My Story

by

Mike Satterelli

I arrived in Africa some time about the 25th of June in Oran, Algeria on the USS Monticello. Along with me there were 10,000 soldiers on the ship. From Oran we went to Algiers, from Algiers we went to Tunisia, and once in Tunisia we went to Tunis. From there we left the harbor to participate in the invasion of Sicily. That was in July.

We were off the coast of Sicily aboard landing ships for three nights and two days. We were in a hell of a storm. Everyone aboard was seasick and throwing their guts out. I'm telling you it was awful.

As we were going into shore to make a landing, the ship hit a false bottom, and jerked to a stop. We all had to get off the ship, so we jumped off into water that was about up to our shoulders. With the big waves coming in it seemed like we were in about ten feet of water. As I was walking toward the beach, I stepped into an under water bomb crater and almost drowned. I had to take everything that I was carrying off my back and to swim into shore. Once ashore, I came to a little house along the beach. A lot of our fellows were there, but none of us had any equipment at, because it was all out in the ocean. All we could do was remain there on the beach and hope that the Italians or Germans wouldn't counter attack.

While our group was coming ashore, company B was landing on our left flank along with a group of British troops who were unloading jeeps. The British were working on a jeep that was stuck in the sand. All of a sudden there was a big explosion. One of the jeeps hit a land mine. A buddy of mine got hit in the nose with a piece of shrapnel. I didn't get to see him after that because he was in company B and I was in company A. He did come to visit me after the war.

That night the 82nd airborne division came in over the beach real low. We were on the beach with nothing but wide open sand bunkers for protection, so we could see them real well. We had a bunch of Italian prisoners to guard.

On top of the airborne were more airplanes. These planes were German bombers. The American airborne forces were enroute to capture an airport about fifteen to twenty miles away. American soldiers, not realizing that there were American planes below the German bombers, were shooting at the Germans and hitting the American planes. They shot the hell out of that division. There was one particular plane that made it back to its African base with a thousand holes in it!

The next morning the Italians were attacking in full force and we had no equipment, no tanks and no mortars with which to defend ourselves because that equipment was still aboard ships out on the ocean. We were in a hell of a fix, so the army got hold of the navy's USS Savanna and asked for some help. They said they could help and used five and six inch guns to shell the Italians who were counter attacking us. That ship was five miles out on the ocean, and, you couldn't even see it. When our ship opened up with the shelling, the Italians turned and ran.

My buddy and I came upon a farmhouse after the bombardment was over. We found one dead Italian with his leg blown off at the knee. He had bled to death. He probably could have saved himself if he had used a tourniquet.

We found another guy who was badly wounded, but was still alive. He was raving mad because he had a temperature of 104 - 105. He was begging us for water. I saw him pick up a cup to drink, but I made him throw it away because it was his own urine that he had been drinking.

Instead I handed him my canteen and gave him a drink of water, but I had to take that away from him because he was trying to drink too much. He didn't want to give it back to me because he was so thirsty. So I told him, "piano, piano." In Italian the word "Piano" means, "Take it easy."

I let him have my canteen again, and this time he drank it down slower. After he finished, he then returned my canteen to me. An American army truck backed up to him, loaded him in the back, and took him to the first aid station. I believe that he came out all right because the first-aid man said he got the good water just in time.

The next afternoon we finally got our equipment and started looking for our infantry. We finally found them about twelve miles out in the country. We came up along side them where they were being held up on a mountain. They didn't know who or what was on the other side and they were trying to scout ahead.

After a couple of hours passed, we pulled out again. We went around the whole island, and ended up in the somewhere in the middle of the island. We were bivouacked there waiting for orders. When the orders came, we were told to go to Messenia and to cross the straits to Italy at Reggio di Calabria. We waited for our whole battalion to come over.

By 6:30-7:00 at night the rest arrived. By the time they unloaded it was dark, so the colonel told us to find a place to sleep because we would have to stay there that night. The next morning we got up and headed south. We went to the Sorento Valley.

