On the Italian front in World War II, the Gothic Line, renamed the Green Line in June 1944 in northern Italy, was the last major defensive line in northern Italy for the Germans. On the night of September 14, the Germans found and traced a telephone line on the lower slopes of the 782 highlands, which led to a ridge on the west side. The reconnaissance party found the bodies of American soldiers killed and killed in action by the Germans on September 15. A check of the bunkers near the top of the western peak revealed no dead German soldiers, and by the time the 926 Highlands were taken, American soldiers had encountered heavy German crossfire as they invaded the main ridge.
Reaching the top of the 926 Heights at the Gothic Line, the American platoon was positioned near the top of the southern slope of the 926 Heights, even though it was considerably understrength. At the start of the invasion, the regiment was replenished with about 40 men, but lacked meticulous maps and intelligence; on September 14, 1944, a German artillery barrage wounded an American officer with a shell fragment. The German defensive line was under cover, and on September 15, from a point halfway to the top of the Altuzzo Ridge, we came under renewed attack from the Germans, and during the night of September 15 to 16, we bore the brunt of their fire. A scouting party was sent to reconnoiter about 350 to 450 meters ahead of the front line.
Due to the American losses in casualties and neurasthenia patients, the platoon was greatly outnumbered; three days of fighting had reduced its effective strength by almost half and led the platoon to the western ridge on September 14; on the morning of September 16, the platoon invaded the southwestern slopes of the 782nd Plateau to a small flat about 35 meters below the barbed wire. They were attacked by German mortars, but suffered no casualties. A few minutes before the attack began, German soldiers also opened fire on an American outpost from an outpost on the southwest slope of the 782nd Highland ridge. The American soldiers in front withdrew a short distance down the hill. The outpost passed over the plain, crossed the barbed wire fence, and hid in the bushes to look up the ridge. They spotted a German soldier, put his rifle to his shoulder, and opened fire. The other German soldiers on the slope above returned fire with rifles.
The smoke blocked the observation of the Germans from the top of the mountain. American troops crossed the barbed wire fence through a gap cut by an earlier attack, and several infantry soldiers were killed on the right flank. Equipment was scattered near the tangle, and several German snipers in a trench near the ridge of the 782nd Parallel opened fire. A German bullet pierced an American soldier in the left rib. He fired back at the Germans for their attack. An Italian soldier on the upper slope surrendered. A barrage of grenades was launched from the slope, and a machine gun was fired from the right front near the ridge line. An American soldier threw a grenade up the slope toward the Germans. One German soldier was spotted in the bushes ahead and fired at point blank range. 5 German soldiers were flushed out and surrendered. the German machine gun, hastily positioned on the ridge line south of the 782 highlands, fired only once and retreated over the ridge. In the brief firefight, two German soldiers were killed, six were taken prisoner, and one American squad was wounded.
