Word: etna
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...strongpoint of the German rear guard was Randazzo, an ancient town built on the lava-strewn northern slopes of Mt. Etna in the most rugged countryside the Allied troops had yet encountered...
Randazzo was the last fort of the Etna Line, a vital center of communications for the Germans. They fought for it like tigers-500 to 600 of them, forcing Italian soldiers to fight with them. They held it for the better part of a week while Allied bombers and artillery reduced its houses to a heap of rubble. The battle for Randazzo was one of the bloodiest in the entire Sicilian campaign...
...anchor of the German line. They slugged a path across the terraced hills. They tried their bayonets and lungs in vicious charges through vineyards and lemon orchards. They helped the British into Regalbuto and Centuripe. From that high ground they could roll up the whole German line on Mt. Etna's western slope. General Montgomery could now begin the envelopment of Catania, and thereby spare his men a costly frontal assault...
...first were the British 78th Division (veterans of Tunisia's Long Stop Hill), the soth Northumbrians and the 51st Highlanders. Between Centuripe and Paterno they tangled in the hardest struggle of the campaign. But the men that punched forward and the men left behind broke the Etna line, tore away Catania's flank...
...taken by a British army in World War II. Bomb-weary, hungry Sicilians stepped from the ruins, with cheers of relief, and cries for bread. For General Montgomery, it was another famous victory. From Catania and Paterno the Eighth thrust columns up the west and east slopes of Mt. Etna for the cleanup in Sicily...