The progress of the fighting for Torbole from 2200 to midnight. 1) K Company moves into the town while 2) part of M Company clears the heights around the Church of San Andrea. 3) K Company captures the town square and 4) fans out into the rest of town. 5) L Company moves up and takes up positions alongside K Company.
This is the third part of a series about the Battle of Torbole.
At the end of April 1945, the town of Torbole, on the shore of Lake Garda, became the linchpin of the last German defensive line in Italy. As the US 10th Mountain Division advanced up the eastern shore of the lake, obstructions prevented any direct artillery or armor support to accompany them as they reached the head of the lake. 3rd Battalion of the 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment spent the afternoon of April 29 trying to capture Torbole from an ad hoc German force including the faculty and students of an SS mountain warfare school.
3rd Battalion advanced in two columns. L Company attacked directly up the road, but found themselves unsupported and under intense fire, and they stopped and dug in just south of the town. I, K and most of M Company took a trail on the high mountains to approach Torbole from the east. Communication problems and widespread battle fatigue severely hampered their efforts to invest the town. I Company made a slow descent, meeting increasing opposition until they were stopped by German reinforcements of artillery and armor. Even though I company’s attack had failed with significant losses, the US mountain troops had not given up in their attempt to capture the town.
Company K, which had remained in reserve on the mountainside, was to move down the slope and assault the town by a more direct route. The 1st and 4th Platoons of I Company reassembled on the high ground to act as support. The next attempt to capture Torbole was to be made by the one hundred eighty-nine men of Company K, as well as the elements of Company M that were with the column, and 3rd Platoon of I Company, perhaps an additional sixty-five men. Air attacks were called in to cover the advance.
Their descent from the heights began at 2015 hours. As the sun set behind the sharp mountains to the west, Allied planes bombed and strafed the German positions. The Germans probably withdrew their armor as a result of these attacks; the self-propelled guns that had stopped Company I were gone by the time K Company approached the town. But there were other, unintended consequences. Manlio Mirandola, fifty-two, was grazing his goats in a valley just north of town when the Allied planes began to drop bombs in the area. He was hit by shrapnel, crawled to the shelter of some nearby rock, and bled to death. The forty-seven year-old Luigi Bonisolli was in hiding with his mother, and he returned home to get water for her. He was killed by an American bomb while standing in front of his sink.
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A photograph of Torbole from the Southeast taken just after the battle.
Under the cover of the air attacks, K Company was able to move down the hillside undetected and without casualties. Sgt. Clarence Faulkner, of K Company, recalled that,
We then had to cross a large, barren, rock-studded plateau in order to enter the outskirts of town. Three snipers spotted us, and they, plus two men with burp guns, pinned us down. By rushing from rock to rock we made it to a grove of trees and there organized our next plan of attack.
S/Sgt. William Holbrook of the first squad in the third platoon nearly jumped into a foxhole with a Jerry, but he spotted him in time. It was from this Jerry that we got our information about what was in Torbole. He told us that there were three tanks in town and about eighty men from different outfits. We sent him back to the rear…
A German 20mm gun began firing at the advancing troops. It was positioned in or near a complex of bunkers and tunnels dug into the ridge at the north end of town, near the Church of San Andrea. They decided to wait until the cover of darkness to make the final push into town. When K Company made its attack, 1st and 3rd Platoons were in the lead. Sgt. Faulkner continued,
By this time it was dark; we had lost contact with the second platoon and most of the weapons platoon. We cleared out the first house we came to, which was used as a Company CP and aid station. From this house the first platoon started into town and the third followed. We spotted eight men coming down the road from the tunnel and withheld our fire, thinking it might be L Company. Too late we discovered they were Jerries, and opened fire, which they returned. Again the 20mm fire from the ridge we were to take opened up on us. Jerry knew we had gotten into town then and really let loose with all he had.
The night came alive with heavy shooting in every direction. Muzzle-flashes, tracer rounds, grenade explosions and the sparks of ricocheting bullets flickered in the darkened town. A German machinegun held up one portion of the advance. Sgt. Claude Ford readied his grenades and ran forward alone to get close enough that he might use them to eliminate the gunners. As he neared the enemy position, a burst from the machinegun sent several bullets tearing into him. He died almost instantly.
The German 20mm gun on the heights placed an enfilading fire on the attacking troops. 1st Lt. James Church led the 2nd Platoon of Company M on a flanking movement toward the ridge above the 20mm gun, in an attempt to take up a firing position from which they could dominate the German emplacements. The movement was discovered in the darkness and they were brought under an intense and accurate fire by the 20mm gun and small arms. Undeterred by the enemy fusillade, Lt. Church continued to place his machineguns and mortars. Sgt. Ralph Harder was setting up his machinegun when a German bullet struck him, passing all the way through his shoulder. Sgt. Harder and his comrades delivered an effective fire, and the Germans gave up the position and rolled their gun down the street toward the town center. A medic tended to Sgt. Harder’s wound, and they were taken in and sheltered by a family who lived in a nearby house.
The 1st Platoon of Company K penetrated Torbole as far as the town square. The German 20mm gun met them there, inflicted several casualties, and completely stopped the advance. Sgt. Clarence Faulkner later recalled that,
Sgt. Robert W. Smith, of our weapons platoon, set up a machine gun and had his men fire it at the 20mm gun crew by reaching around the corner and flipping the trigger, spraying lead in the general direction of the 20mm.
As bullets from the machinegun smacked into the pavement and buildings around the German gun, Pfc. John Martin rushed out into the open with his bazooka. He dropped to a knee, shouldered the bazooka, and pulled the trigger. With a loud crack, the weapon discharged, and almost immediately the explosive round struck the 20mm gun and detonated. Most of the German gun crew were killed or wounded.
With the town center captured, the streets fell silent. Company K allocated the advance so that the 1st Platoon moved into the northwestern portion of Torbole, while the 3rd Platoon attacked along the waterfront into the southwestern part of town. As they advanced, the troops searched the insides of the buildings. The rising moon was nearly full, and there were several fires burning in the town, so the streets were sufficiently lit for observation. By contrast, inside the buildings there was so little light that the searches were conducted, according to Sgt. Faulkner, “mostly by pawing around with our hands in all the houses.”
1st Platoon became embroiled in a firefight with a German squad in their allotted district, but the Germans slowly withdrew until almost the entire town had fallen to the 3rd Battalion. The exhausted men of Company K took up defensive positions, and looked forward to the possibility of getting some long overdue sleep. Company L moved up the road, leaving all or part of 3rd Platoon in reserve south of town. Within an hour Company L was beginning to take up a defensive posture directly adjacent to the waterfront, alongside Company K.
The Battle of Torbole was in its eleventh hour, and the town was finally in American hands, but the Germans were not yet ready to cede the linchpin of their last defensive line in Italy to the enemy. In the darkness, the mountain troops heard a low rumbling sound slowly getting louder.
To be continued. (Sources will be listed in the final part of this series)
This blog is part of a larger body of research culminating in the publication of the book ‘Heroes in Good Company: L Company, 86th Regiment, 10th Mountain Division 1943-1945’ which is available in select bookstores and on amazon.
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