The valley was like the Riviera. There was a hotel in the valley that was built right into the mountains. We got to stay there that night. The colonel was able to get us regular rates, so we got to sleep in regular beds and we also got breakfast.

It was during this time that the entire Italian army and government surrendered. Americans were landing at Salerno, and didn't know if the Germans would be there to fight or not. Well, the Germans were there. Our boys ran into hell! The Americans were trying to hold on to the beachhead, while the Germans were trying to push them back into the ocean.

In the meantime a landing twelve miles west of Salerno called Maori was planned for the American Rangers led by colonel Darby.

When our outfit hit the beach, we figured we would really get shelled. We got off the beach as fast as we could. American troops climbed up on Chiunzi pass, and what German troops were there were killed by the rangers. The rangers dug in. They had two half- tracks with 75 MM guns and 50 caliber machine guns on them. High walled mountains protected the half-tracks. They would load their guns, shoot, and back up to the protection they had from that wall.

Nearly all of our soldiers had caught malaria in Sicily. After three weeks of fighting Colonel Darby radioed the 5th army HQ that, "We are in position in the enemies' rear, and we will stay here 'till hell freezes over." The rangers were out numbered eight to one, but they still beat back seven large-scale counter attacks. The enemy soldiers were crack German mountain fighters and well trained SS troops. Captured German prisoners claimed that there must have been a division (15,000 men) up there, but actually there were only 500 - 600 men. Even though so many of our men were sick with the malaria, they bravely continued to fight.

October first we entered Naples. The Germans had set mines all over the city. The 82nd airborne took over an Italian barracks. One of our soldiers moved some-thing, and a mine went off, that killed eighteen men.

On another occasion, American soldiers and Italian civilians were moving back into the post office. This time somebody moved something, and another booby trap went off. You should have seen the smoke and stuff that came out of that building. There was one woman who was a block away when the explosion went off and she still got her head blown off. We then left the area and went about ten to fifteen miles out of Naples.

After our experience in Naples the three ranger battalions and our outfit were relieved. We all went to a little small town called Pozzuoli. We were there about four days just resting, when the sergeant came over and said, "Pack up we're moving out to the front." We were to go up there to straighten out a line where the Germans had broken through. When the break through was taken care of we pulled out, and we went to a little wooded area where there was an American Red Cross station. They were going to give us hot coffee and doughnuts, but before we had a chance to get them the sergeant said, "We're moving out again."

We drove all night. We went to a town called Venafro. At Venafro there was a mountain shaped like a horseshoe. The 45th infantry division had taken the hill, lost it, got it back, lost

took it again, and lost it again. They were tired from all the combat. So we came in to relieve them.

We got our mortars all set up. We had a company of rangers on the left and right flank. There was a company of 82nd airborne paratroopers in the middle. The attack started at 7:00 A.M., when all three companies started up the hill. We started firing our mortars for support. After a while, I could hear small arms fire on top of the hill. Soon after we got a radio call that said, "Cease fire, the hill is under control."

We stayed there for thirty-nine days, and shot 39,000 rounds of mortar. The Germans counter attacked, and counter attacked but they couldn't budge the rangers. If the Germans had been able to break through, the American army at Salerno would have been slaughtered, because the Germans would have gone through the left flank.

We went back into Naples, then on to Pozzuoli. That was our rest area. In the meantime at the Salerno front and at Chiunzi pass the German soldiers were pulling out. We returned Naples again and went ten to fifteen miles beyond. Again we were relieved, long with the first, third, and fourth

Ranger battalions.

The U.S. high command decided to send a small army into Anzio in order to take some of the pressure off of the Casino front. They sent the 3rd, 36th and 45th infantry division, and first, third, and fourth, ranger battalions. We hit the beach at 3:00 in the morning and found few Germans there. What few enemy there were killed. We got on Highway 6 that is the road that leads from Rome down to southern Italy. The Germans were unaware that we were there.

