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The Upper Biferno

The 1st Canadian Infantry Division paused to reorganize in the third week of October, having completed its part in the 8th Army's plan to help seize the lateral road running from Termoli inland, a vital first step on the road to Rome. It was assumed that German withdrawals would continue towards the Biferno River and that villages between Highway 87 and the river could be cleared by platoon-sized patrols. However, the German divisions (26th and 29th Panzergrenadier) opposite the Canadians did not intend to give up their outposts on the east side of the river without a fight, as they were valuable for spotting mortar and artillery fire, particularly on Campobasso and Vinchiaturo, which they knew to be of importance as logistics centres. The clearing of these outposts grew to company and battalion sized tasks.

Canadian efforts in the latter part of October were centred on clearing these areas of German resistance east of the river.

An observation post high up in the Campobasso citadel provided an extensive view of the 20-mile Canadian front. Less than four miles to the west a white cluster of houses on a high ridge above the Biferno gorge marked the village of Oratino, overlooking the twisting road from Campobasso to Castropignano, on the left bank. North of Oratino the Germans held San Stefano and Montagano, two villages standing among low rolling hills which sloped gradually to the river. South-west of Campobasso the whole countryside between Highway No. 87 and the Biferno was dominated by Mount Vairano, which from a height of 1500 feet above the river overlooked Busso at its western base and Baranello, two miles to the south. From Baranello the line of the enemy's forward positions extended south across Highway No. 17 to Guardiaregia, high up the face of the great Matese rampart which filled the south-western horizon. The enemy's interdivisional boundary crossed the Biferno at Oratino, which was included in the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division's sector.

Early efforts by the 1st and 2nd Brigades to establish standing patrols in these villages met determined reaction. On 14 October the Hastings and Prince Edwards did succeed in placing a platoon in Montagano, near the boundary with the 5th British Division, but attempts on three successive days to secure San Stefano failed. The enemy clearly regarded San Stefano as necessary to his retention of Oratino and its control of the main crossing over the Biferno; and from both villages he continued to bring down fire on Campobasso. On 19 October Brigadier Graham ordered a brigade attack against Busso, Oratino and San Stefano.²

The 2nd Brigade become embroiled in a two-day affair trying to clear Baranello, with The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada eventually clearing troops of the 67th Panzergrenadier Regiment from the town after two attempts to take the place. (See also the article on Baranello.) The 1st Brigade captured Busso a day later on 19 October when "B" Company of The Royal Canadian Regiment, working its way through the wooded southern hillside of Mount Vairano, took the town at sundown with supporting fire from the 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. The dual loss of Baranello and Busso prompted the Germans to surrender their claim to the right bank of the Biferno, and elaborate attacks early on 20 October, on Oratino by the RCR and San Stefano by the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, met no resistance. The remainder of the enemy outposts had already retreated under orders back across the river to Castropignano.

Simultaneously, The Carleton and York Regiment was operating on the extreme left flank of the 1st Canadian Division, clearing  Guardiaregia, Campochiaro and San Polo Matese, all of which overlooked the narrow plain containing the highway west from Vinchiaturo. Enemy fire on these highly inaccessible locations made the going difficult. Guardiaregia fell on 18 October, Campochiaro on the 21st with assistance from tanks of the Ontario Regiment. The final tasks were completed in coordination with the 2nd Brigade, itself fighting around Spinete and Colle d'Anchise (see also the article on Colle d'Anchise.)

West of the Biferno

The clearance of enemy outposts east of the Biferno River brought an end to enemy shelling (the last German shell fell on 21 October), and on the same day the 13th Corps was ordered to regroup in anticipation of a new offensive. The pause on the line Termoli-Campobasso had, as planned, permitted for a resumption of the advance of 8th Army. The advance had already begun on the coastal sector, and General Montgomery, commanding the Army, set his sights on the Pescara end of the lateral through Avezzano and Popoli. It was for this reason that the 2nd Brigade found itself fighting for the heights at Colle d'Anchise. The ultimate objective of the division's right, however, was two villages on a height of land between the Biferno and Trigno Rivers, Torella and Molise. The 1st Brigade was ordered to secure this ridge by the evening of 26 October. It was essential for the division to establish a firm base for the attack of the British 5th Division towards Isernia, depriving the German 10th Army of a major front-line communications link.

Following the actions of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade on the upper Biferno (as described in the articles on Colle d'Anchise and Baranello), the 1st Brigade was in a position to strike "a still stronger blow" with its three battalions against the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division lower down the river. With the "Torella-Molise feature" as a final objective, the villages of Castropignano and Roccaspromonte had to first be secured. These villages were located about a mile apart from each other, on the edge of the sheer cliff that comprised the left bank of the Biferno River opposite Oratino. Only a single crossing point for the brigade's vehicles could be located, a demolished bridge below Castropignano, and the point was under enemy observation.

