The 1st Battalion, commanded by St. Col. Peter L. Urban, held a three mile front west of the Serchio River, occupying the towns of Vergemoli, Calomini, Gallicano, and Barca. Hills 352 and 437 were along the battalion front and the latter was shared with the Krauts until the first of April when C Company cleared it. The enemy west of the river were Italians of the Fascist “Italia” Division.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were east of the river opposed by the German 286th Infantry Regiment. The 3rd held Castelvecchio and Albiano while the 2nd held Barga, Sommocolonia and hill 906. Anti-tank company and the I and R platoon screened the left flank of the regiment at Vispereglia. “Jerry” had his normally excellent defensive set-up based on Quirico Ridge and the hills between Fiattone and Vergemoli and he used his bunkers and minefields on the ridges and reverse slopes to good advantage. He knew the 473rd was opposing him on the forward slopes, however, because there were many patrols probing his lines, raiding his strong points and artillery and other weapons fired on anything that moved. Two hundred and two patrols were made by the 473rd during the month of March alone.
One feature of activity in March was the successful tank-infantry type raid on enemy positions. A platoon of Anti-tank company, commanded by Captain Ben H. Nevers, attached to 1st Battalion and supported by the 751st Tank Battalion, made the raid. Early on March 7th the force knocked out the enemy outpost at Casa Broglia, killing and capturing twenty four of twenty five enemy in a house.
On March 2nd at 6 PM two platoons of “C” Company raided the ridge just north of hill 437 but found the Italians in well-prepared positions.
The attack had barely gotten under way before a number of men fell in the center of the assault line. T-Sgt. Frank J. Pustka, of Halletsville, Texas, was handling one of the platoons and found that machine gun fire from positions less than a hundred yards away had his outfit pinned down. One of ten grenades tossed his way wounded Pustka, but he worked his way close to one of the death-dealing guns and knocked it out with white phosphorus grenades. Pustka earned the Silver Star and the newspapers reported “routine patrol activity in the Serchio Valley.”
The 2nd Battalion sent several long patrols to Monte Del Omo, Monte L’Ucceleria and other mountains to the east toward the end of March. Small enemy outposts, difficult to reach, were engaged, and there were casualities on both sides. Many of these patrols were out two days at a time because of the distances and laborious mountain climbing involved.
One source of amusement was the frequency of desertion among the enemy engineers posted as guards at the mouth of a tunnel near Castel Nuovo Di Garfagnana. The south end of this tunnel was at Gallicano where the Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion found it a cinch to pick up any enemy desiring to reach our lines. Enemy deserters in the Serchio Valley were numerous and accounted for about two-thirds of the 500 prisoners taken by the 473rd there.
During this stabilized situation in March, additional officers and men attended schools to augment the brief training at Montecatini in February.
A “Special Combat Patrol Platoon” was formed from volunteers from all units of the regiment in March. Despite the fact they were told the platoon would be used in more dangerous missions than a normal rifleman would probably face, moor than a hundred officers and men volunteered. Three officers and fifty enlisted men were selected.
Toward the end of March the regiment also received its first air support in the form of fighter-bomber missions against front-line enemy objectives and supply points.
On the 26th of March one of our patrols suffered casualties in a minefield at Villa Sala and the patrol was subsequently captured by the enemy together with a relief patrol.
Here is the account from Kathy Opalisky, the daughter of one of the patrol members.
"My father, Staff Sgt. Lewis Opalisky, served the 473rd in the 3rd Battalion, Company K.... It was my father, in a patrol of four, that went across enemy lines in a minefield at Villa Sala. The mission according to my father was to get locations of their artillery and cut their communications. It is mentioned that the patrol was captured by the enemy together with a relief patrol.
Two officers (names have been omitted because I have not tracked down the relatives for permission. ed) and my father, Lewis Opalisky, along with two medics, all of which wounded in this heavily mined area, were taken prisoner. When they were taken to an Italian hospital, all five of them had a leg amputated up to the knee. Within four days, three of the five of them were dead. My father and one other man survived and were POW's until the war's end.
I understand that the other man died in 1970, and I just lost my dad in December 2003"
Kathy Opalisky, 26 February 2006. Used by permission.
There were also many successful patrols including a reconnaissance behind and completely around Quirico Ridge. More than a dozen patrols brought back prisoners.