Baranello

After the fighting around Monte San Marco, the 2nd Brigade, whose axis of advance was now veering south due to the heights of the Sannio watershed, found their path crossed by several small tributaries of the Torrente Tammarecchia and Tammaro Rivers. The country was "sparsely wooded" and "unproductive", but over the course of a dozen miles, their path contained four isolated localities in which it was feared the Germans might make a stand, including Cercemaggiore, Cercepiccola, Castelpagano and San Croce del Sannio. The 71st Panzergrenadier Regiment was too intent on withdrawal, however, and aside from occasional shelling, the 2nd Brigade suffered almost no casualties during the period of 9-12 October. Kittyhawk aircraft were used to bomb Cercepiccola and Cercemaggiore on successive days, and the Edmonton Regiment (finally receiving news that they had been retitled The Loyal Edmonton Regiment) took Castelpagano without resistance on 9 October.

The Seaforths secured San Croce on 12 October. PPCLI linked up with the 3rd Brigade when patrols met troops of the Royal 22e Regiment in Riccia, finding it too abandoned. Movement towards Castelpagano by the Loyal Edmontons instigated a German withdrawal from Mount Saraceno, the heights overlooking Cercemaggiore, which PPCLI secured on the night of 12 October. This activity all placed the 2nd Brigade level with the main axis of the division's thrust to the west, though attempts to once again join hands with the Van Doos of the Royal 22e, now occupying positions west of Gildone, were intercepted by a strong patrol of Germans operating on the highway. The PPCLI did managed to secure two prisoners, who revealed the 1st Canadian Infantry Division's left flank had now penetrated the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division and was being opposed by the 26th Panzer Division. The 2nd Brigade was ordered to carry out a new mission - the capture of Vinchiaturo.²

Cercemaggiore lies about nine miles, as the crow flies, north-west of Decorata, and if the crow kept flying in the same direction for an equal distance it would come to the town of Baranello. Between the latter two towns, narrow twisting roads clung to the sides of steep hills and mountains, for the 2nd Brigade was in rugged country which was overlooked by German-held towns perched on the sides of the Matese Mountains only a few miles further west. By the 14th (of October), Highway No. 87 had been cut when Campobasso had been taken by the Canadians, but near Vinchiaturo a few miles southeast of Baranello, the enemy could still pass his troops on to Highway No. 17 which ran through the Biferno Valley. To hamper his withdrawal, as well as to maintain pressure on the enemy, the 2nd Brigade was instructed to continue its drive to the west and seize Vinchiaturo and Baranello.³

Click to enlarge

Vinchiaturo was a road hub, and Canadian operations against it were intended to take advantage of the local superiority of artillery that had been amassed, in order to break the German control over the road net. La Rocca, a set of twin peaks 3,000 feet high overlooking the Monteverde crossroads north-east of the town, was to be the objective of the PPCLI with the Loyal Edmontons tasked to take high ground south-east of Vinchiaturo. Following a heavy bombardment on the morning of 14 October by the 3rd Canadian Field Regiment and 154th (British) Field Regiment, La Rocca fell without direct opposition, though enemy artillery fire was encountered, and both La Rocca and the crossroads below were heavily shelled. The Edmontons pressed on from Cercepiccola across the San Giuliano road to occupy heights above the highway fork south of Vinchiaturo, then patrolled to the west on the heights of the Matese Mountains.⁴

As the Seaforths formed up to prepare for their phase of the operation, which was to pass through Vinchiaturo, their battalion scouts reported back that the town was unoccupied. A platoon was sent in immediately to occupy the town, and Acting Brigadier Bert Hoffmeister (commanding the 2nd Brigade in the absence of Chris Vokes, who was temporarily commanding the Division while Major General Guy Simonds was in hospital) ordered the battalion to the north-west to the Baranello area.⁵ The Seaforths moved through the Monteverde crossroads to cut the highway north of the town. The platoon sent to Baranello during the night was turned back by machine guns.

Baranello itself was typical of many other towns in Southern Italy. It clung to a hilltop. Situated on a high spur, it overlooked the Biferno River Valley as well as two lesser valleys to the north and south. At the same time the town itself and its approaches were under enemy observation from the various high features in the area, especially from the higher range of mountains to the west. Control of these dominating features in the immediate area, therefore, was of prime importance, and in the action which followed the denial of the features to the enemy as observation posts was as important as seizing the town itself. Even before the attack went in, instructions were issued that vehicles using the road leading to Baranello from the highway must travel only at night as enemy shell and mortar fire was being directed from enemy posts to the north and south.⁶

Baranello as it appears at the start of the 21st Century: http://www.baranello.org/foto.htm

The Seaforths dispatched two fighting patrols; "A" Company went to reconnoitre the northern outskirts of Baranello while "B" Company scouted Point 763, a high feature 1-1/4 miles due south. By the afternoon of October 16, patrol reports and information from Italian sources determined that a company of the 67th Panzergrenadier Regiment was holding the town with a large number of automatic weapons, supported by heavy weapons outside the town immediately to the south. Additionally "by placing their mortars beyond the crests of the various hills and using the hilltops as observation posts, the Germans were able to bring their fire on the Seaforths from locations which were very difficult to spot." Using this information, Lieutenant Colonel Forin, officially commanding the Seaforths having been acting commander until recently, ordered "D" Company to attack at first light with the support of a platoon of Vickers machine guns from the Saskatoon Light Infantry, a platoon of S.L.I. 4.2-inch mortars, and a battery of 25-pounder field guns of the 165th Field Regiment which would lay down 10 minutes of fire at 05:00hrs, switching at 05:10hrs to hit the high ground to the south. With the 4.2-inch mortars on call, two anti-tank guns were also brought up to the "A" Company area for use as needed. In the event, the "plan worked like clockwork" and "D" Company gained positions near a high-walled cemetery an hour after stepping off, 600 yards from the outskirts of the town, and by 07:30hrs was inside the town with only light resistance having been encountered. Once again, the Germans had withdrawn in the face of Canadian artillery, but once again, German artillery remained heavy, and the town received heavy shelling later in the morning.

