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{{Short description|WWII major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign}}
{{About||the John Huston film about this battle|The Battle of San Pietro|the battle in 1734, between Franco-Piedmontese and Austrian troops as part of the War of Polish Succession|Battle of San Pietro}}
{{Other uses|San Pietro (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of San Pietro Infine
|partof= the [[Winter Line|Winter Line and the battle for Rome]] of the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]], [[World War II]]
| campaign =
| image = [[File:Sanpietvalley.jpg|center|280px]]
| caption = The Liri valley with Mt. Sambúcaro overlooking the modern town of San Pietro Infine (left) and ruins of the original town (center).
| date = 8–17 December 1943
| place = [[San Pietro Infine]], Italy
| result = Allied victory
| combatant1 = {{flag|United States|1912}}<br />{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}
| combatant2 = {{flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany}}
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[Mark W. Clark|Mark Clark]]
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Albert Kesselring]]
| strength1 =
| strength2 =
| casualties1 = 1,200 casualties<br>(400 killed or missing, 800 wounded)<ref>Mikolashek, Jon. ''General Mark Clark: Commander of U.S. Fifth Army and Liberator of Rome''. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2013. Print., pp. 75.</ref>
| casualties2 = Unknown
| campaignbox ={{Campaignbox Italy}}
{{Campaignbox Winter Line}}
}}
The '''Battle of San Pietro Infine''' (commonly referred to as the "Battle of San Pietro") was a major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]] of [[World War II]] involving [[Allies of World War II|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]].

The eventual Allied victory in the battle was crucial in the ultimate drive to the north to liberate Rome. The battle is also remembered as the first in which the troops of the [[Royal Italian Army]] (''Regio Esercito'') fought as co-belligerents of the Allies following the [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice with Italy]]. The original town of San Pietro Infine was destroyed in the battle; the modern, rebuilt town of the same name is located a few hundred meters away{{Coord|41|26|40|N|13|57|31|E|display=title}}.

==Background==

===North Africa and Sicily===
The [[Allied invasion of Italy]] from the south followed the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] successes in [[North African Campaign|North Africa]]. [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] [[Bernard Montgomery]]'s [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|British Eighth Army]] advanced from the east following the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] and the British-American invasion of [[French North Africa]] by Lieutenant General [[Kenneth Anderson (British Army officer)|Kenneth Anderson]]'s [[First Army (United Kingdom)|British First Army]] in ''[[Operation Torch]]'' had led to the surrender of almost 250,000 [[Axis powers|Axis forces]] in North Africa in May 1943.

The Germans retreated to the island of Sicily and on the night of 9/10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest [[combined operations]] of World War II: the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] (''Operation Husky''). The invasion was launched by the [[Seventh United States Army|American Seventh Army]], under [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[George S. Patton|George S. Patton Jr.]], and the British Eighth Army, under Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Montgomery. Both armies were under the command of the [[15th Army Group]], commanded by [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Sir Harold Alexander]]. Over the next five weeks, 500,000 Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought German and Italian forces for control of the island. Although the Allied powers were victorious, the Axis managed to evacuate over 100,000 men and 10,000 vehicles from Sicily across the [[Strait of Messina|Straits of Messina]] during the first seventeen days in August. The Allies then invaded the Italian mainland in early September 1943 at [[Salerno]] (''[[Operation Avalanche]]''), in [[Calabria]] (''[[Operation Baytown]]'') and [[Taranto]] (''[[Operation Slapstick]]'').

On 8 September, before the main invasion at Salerno by American Lieutenant General [[Mark W. Clark]]'s [[United States Army North|Fifth Army]] (which contained significant British units), the [[Armistice of Cassibile|surrender of Italy]] to the Allies was announced. Italian units ceased combat, and the [[Regia Marina|Royal Italian Navy]] sailed to Allied ports to surrender. This changed the German defensive strategy greatly, and the Germans now regarded their former allies as enemies and moved to disarm Italian units and occupy important defensive positions. The invasion at Salerno was ultimately successful, although the Allies sustained heavy casualties, and subsequently captured nearby Naples on 1 October. German forces then withdrew to the north, towards [[Rome]], and dug in along a series of well-fortified lines. By late 1943 the fighting had reached the [[Winter Line]] (also known as the Gustav Line).

===Italy===
[[File:Sanpietruin1.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The bombed-out center of the town of San Pietro Infine.]]

