On October 26, Task Force Greer, headed by Captain Harold E. Greer, assistant to Regimental S-3 Ross Calvert, moved the regimental right flank into a gap between the 7th and 30th Infantries.[1]

When nightfall arrived, Captain Greer sent the Regimental Raider Platoon of twenty men, which had been attached to his task force, to a small, wooded hill that dominated a road leading from the west to St. Diè.

This was done to deny the enemy use of the road.

The command of this high ground ensured excellent observation to the south and east of the valley below.

The enemy realized the impending threat by the 30th Infantry’s penetration and was determined to cut off the GIs’ bulge through their defensive line.

As a result, the ferocity of the fighting and the terrain’s difficulty would lead numerous 3rd Infantry Division veterans of the Italian Campaign to report that the action was worse than any they had seen during the Battle of Anzio or the drive to Rome.

Every battalion was quickly engaged in either attacks or repulsing counterattacks up the numerous valleys leading to the St. Diè hill mass ridge.

Phil, his men, and the mules were frenetically hauling supplies and ammunition up the muddy, mountainous slopes and returning as rapidly as possible to load up once again. The men worked around the clock, only taking short naps while the mules were loaded or unloaded.[1]

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW.

~~~~~

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 158.

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