(Brigadier) Graham's first intention was for the 48th Highlanders to ford the Biferno in the neighbourhood of Casalciprano, about two miles upstream from the broken bridge, and then capture Roccaspromonte and Castropignano from the south. Major D. W. Banton (who was temporarily commanding the battalion) sent "C" Company across the river on the morning of the 24th; but the absence of enemy opposition brought a change of plan, and the task of taking the two villages was given to the R.C.R. The 48th Highlanders would then follow through and take Torella, four miles up the road from Castropignano. The capture of Molise, two miles south-west of Torella, was to be carried out by the Hastings and Prince Edwards in a thrust along the left flank behind Roccaspromonte.³

The Royal Canadian Regiment sent "A" Company across the Biferno on the late afternoon of 24 October, fording the stream below the cliffs at Roccaspromonte. Guided by civilians, they climbed up to the town and found no enemy there. "B" Company followed over the river that night, and followed the road to Castropignano, finding only a single machine-gun defending the town which was easily taken. However, the Torella road was the main route of withdrawal for the 29th Panzergrenadier Division, and Highway 17 through Isernia was the 26th Panzer Division's means of escape. "C" Company ran into the RCR's first major opposition on a German outpost west of Castropignano. Point 761 was a hill west of the town overlooking the junction of the road from Spinete and Roccaspromonte and the main service route. Under the light of parachute flares, German machine-guns killed the RCR company commander and forced a withdrawal, and the hill wasn't secured until midday the following day, with the help of artillery fire.

The attack on Torella began with an aerial bombardment on the morning of 25 October, when 47 U.S. and British P-40s attacked it with bombs. The 48th Highlanders passed through the RCR early in the afternoon and moved up the road from Point 761, to be stopped by heavy mortar and shellfire.

Since the treeless, rolling uplands between them and their goal looked promising for armour, Brigadier Graham ordered "B" Squadron of the Ontarios to cross the river. During the previous night the Engineers had completed a diversion at a demolished bridge where the main road crossed a gully below the Oratino hill, but nothing could be done to construct a vehiclecrossing over the Biferno itself. Late in the afternoon on Graham's insistence the Ontarios attempted the impossible, and after several tanks had bogged down, the remainder succeeded in scaling the far bank. They carried the dismantled 75s and the gun crews of a battery of the Airlanding Light Regiment, now badly needed to give close support to the 48th Highlanders.

Early on the 26th the infantry began to advance with the armoured squadron, whose appearance provoked a considerable increase in the fire sweeping the bare ridges in front of Torella. Progress was slow. It was not until dusk, after the full weight of the divisional artillery had pounded the enemy's positions continuously for half an hour, that the Highlanders, who had suffered more than a score of casualties, were able to close in on their objective. But the enemy did not await their coming. Reacting to the steady Canadian pressure, the Commander of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division had already ordered a withdrawal from Torella and Molise to take place that evening, and early morning patrols on the 27th reported Torella clear. Before the morning was over the Hastings and Prince Edwards had come up on the left flank after an arduous, though unopposed, cross-country march from the Biferno. Under cover of thick fog and driving rain they climbed the conical hill on which Molise stood, "to be met with a formidable array of Italian flags and a very shifty looking mayor." The people of Molise proved far from friendly; some, indeed, evinced strong Fascist sympathies. There seems little doubt that they gave the Germans details of the Hastings' defences, for the harassing fire which the enemy inevitably directed against his abandoned positions was more than usually effective, his shells landing with unpleasant accuracy upon slit-trenches dug around the perimeter of the town, and causing twenty Hastings casualties in a few hours. In view of this and other instances of civilian interference the battalion commander found it necessary to threaten the populace with drastic punitive measures. "That"-to quote Lord Tweedsmuir--"quieted
them down."⁴

The operations of the 13th Corps were able to proceed on schedule as a result of the Canadians' timely completion of their tasks. The Carleton and York Regiment was relieved on the extreme left flank at Boiano on 27-28 October, as well as the 2nd Canadian Brigade at Spinete-Colle d'Anchise.

Aftermath

As British troops began moving forward in earnest, the victors of Torella, the 1st Canadian Brigade, chased after the retreating Germans into the rolling hills overlooking the Trigno River. Patrols ranged as far as five miles north of Torella, and the divisional reconnaissance regiment (IV Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) assisted in these endeavours. November was to be a month of rest for the Canadians in Italy, followed by heavy fighting in December as the Germans once again made a desperate defensive stand, this time on the Moro River.

Battle Honours

The following Canadian units were awarded the Battle Honour "Torella" for participation in these actions:

1st Canadian Brigade

• The Royal Canadian Regiment

• The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment

• 48th Highlanders of Canada

Notes

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

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)

3. Ibid

4. Ibid