Tag: Monte Cassino

1944 January 27 “Greased lightening”

1/25/44 Mission:

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force):
   In Italy, B-25's bomb Valmontone; B-26's hit the Sezze marshalling yard, the Sezze-Bassiano road, Amelia, and Rieti marshalling yard; A-20's attack Terelle; A-36's hit Civita Castellana, Itri, Velletri, and railroad rolling stock in the area; P-40's hit Velletri and Belmonte in Sabina and strafe trucks E of Fondi; P-40's and P-47's hit shipping in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, and nearby road and rail traffic. British fighters of the RAF DAF hit bridge approaches at Popoli,near the British Eighth Army front.

1/26/44 Mission:

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force):
   In Italy, A-20's attack Cisterna di Latina, toward which the US Fifth Army's VI Corps is moving; A-36's and P-40's fly harassing attacks against roads and railroads, bombing at Belmonte in Sabina, Cisterna, Itri, Ceccano, Frosinone, Poggio Mirteto and at points around these towns; A-36's destroy a fuel dump and several trucks and artillery caissons in the Ceprano-Priverno area.

1/27/44 Mission:

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force):
   In Italy, B-25's attack roads at Velletri, the railway at Colleferro and marshalling yard at Orte; B-26's bomb bridges at Ceprano and marshalling yard at Terni; A-20's give close support to the US Fifth Army attack near Terelle; A-36's bomb railways and buildings at Poggio Mirteto, Ceccano, and Ciampino, hit rail and road traffic S of Rome, and, with P-40's, hit the town of Piedimonte; 70+ P-40's provide close support to Fifth Army forces in Cisterna di Latina and Atina, bombing gun positions; Allied fighters over the Anzio beachhead successfully meet increased enemy air effort, claiming 28 aircraft downed in aerial combat.

1/27/44:  Hitler finally calls off the siege of Leningrad which began in September of 1941.  150,000 German soldiers were killed; 300,000 Soviet soldiers were killed; over 1 million Soviet civilians were killed.

 

1/27/44 V-Mail, Italy

Hi Honey:

I received two of your letters today #19 & #20, and didn’t get time to read them until I got my engines started.  I got another confirming glance at them on the way.

My #1, #2 and #3 problem children are now taken care of.  The one you know is mentally quite sick and will probably be honorably discharged; the second is about to be relieved of combat duty; and the third, who was suffering from an inferiority complex so strong it made him miss every target, as well as a terrific fear of flying, is now ok.  I flew with him this morning with no practice flights, and we got along ok.  Of course, it wasn’t perfect.  The beauty is that I made my third greased lightning landing, which helped.  My first was in Savannah, the second in Africa, and this one was the smoothest I’ve yet experienced.  If we can get three or four missions like that, I’ll be able to carry him through.  I had another bombardier who broke at 20 missions and by putting him in my crew was able to carry him on through his full tour of duty.

You may have heard, Bill Lewis’ story of how his operations tent was hit by a bomb a year ago in Africa.  Well like all of the stories that outfit told, it wasn’t true.  It was his tent, but he moved out four days previous, and another squadron was using it.

The English language is a complex thing.  When questioned what was wrong with his motorcycle, an English sgt. replied “The fucking fucker is fucked!”  How could I explain that to a foreigner?

I love you Monkey, Cy.

 

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1944 March 20 A visit to the front

3/20/44 Italy

Angel:

Two letters from you today.  That always makes the day better.

I spent the day visiting up front with a couple of British officers as hosts.  We watched some dive bombing and one thing or another.  War becomes very personal when one is within machine gun range of the enema (and out in the open in a jeep).  I have seen towns devastated by bombing before, but never like the one I saw today.  Shelled for weeks by us, bombed out of existence one morning, and now being shelled by mortar fire by the enemy there is scarcely anything left standing higher than 8 feet.*  You can imagine a town the size of Wheaton business district, but can you imagine it pulverized?  Through your glasses, I could watch a hill covered with troops—but showing no sign of movement.  At regular periods, the town would be obliterated by dust from artillery barrages.  While in a building near a heavy battery, I watched the chandeliers.  Every time they fired, the damn thing would move six inches.  It is an interesting life, although as noisy as noon on July 4.

Tell me you love me always, but don’t tell me you’re lonesome any more than you can help.  I am too.  You may be jealous of Vulcanos, but think how I feel about Nancy seeing you all day?

What’s your new gal-friend’s husband’s name and outfit?  I might be able to see him.

All the dope Ernie Pyle wrote about the 47th was gathered chiefly in my squadron.  Over here, anyone who is mentioned in his column is considered a right guy—I am more than flattered.  I hope you saved a copy for scrap book.  He is one of the finest characters I ever met, completely fearless in his comments, and taking people for what they are, not for what they wear on their sleeves or collar.

Our Army engineers have made quite a reputation for themselves over here.  I saw them build and put in operation an overpass—in five days.  A two lane highway which will handle heavy tanks may take a day or so.  They work in rain, snow and enemy fire.  It takes hours only to build a mile or so of usable road.  I’m afraid we glamour boys of the A.C. are inclined to overestimate our importance.

Well, Honey.  I’ll write tomorrow.  All my love, Cy.

*This is likely the town of Monte Cassino that was subjected to such intense bombardment.

Monte-Cassino, Italy
47th Bomb Grp attack on Tank Repair facility

3/20/44 Italy V-Mail #89

Honey:

What a life.  I still have about ½ hour of work to do per day.  I saw Bob Paul again today and we spent, of all things, an hour making whooflebirds.  After buying a pair of oxfords, I came on home.

I sent $600 to your account at Fort Sam today.  I find that, contrary to information given us, it is possible to send it direct to a bank.  I shall do same in the future.  Let me know when you get it the bank notice.  There will be more later.

I have 10 days leave starting Wednesday.  I shall go to Africa, where I won’t be able to find a damn thing to do, won’t have any letters, and will be generally miserable.  But the change might do some good.  I didn’t realize how good my Italian was until I contemplated returning to a French speaking country.  Here I can ask for about anything I want, whereas there I won’t even be able to say “hello.”

Oh hell.  A vacation without you is like bread without butter—dry and uninteresting.  Every pleasure I have depends on you.

Goodnight darling.  I love you.  Cy.

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