PAESTUM BEACHES ARE
STORMED WHILE GERMAN ARTILLERY RAINS
SMALL LANDING CRAFT (LCVP'S) MOVE INLAND PREPARATORY
TO INVASION ON GRAY MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 9. |
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From the high range of hills surrounding the
Salerno plain, German artillery was emplaced to protect the invasion shoreline. The enemy
had been forewarned of the approaching fleet and had issued an alert to its beach
defenders at 1600 of September 8. |
| Soon after the first two assaultwaves had slipped
silently ashore under the cover of morning darkness, enemy gunners were aroused. At the
medieval Paestum tower German machine gunners and snipers fired from the balcony. |
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INFANTRYMEN POUR ONTO THE BEACHES AS BULLDOZER, LATER
HIT BY ENEMY SHELL, WORKS TO CLEAR BEACH OBSTACLES. |
GERMAN ARTILLERY THROWS GEYSER WHILE ALLIED SMOKE
SHIELDS LANDING. tOWER WAS ENEMY STRONGPOINT. |
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At daylight German artillery began to pound the
beaches. To counter, Navy craft laid smoke screens while landing boats laden with troops,
guns and supplies edged in. As infantryment slugged forward toward their objectives,
bulldozers and engineers feverishly worked to clear the beach obstacles, teller mines, and
barbed wire. Engineers also prepared roads and outlets in order to receive the massing
stores of supply. |
| Enemy planes in ever greater numbers skipped in to
harass the landing operations. |
|
IN MID-D MORNING ITALIAN SUNSHINE IS CRISP, NAVAL
BEACH OFFICERS SPEED UNLOADING AND TROOP MOVEMENT. |
Flushed with the excitement of making the long-awaited
invasion of the Italan mainland, Texas Division troops disembark on-the-double. Enemy
artillery fire has been heavy and machine guns on the trucks are trained skyward. The MP
in foreground ducks instinctively as a shell hits nearby. |
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