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| An American tank drives through a street in Palma di Montechiaro |
After seizing control of
the road and railway that connected Licata to Agrigento, in the morning of 10
July the Americans started to advance inland: towards the north, with Colonel
Charles E. Johnson’s 15th Regimental Combat Team, and towards the west, with
Colonel Harry B. Sherman’s 7th Regimental Combat Team. The latter advanced
towards Contrada Sillitti Alta, with the task of capturing Palma di Montechiaro,
a town of some 15,000 inhabitants to the north-west of Licata. General Ottorino
Schreiber, commander of the 207th Coastal Division, sent the scouting platoon
of the 1st Motorized Machine-Gun Centuria
(Company) of the 17th Blackshirt Battalion, commanded by capomanipolo (Lieutenant) Fausto Maianti, from Agrigento. Maianti
took position east of Palma, but was soon forced to retreat westwards, while
Schreiber sent more troops towards Palma in an attempt to stop the American
advance: the 2nd Battery of the 223rd Skoda 100/22 mm Artillery Group,
commanded by Captain Giorgio Rota, from Aragona; a 105/28 mm battery from the
22nd Artillery Group, from Chiusa Sclafani; and most importantly the 523rd and
525th Truck-Borne Bersaglieri Battalions, both part of Colonel Alessandro
Venturi’s 177th Bersaglieri Regiment. The Bersaglieri arrived near Palma but
ran into American troops coming from Licata, supported by tanks, and suffered
heavy losses in the subsequent fighting. Most of Major Mario Salvatore’s 525th
Battalion was surrounded and overrun after bitter fighting; the survivors, with
just one gun from the 105/28 battery (which had taken position west of Licata
and was also destroyed in the fighting) and the entirety of the 100/22 mm
battery, retreated towards the bridge of the Naro river. To make up for these
losses, more reinforcements were sent: the rest of the Motorized Machine-Gun Centuria, under the command of
Blackshirt centurione (Captain)
Roberto Grandi; Major Giuseppe Maritati’s 526th Bersaglieri Battalion; and
eight 90/53 mm self-propelled guns from Major Carlo Bosco’s 161st Group, which
General Mario Arisio, commander of the Twelfth Corps, had sent only after
refusing three previous requests. These troops took position in Favarotta,
blocking Highway 123, where they were repeatedly attacked by the 15th RCT and
by the 3rd Rangers Battalion, supported by 105 mm howitzers from the 77th Field
Artillery Regiment. The death toll so far amounted to 409 men: 123 Italian
soldiers, 40 Germans, 73 civilians and 173 Americans.
The Italian counterattack
towards Palma di Montechiaro, on 11 July, was carried out by troops from
Colonel Goffredo Ricci’s Raggruppamento
Mobile Ovest (Mobile Group “West”): Major Mario Sabatini’s 527th
Bersaglieri Battalion, coming from Masseria Giudice; a tactical group under
Colonel Tito Verratti, advancing from Chiusa Sclafani with the 35th and 73rd
Bersaglieri Battalions (both belonging to Colonel Pio Storti’s 10th Bersaglieri
Regiment), the 22nd 105/28 mm Artillery Group from Favara, and the 12th Battery
of the 103rd Guardia alla Frontiera
(Frontier Guard) 75/27 mm Group (Captain Massimo Olivieri); and thirteen AB 41
armoured cars from Captain Carlo Alberto Orsi’s 10th Cavalleggeri di Lodi squadron (but these never reached Palma).
In the morning of 11 July,
the 527th Bersaglieri Battalion advanced from Cozzo Mosé and managed to force
Major Everett W. Duvall’s 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regimental Combat Team to
retreat from Palma di Montechiaro, thus recapturing the town. Fighting
continued south of the town and on the surrounding heights for the rest of the
morning and the afternoon. Colonel Venturi praised Major Sabatini for the
recapture of Palma, but this success was short-lived: in a few hours, the 527th
Battalion was badly mauled by the American reaction and left with only a
hundred uninjured men, who eventually surrendered at 15:30, after being
surrounded by superior forces supported by tanks. Major Sabatini, a
great-grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi, managed to evade capture; he would be
taken prisoner a week later, in Agrigento.
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| Crown prince Umberto of Savoy visits the barracks of the 527th Bersaglieri Battalion a few weeks before the invasion of Sicily. Facing him is Major Mario Sabatini (Alberto Sabatini collection, from www.militarystory.org) |
The 73rd Bersaglieri
Battalion was more fortunate; left with just one 105/28 mm gun (the rest of the
battery had been destroyed by repeated air attacks along Highway 115, unopposed
by the Axis air forces despite several requests), it was able to reach the Naro
river together with the 2nd 100/22 mm Battery of the 103rd Group. The 35th
Bersaglieri Battalion and the 12th Battery, instead, coming from Castrofilippo,
had been delayed by air raids. Colonel Sydney R. Hinds’ 41st Infantry Regiment,
advancing along with a company of Sherman tanks from the 66th Armor Regiment
(Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay C. Herkness) and supported by the 14th and 62nd
Field Artillery Regiments (under the command of Carl I. Hutton and Donald V.
Bennett, respectively), entered Naro at noon. The 35th Bersaglieri Battalion,
having finally reached the area, took position in the heights north of this
town at 13:30 and resisted there under fire for the rest of the day, but was
forced to withdraw during the night.
The battle for Palma di
Montechiaro is thus described in the American official history (Albert N.
Garland, Howard Mcgraw Smith, “U.S. Army in World War II – Mediterranean
Theater of Operations – Sicily and the Surrender of Italy”):
“General Truscott, meanwhile, had called his senior commanders together
on the evening of 10 July and issued his orders for the next day's operation.
The 7th Infantry was to thrust westward to take Palma di Montechiaro and the
high ground just beyond; the 15th Infantry was to continue north along Highway
123 to seize Campobello; General Rose's CCA, operating between these two combat
teams, was to seize Naro, then assemble on the high ground to the north and
east and prepare for further action. The 30th Infantry, guarding the division's
exposed right flank, was to send one battalion cross-country to seize Riesi,
there blocking an important avenue of approach into the division's eastern
flank. The 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry (Lt. Col. John A. Heintges), led the
advance on Palma di Montechiaro early on 11 July. Crossing the Palma River
bridge without incident, the battalion encountered heavy fire from Italian
troops who occupied strong positions along a line of low hills just south of
the town. Deploying his troops, building up a base of fire, and using
supporting weapons to excellent advantage, Heintges pushed slowly ahead and
drove the Italians into the town itself. As the battalion prepared to push into
Palma around 1100, numerous white flags appeared on buildings in the town.
Colonel Heintges dispatched a small patrol to accept the surrender. Unfortunately,
civilians, not soldiers, had displayed the white flags, and the small American
patrol came under fire. Two men were killed, another two
were wounded. Enraged, Heintges gathered together ten men and personally led
them across an open field to a building which seemed to house the heaviest
fire. They reached the building safely, planted demolitions on the lower floor,
withdrew a short distance, and set off the explosives. The blast signaled start
of the attack, and the battalion swept into town behind its commander. The
Palma defenders had been reinforced by a task force that had moved down from
the Naro River, and heavy fighting erupted up and down the main street. For two
hours the battle raged from house to house. Around 1300, having had enough, the
surviving Italians began pulling out westward along Highway 115. Quickly
reorganizing his battalion, Heintges followed in close pursuit, rapidly cleared
the hills on the south side of the highway, and dug in there to await the rest
of the combat team”.
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| Italian POWs carry their wounded in Palma di Montechiaro |
