Word: beachhead
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...invaders punched ahead doggedly and profanely. But while the minds of combat soldiers were on the task ahead, their officers' thoughts were on the south. If the Nettuno beachhead was ever to collect the reward of daring, tactical plan, things had to be changed on the Gustav Line, and changed quickly...
...Linchpin. The key to Nettuno was not in the high ground beyond the beachhead. It was down to the southeast, at Cassino, where he was also on high ground, and showing no disposition to give...
Cassino, linchpin of the Gustav Line, had to fall before the Nettuno attackers could move. Held long enough, it might even enable the Germans, rushing down fresh troops from north Italy and pulling seasoned outfits out of the Gustav Line, to force abandonment of the beachhead...
Once Cassino fell, the Gustav Line would have to fold. With sounder timing, that should have happened in the first week of the Nettuno landing. But somehow, almost encircled, Cassino held. Result: when the beachhead soldiers pushed forward they were driving against no rear area disorganized and road-clogged with retreat. They were banging their heads against a well-organized, coolly conducted, unfettered line of resistance...
...mission was to get a couple of Japanese prisoners for headquarters. The 32nd Division was moving in from the Saidor beachhead on New Guinea, and wanted more information. Twenty-four-year-old 2nd Lieut. John Lee Mohl had been scouting Jap trails far ahead of the American positions, and thought he knew where a small patrol could be ambushed...