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Indians of Fighting45thScareGermans'smaller enemy mechanized units .and captured huge stores of enemyALLIED HEADQUARTERS* ammunition, food.By HAL DOYLEAssociated Press Correspondentclothins andNorth Africa. Nov. 26.things were tough around SalernoIthe Allied strategists moved in aWhen i medical supplies.Poach on Canadianstough outfit to it was revealed This was thetake care of them,todav.*••'Fighting 45th In-which had won itsand its im-fantry Division, battle spurs inpact helped roll when the Nazis for a feuSicily.back the Germanscriticalup largely of Oklahomadays stalled the troops which had made the original American landing on the Italian mainland atSalerno.The 45th is made troops from Colorado, and New Mexico, including more than a thousand Indians, although it has contingents from several eastern states.It is one of the most colorful in the Armv. but what is more im-portant, it is rated as one of the hardest-hitting outfits under theflag.It madeits battle debutThe lads were so anxious for action in the early days of the Sicilian campaign that theyjn Canadian territory.even poachedA platoon of of Ra30 men captured the which the Cana-itown oi rcagusa dian had been assigned to take— £nd were holding an Italian garrison of 250 men prisoners when the Canadians arrived. They then turned over the prisoners to their allies and returned to their own division.Many members of the division take the greatest pride, however, in the job they did in dislodging the Germans from “Bloody Ridge east of San Stefano on the north Sicilian coast.in anamphibious assault against Sicily after only a short pause in Africa en route from the United States. First to Wedge ThroughIn the Sicilian campaign the 45th was the first to wedge through to the north coast and cut the island in half, returning to the bat-tlefront late in the campaign for Messina.After smashing ashore along an 18-mile strip east of Gela, the 45th captured a thousand square miles of Sicily in three weeks.These troops also marched 140 miles in 14 days while fighting continuously, captured more than 6000 Italian and German prisoners, took the Comisi and Biscari airports,took the towns of Vittoria and Cal-tanissetta, knocked out eight giant Nazi Tiger tanks and a number of!Charge Up HillIt took three charges up an almost perpendicular rocky hill to gain the summit, but they made it. A hundred and fifty German bodies at the top testified to the stoutness of the resistance they overcame.In that engagement Sgt. HerbFish of Canyon City, Colo., killed eight Nazis with eight bullets from a Garand rifle after one enemy had plugged him through the helmet. A young Mexican sergeant from Denver killed five Germans after one of his men had been shotin the last spectacular charge upthe ridge.The Germans have a particular dread of the 45th’s fighting qualities because some of them believe the Indians are cannibalistic. The Indians enjoy this hugely and one Indian sergeant conducts(t*i*]4lt;iitiaiC(*y b rrschsilt;lt;**iJlt;hisown“war of nerves” by gesturing toward his mouth as if hungry every time newly captured prisoners are brought in his direction.
Newspaper Details
El Paso Herald Post
El Paso, Texas, US
Fri, Nov 26, 1943
Page 10
Full Page
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Anonymous
CO, USA 04 Feb 2020
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