The German [[Commander-in-chief|Commander-in-Chief]] (C-in-C) [[Albert Kesselring]]—had marked out the Winter Line as three parallel defensive systems to the south of Rome. The defensives lines were called the [[Bernhardt Line|Reinhard Line]], [[Winter Line|Gustav Line]] and [[Hitler Line]], placed {{cvt|18|km|mi}} one from the other, taking advantage of the point at which the Italian Peninsula is narrowest; they served as a formidable series of obstacles in the path of the Allied march toward Rome. The Reinhard was the southernmost of the three and was the German fall-back position from the [[Barbara Line]] and [[Volturno Line]] further to the south as German forces retreated gradually up the peninsula. (The Reinhard was also called the [[Bernhardt Line]].) The Reinhard was actually a southern bulge in the stronger Gustav line to the north. On the eastern side, the Reinhard went from the [[Sangro|Sangro River]] to the [[Adriatic Sea]] (along which length it was identical to the Gustav Line); then, in the west, it bulged south from Cassino to incorporate the mountains overlooking the approaches to the Liri Valley and then moved west to the mouth of the [[Garigliano|Garigliano River]]. The line passed directly through the town of San Pietro Infine, blocking the [[Mignano Monte Lungo|Mignano Gap]], the pass through which Route 6, the main road up the center of Italy from Naples to Rome, ran toward Cassino and the entrance to the Liri valley.

==Preparations==
[[File:SanPietro8Dec43.jpg|thumb|right|300px|First Battles in the Sammucro<ref name="Sammucro" group=nb/> – Lungo Area 8–11 December 1943]]

The Germans occupied San Pietro in September 1943 to prepare the defenses. They evacuated all non-essential Italians from the town, meaning women, children and old men; they conscripted able-bodied men to help set up the defenses and requisitioned available vehicles and beasts of burden.<ref>Zambardi, pp. 18–21.</ref> They set up a defensive apparatus in the whole territory, in particular on Mount Sambúcaro<ref name="Sammucro" group=nb>Sambúcaro usually appears with the alternative name "Sammucro" on Allied military maps of the period.</ref> and Mount Lungo, which overlooked the Mignano Gap. These were strategically important positions because they allowed the control of the long stretch of Route 6, important for the advance of the Allies. The [[Fifth United States Army|Fifth Army]] began to attack the [[Bernhardt Line|Reinhard/Bernhardt Line]] on 5 November, and the attacks continued into December.

The Battle of San Pietro was preceded by [[Monte la Difensa|Allied attacks on the Camino hill mass]] at the entrance to the Mignano Gap (named for the small town on the road at that point). The entire hill mass is about {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|6|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide. After that, the main Allied effort was against the German defenses on Mount Sambúcaro and Mount Lungo, which dominated the narrow valley on the northeast and southwest respectively. As a point of historical interest, the assault on Mount Lungo was aided for the first time by the [[Italian Co-Belligerent Army|1st Italian Motorized Group]],<ref>''Fifth Army at the Winter Line'', p.47</ref> part of the recently reconstituted Italian army, now fighting on the side of the Allies.
[[File:Sanpietrobattle01.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Final Allied assault on and through the first segment of the German Winter Line at San Pietro Infine 15 December 1943.]]

==The battle==
The direct attack on the German positions in and around San Pietro began on 8 December by [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Geoffrey Keyes]]' [[II Corps (United States)|II Corps]] of the Fifth Army. The positions were defended by two battalion sized elements of the 15th ''Panzer'' Grenadier Regiment (29. Panzer-Grenadier-Division) and a battalion of the [[71st Infanterie Division]],<ref>''Fifth Army at the Winter Line'', p. 48 (Map 16)</ref> all part of [[10th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Tenth Army]]'s [[XIV Panzer Corps]].

[[File:Battle of San Pietro.ogv|thumb|''The Battle of San Pietro'', documentary directed by [[John Huston]] for the U.S. Army, 1945.]]