If we would have dug in and held our ground, the Germans would have had to give up because there would have been no way for them to get food or supplies in. Two American soldiers got into a jeep and even went all the way into Rome. They informed the high command of what they had done and that Rome was a free city.

There were no Germans seen along the entire route. Instead of digging in however, the U.S. forces returned to the Anzio.

While we were still at Anzio, we got our orders to pull back about five miles further and dig in. Three to four days later the Germans were able to move in about 35,000 to 40,000 troops and equipment. The German force was all on the high ground. Pulling back and allowing the Germans a chance to reinforce was a blunder that proved to be very deadly. Darby's ranger battalions were assigned the task of taking Cisterna.

It was believed that a German high command was stationed there. Instead the rangers ran into well-equipped and well-organized German Panzer divisions. The Rangers walked into a trap, and out of 776 men only twelve returned. A few of these later died of wounds. The few remaining were sent back to the U.S. for cadre. That is they were to train other soldiers.

Our outfit was there six months before we able to break out. The Germans were trying to push us back into the ocean. They were throwing everything they had at us. They had artillery and tanks shelling us.

One day after I had been there about three months, and while I was talking to a British soldier, I felt that something hit the top of my helmet. It felt like a zing. I took my helmet off and there was a hole in it. I put my and up to my head and found out I was bleeding. I went into a house where our doctor was stationed, and he looked at me. He said I was going to be all right, but they were going to send me back to Naples. He patched my head up then I went outside to get into an ambulance that took me down to the docks. A boat was there that was waiting for other wounded. It was about eighty-five miles by water to Naples. When we got to Naples our army took over the Italian hospital. They came down to the docks and escorted us to the hospital. They examined each of us one by one. When they looked me over all they did was sew my head up. They put a patch on it. I stayed in the hospital about a week. That night I had the worse night sleep I ever had. I kept itching and itching. The mattresses were made of straw, and they were filled with bugs. I curled up on the floor to get away from them. The next morning the officials removed all of the mattresses and burned them.

After I was there about a week, they sent me back to my outfit at Anzio. I found out that there were 40,000 dead Germans on the Casino and Anzio front. I Also found out that there were about 30,000 to 35,000 Americans, British, and French who were killed. Italian civilians reported that German SS had committed atrocities. It was reported that they had slaughtered three hundred and thirty Italian civilians, because the Italian partisans had killed thirty-two German troops. The bodies were found in a cave called Grotto Via Ardeatina. The Germans had used dynamite to close the entrance to the cave, but the opening was not completely covered. The German commander, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, was tried convicted, and condemned to death. Kesselring's sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

We came into Rome and we went about fifteen miles passed Rome. The 36th, 3rd, and 45th infantry divisions were taken off the line, and were sent into a rest area in the woods. Every body in the outfit had a chance to go into Rome. We were there for a week. After that week we were told to pack, put everything in our trucks. We were then sent to Salerno. We got new equipment and new men. We got on a boat, and hit Southern France. This took place on August 15, 1944 at Saint Maxime. My outfit landed there about daylight. We first went to Lyon, then on to Grenoble. Before we landed, other American and British paratroopers landed twelve miles in back of the lines. They were sent to stop all the Germans reinforcements from attacking our beachhead.

Then we went into the Voseges Mountains. It was a real bad situation. There were lots of woods, big boulders, and high weeds. One could be walking along and never know when a German could pop up, because you couldn't see them. We came to a big area like a foot-ball field, with woods all around it. One end of the field had to be cleared, so the 100th battalion of the 442nd regiment combat team was assigned to clear the area. We had our mortars all set up and we started to shoot at the end of the field were there were reports of Germans being seen. By the time the regiment entered the area everything was cleared out. There were no Germans or equipment remaining in the area.

