Word: rapido
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...platoon sergeant he led men across the blood-dyed Rapido River three times, and three times had to pull back before overwhelming enemy strength. In combat reports Kelly is officially credited with killing at least 40 Germans. Admiring fellow infantrymen rib him as "Commando" Kelly, or "The One-Man Army...
...Fifth Army fronts in Italy hung in stalemate last week, military observers suggested that a special medal should be struck off. The candidates for the medal: the few U.S. infantrymen who got across the Rapido River, cracked their way into Cassino, then clung to a few shattered buildings for 17 days & nights...
...Among U.S. divisions last week to be on the front: the 3rd, a Regular Army outfit heavily sprinkled with West Coast soldiers, which spearheaded the first Anzio beach attack; the 36th, a National Guard outfit from Texas, which forced the bloody crossing of the Rapido; the bloody crossing of the Rapido; the 34th, Iowa and Minnesota National Guard, which battled its way to a footbold in Cassino...
...Rapido River valley on the wider front near Cassino the Allies forced their way foot by foot across the icy stream. Combat engineers rushed in to build bridges and clear mines out of roads while German shells slammed blindly through their protecting smoke screen. Planes and barrages smote the Monte Cassino Abbey positions, but when infantrymen tried to press forward the Germans were still dug in on the mountain and pouring back murderous patterns of machine-gun fire. As at Anzio, the best the Allies could claim was stalemate...
Afterward, cannon again dueled across the dead field. To the north, other U.S. soldiers had crossed the Rapido, filtered to the outskirts of Cassino. But German guns in the mountains above swept the village, and it could not yet be occupied...