After a week of intense attacks and [[counterattack]]s, the [[36th Infantry Division (United States)|U.S. 36th Division]]'s [[143rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|143rd Infantry Regiment]] the [[3rd Ranger Battalion (United States)|3rd Ranger Battalion]] and the [[504th Infantry Regiment (United States)|504th Parachute Regimental Combat Team]] (504th PRCT) commanded the heights of the Sambúcaro mass. The U.S. 36th Division, then planned a further effort for 15 December. The 143rd Infantry, assisted by the 504th PRCT, would continue to push west along the shoulders of Sambúcaro and take San Vittore del Lazio while to the south of Route 6 the [[142nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|142nd Infantry]], supported by the Italian 1st Motorized Group, were to capture Mount Lungo. In the center, the [[141st Infantry Regiment (United States)|141st Infantry]] would attack San Pietro itself. The main attack of the 36th Division started at 12:00 on 15 December. In an effort to break the German defenses in the town, two platoons from the [[753rd Tank Battalion (United States)|753rd Tank Battalion]] attacked with 16 [[M4 Sherman|Sherman tank]] and [[tank destroyer]]s. The armored attack failed due to mines and anti-tank fire. Four of the 16 tanks survived. After four successive Allied attacks and German counterattacks, the Germans pulled back from San Pietro since the dominating ground on both flanks, Mount Lungo and the Sambúcaro peaks, was now in II Corps' possession. The Germans launched a counterattack on 16 December to cover their withdrawal as they retreated to positions farther north at Cedro Hill, Mount Porchia, San Vittore, and the western spurs of Sambcaro.<ref>''Fifth Army at the Winter Line'', pp. 53–65.</ref>

==Aftermath==
The Battle of San Pietro was part of the overall campaign to breach the Bernhardt/Reinhard Line, some {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} deep at that point. It took six weeks of heavy fighting—from early November to late December—to overcome the German defenses. During that time, the Fifth Army sustained 16,000 casualties.<ref>Majdalany. p.30</ref> The highway through the Mignano Gap to the Liri Valley was nicknamed "Death Valley" by members of the attacking force. The battle destroyed the town of San Pietro Infine completely. Destruction was wrought by a combination of close combat, both Allied and German mortar and artillery, and German "scorched earth" policy. Both the battle and the plight of the civilian population have inspired numerous accounts, most famous of which is the John Huston film ''[[The Battle of San Pietro]]''.

By mid-January, Fifth Army had reached the formidable Gustav Line defenses and commenced the [[Battle of Monte Cassino|first Battle of Monte Cassino]], which started on 17 January 1944.

==Notes==

===Footnotes===
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[Atkinson, Rick]]: ''The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944''. New York: Henry Holt. {{ISBN|0-8050-6289-0}}.
* [[D'Este, Carlo]], ''Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome''. 1991 {{ISBN|0-06-092148-X}}
* ''[http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm Fifth Army at the Winter Line (15 November 1943 – 15 January 1944)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121000001/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm |date=21 November 2012 }}''. [[United States Army Center of Military History]]. (1990). First printed in 1945 by the Historical Division, War Department, for the American Forces in Action series, 1945. CMH Pub 100-9.
* [[John Grigg, 2nd Baron Altrincham|Grigg, John]], ''1943: The Victory that Never Was''. {{ISBN|0-8217-1596-8}}
* {{Cite book | author=Majdalany, Fred | title=Cassino: Portrait of a Battle | publisher=Longman, Green & Co Ltd., London | year=1957 }}
* Muhm, Gerhard: ''La Tattica tedesca nella Campagna d'Italia, in Linea Gotica avanposto dei Balcani'', (Hrsg.) Amedeo Montemaggi – Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993.
* {{Cite book| first=Col. Kenneth V.| last=Smith| url=http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/naples/72-17.htm| title=WWII Campaigns, Naples-Foggia 9 September 1943 – 21 January 1944| publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]| location=Washington| year=1944| id=CMH Pub 72-17| access-date=29 June 2010| archive-date=6 September 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906075921/http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/naples/72-17.htm| url-status=dead}}
* Zambardi, Maurizio (2006). ''War Memories; The ordeal of the civilians of San Pietro Infine during the Second World War''. CDSC publications. Cassino.

==External links==
* [http://winterlinestories.com Stories from the Italian Campaign of WWII.] Original stories by Maj. Ralph R. Hotchkiss.
* [http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm#cont Complete text of ''Fifth Army at the Winter Line''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121000001/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm#cont |date=21 November 2012 }}, the U.S. War Department account of relevant operations at the [[United States Army Center of Military History]]
* [http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/36division/archives/sanpiet/sanpietr.htm 36th Division in World War II, San Pietro], site of the Texas military forces museum.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060901121405/http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/herman2.html Oral history account] of battles of San Pietro and Cassino.
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.2569489|name=Big Picture: U.S. 6th Corps}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:World War II operations and battles of the Italian Campaign]]
[[Category:Italian campaign (World War II)]]
[[Category:1943 in Italy]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:December 1943 events]]

Battle of San Pietro Infine - Revision history

Bot at 03:32, 25 October 2022