was a river there. It was very difficult to forge. You
couldn't get across.
The 19th of December
was when the battle was just about over. San Pietro
was completely destroyed. It was a town of about 2 km
by 2 km. Maybe 8-10,000 people. The people who lived
there had been told to evacuate. The Germans made them
evacuate. A lot of them were put on trains and sent up
to northern Italy. I got to know a guy by the name of
Adriano, who was a young kid in San Pietro when all
this happened. I met him again when we were taking a
tour recently, and he told us all about how the people
protected themselves by living in caves (photo), and
how many were killed. Now there is a museum about the
American soldiers as well as the Italian civilians who
were killed. The new town of San Pietro is about a
kilometer and a half from the old town.[There is also a page of supplemental photos related to these oral history interviews with Herman.]
(Photo credits: All photos of San Pietro by Herman Chanowitz. I have been unable to trace credit/copyright information for the record album graphic of the stylized Mt. Vesuvius/US flag. If anyone has accurate information, I would be happy to list the appropriate credit.)
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