“Bloody Nonsense”

Through some freak the telephone line to Guglionese was still intact, although the town was behind enemy lines. John Durnford-Slater, with the aid of an interpreter, spoke to the Mayor. “There are hundreds of German Tanks here”, said the Mayor. “Don’t talk such bloody nonsense. There are no tanks nearer than Rome.” But the tanks were real enough; they belonged to the 16th Panzer Division from north of the Volturno. 1. Background The Battle of Salerno is over. The Wehrmacht is withdrawing to the Gustav line, but is determined to make the allies pay for every inch of ground. Every ridge line and river is defended. To cross the line of the River Biferno, Montgomery has decided to use his few landing craft to turn its seaward flank. This was successfully accomplished on 3 October. At this point “General Mud ” took matters in hand. On October 3 it began to rain heavily, the waters of the Biferno rose high enough to prevent most of the British 78th Infantry Division from crossing. Inside the bridgehead, 4 infantry battalions from the 78th together with the Special Service Brigade, a handful of antitank guns and very little artillery have their work cut out for them. On October 5 “General Mud ” was joined by the still more dangerous General Sieckenius. On the morning of October 5 the engineers have still not completed a replacement bridge. Sufficient forces from the 16th Panzer division are in position to counterattack the isolated bridgehead at dawn on 5 October. Field Marshall Kesselring has decreed that at all cost the British must not be allowed to exploit their bridgehead