"D" Company moved up to consolidate its position, and began engaging in fire fights with Germans to the south. Tactical headquarters for the battalion moved up to a brickyard closer to Baranello and the C.O. ordered the Scout Officer to gather more information on the developing situation. German fire from Points 735 and 763, 1/2 a mile and a full mile south of the town, indicated that the Germans might consider a flanking move to cut off "D" Company which at this moment was the furthest advanced unit of the 2nd Canadian Brigade.

Three scouts set out through "D" Company, found no Germans, but talked to an Italian who had spotted a company of German reinforcements on the way up to the battle area. On their way back to Baranello, the scouts found that "D" Company had withdrawn. Captain Newsom had also been informed about the approach of enemy troops, and, without wireless communication with battalion headquarters when his signaller was killed and unable to confirm the report, ordered a withdrawal, first to the cemetery, then to their starting positions.⁷

The German reinforcements, the 7th Company of the 9th Panzergrenadier Regiment, 65 men strong, effectively doubled the size of the German contingent in Baranello, which now occupied the town. These troops were part of the Germans' divisional reserve.⁸ The battalion scouts who had set off earlier returned to the town thinking it still held by "D" Company and were captured; one later attempted escape and was shot and killed.

The C.O. of the Seaforths was not impressed by the decision to abandon the town, and the battalion was ordered to try again to capture it. On the night of 17-18 October, strong patrols were sent out once again, to the town and Point 763. The latter was devoid of enemy, but five men were wounded several hundred yards from the town.

A full-scale attack was ordered for the 18th. "A" Company under Captain Vance was given tank support from the 11th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (The Ontario Regiment), the first combat action of the Ontarios in Italy. Their task was to occupy Point 763 and protect the left flank. Simultaneously, "B" Company would attack the town itself from "D" Company's area. Two companies of the Patricia's were available for a counter-attack if necessary. Artillery and mortar preparation were laid on for 08:00hrs. To divide enemy attention, the Loyal Edmontons ran patrols to the south of Baranello.

"A" Company crossed the Start Line first, met only a single machine gun position in a building which was silenced by 75mm main gun fire from a Sherman tank. The hill was quickly seized, with only two casualties, but came under German fire once occupied.

"B" Company under Captain W.G. Harris moved off at 09:00hrs, and machine gun and rifle fire met them several hundred yards from the town. Kittyhawk aircraft attacked the town in support, but German artillery, being observed from Busso two miles north, was accurate. A group of infantry was spotted on the left flank, and it was feared they might cut "B" Company off, but it turned out their intentions were to move on Point 763, and they were "dealt with quite satisfactorily by "A" Company."

By noon, with the cheerful aid of the Saskatoon Light Infantry's 4.2-inch mortars, the unit's anti-tank guns and the supporting artillery fire, "B" Company had beaten down the enemy's well-sited machine-gun posts on the outskirts of town. Early in the afternoon the Seaforths were in the town itself engaged in fierce house-to-house and street-to-street fighting. A pall of dust and smoke over the town made it difficult for observers to see what was going on as the afternoon wore on, but the rattle of machine-guns, the thump of 3-inch mortars and the periodic cracks of rifle fire made it very evident that the enemy had to be pried from his post. Along the road leading to the town the unit's pioneers were sweeping for mines which would allow the tanks and carriers to get past the old brickyards and cemetery which had marked the Seaforth's outposts in the past few days.

 

By 1630 hours Baranello was cleared of the enemy except those who were prisoners of war. About 20 of the enemy were killed, and almost an equal number captured. The latter were a mixed batch - 14 belonged to the 9th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, one was an artilleryman attached to the 26th Panzer Division and the rest belonged to the 67th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Among them was a wounded officer. Indeed this was the largest single group yet rounded up in action by the Seaforths. Three more were nabbed by "A" Company later that night when they came to Point 763 thinking, possibly, to re-establish an observation post.⁹

Aftermath

Seaforth casualties for both days of the fighting were four killed and 9 wounded, while the Germans lost 35 dead or captured. Within the next day, the 1st Brigade seized the heights at Busso, and on the 19th, the RCR captured Mount Vairano, from which a battalion of the 71st Panzergrenadier Regiment had originally withdrawn to Busso. "With Baranello and Busso lost, the enemy soon surrendered the rest of his hold on the right bank of the Biferno."¹⁰

Battle Honours

The following Canadian unit was awarded the Battle Honour "Baranello" for participation in these actions:

2nd Canadian Brigade

• The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

Notes

1. Roy, Reginald. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada 1919-1965 (Evergreen Press, Vancouver, BC, 1969) pp.215-223

2. Nicholson, Gerald. Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Volume II: The Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945 (Queen's Printer, Ottawa, ON, 1957) pp.246-247

3. Roy, Ibid, p.223

4. Nicholson, Ibid, p.249

5. Roy, Ibid, p.224

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. Nicholson, Ibid, p.256

9. Roy, Ibid, p.229

10. Nicholson, Ibid, p.257