The morning of May 26 marked the beginning of the Division’s rapid pursuit of the enemy after German defenses around Cisterna crumbled. Following the night of May 25-26, spent in assembly areas in the vicinity of Cori, the Division headed northward with 2d Battalion, 15th Infantry, in the lead.[1]

In the afternoon, as the 15th Regiment was advancing … it was bombed and strafed by a flight of friendly P40’s.

“I heard a loud roar, looked up, and saw two planes dropping bombs right on top of us.”

The men immediately jumped for cover, leaping the soft shoulders of the road to avoid possible mines.

The planes dropped three to four bombs in the middle of the road and made several strafing runs.

When the P-40’s pulled out of their dives, the infantrymen observed the white stars that marked the planes as their own.

“The roadways were clogged … The P-40’s were picking the curves out … my buddy was a couple of people down from me. When the planes came, there was no place to go.

The concussion of the bombs blew (him) in two.

It took us days to round up our company; they were scattered everywhere.”

(Another soldier) added: “I was standing with my foot on the chaplains jeep and I looked up and saw our planes coming at us. I quickly jumped into a ditch just as one of the bombs hit the jeep, killing the chaplain.”

The friendly fire from the American P-40’s killed approximately sixteen soldiers and wounded sixty.

The mistake, caused by errant pilots, cost over one hundred causalities. In addition to the damage caused by the bullets and bombs, several vehicles loaded with 37mm anti-tanks shells and small arm blew up. … “The highway was strewn with the dead and wounded.”

“It was just awful,” said (a soldier). “Those soldiers were in jeeps, ambulances, half-tracks. They were burnt to a crisp still holding on to the steering wheels. It’s just a terrible thing to get bombed by your own people; it’s one of the great tragedies of war.”[2]

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[1] Taggart, 173.

[2] Champagne, 71.

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