In the 100th battalion, which was an all-volunteer Japanese-

American combat team, there were 3,600 purple hearts, one medal of honor, forty-seven distinguished service crosses, one distinguished service medal, and three hundred and fifty-four silver stars awarded. There were only 8,400 men in that battalion! Their motto was "Go for broke." Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye, for his bravery was awarded the distinguished silver cross, and in 1962 the people of Hawaii elected him to the U.S. senate.

From Southern France we went into Germany. We were in about eight or nine miles when the sergeant said we were being relieved. We went back to the rear, and that's when we

were told we were being moved to the Ninth Army. That is were the German army had broken all the lines, and they were moving at a great pace. A couple of days after I was transferred to the Ninth Army, the Germans attacked, over ran the area where I was, and pushed us back about ten miles. There were two hundred and fifty German tanks and 50,000 troops pushing the Allied armies who were caught by surprise. Nothing was able to stop the Blitzkrieg. When the Germans got to Bastogne the American paratroopers were there.

The Germans surrounded the paratroopers, and told them to surrender. "Nuts." The German commander didn't understand the meaning of, "Nuts." The Germans attacked and attacked, but they could not take the town. The people of Bastogne gave the American soldiers all their white sheets so they could use them for camouflage against the snow. To this day American soldiers stationed there are still getting white sheets.

The German objective was to capture fuel storage areas. If that objective were met, they could sustain their attack all the way to Cherbourg, and the war could have lasted another year. The war could even have had a different outcome. The Americans used the fuel depot to put up a flaming barricade stop the advance. They burned 124,000 gallons of gas in the attempt to stop the tanks. The Germans were stopped about a mile from the fuel depot because they ran out of fuel!

My outfit went to a small town named Marvie. We had our guns all setup waiting for orders to shoot. The men in Bastogne were running short of supplies, and the air force couldn't drop more supplies on account of the foggy weather. In the meantime General Patton was moving up with his tanks in an attempt to break through and relieve the paratroopers there. One day the sky cleared and the airplanes were able to supply the troops. In the meantime two outfits came to the rescue, by breaking through to Bastogne. Colonel Abrams was the one to break through first. He had tanks. After the taking of Bastogne, we moved into Germany and as you may know the armies started going fifty to sixty miles a day in Germany.

A big concern was the crossing of he Rhine, which is a hell of a big river. In some places it was fairly easy. Where I crossed it was easy. We came to a little town called Earlangen. Earlangen is where Elke Sommers -- the movie star was born. The Elbe river is there and it has an awful strong current. It was maybe one hundred fifty to two hundred feet wide. We had orders not to cross the bridge. We were supposed to wait for the Russians. Berlin was only about fifteen miles down the road on the other side of the river, but the Russians were supposed to take Berlin. We waited 3weeks before they finally showed up. Somebody with a flag of truce was coming across the bridge with three German soldiers. They talked to the highest commanding American officer there. A half hour later they went to their outfit, and about two hours later they came back with five truckloads of German prisoners. They didn't want to surrender to the Russians, that's why they had come with the flag of truce -- to discuss surrender. The Russians did not treat German soldiers very well because the Germans had killed so many Russians. It was also true that there were many atrocities committed by the Germans on the Russians.

With the Germans now beaten back into Germany the war was over. Our outfit went up around Nuremberg where we were waiting for orders to go to France. When we finally got our orders we went to a railroad yard, and loaded into clean boxcars. There was a French crew who took us to Marseilles. On the outskirts of Marseilles we went to a French foreign legion post, and stayed there for ten days.

B-17s were sent for us to go home on. When they showed up, we got on them, and headed south. We stopped at an army base on some island near the equator to gas up. Our next stop was at Natal, Brazil. We were told we had to wait there because there were to o many hurricanes between Brazil and Miami. We were there about ten days, before we got back on the planes, and flew to Miami. We stayed in Miami about three to four days, and then went down to the railroad station, boarded trains to take us to Indiana town, Gap, Pennsylvania. That's here I got my discharge on August 16, 1945.

Mike Satterelli 1918 - 2003

Michael Satterelli (1918)