Chapter 11: 1945, The Po Valley Campaign

On April 20^th, the tank-infantry units finally pushed the Germans out of the mountains and began pursuing them across the valley to the Po River. Now the enemy was in full retreat. There was little or no resistance at this point. The Germans suffered thousands of casualties and many of them were taken prisoner during this part of the campaign.

2 Things were moving so fast that Buford’s tank collided with a German vehicle that was towing a piece of artillery. “What in the hell?” Bob shouted. “We’ve run into some Germans!” Buford excitedly explained.

3 After surveying the situation, Bob concluded that they would have to put some distance between themselves and the Germans if they were going to destroy the equipment. So, he backed the tank up about thirty feet and blasted the vehicle and artillery piece into oblivion. “That was kinda fun,” Buford grinned.

4 It wasn’t fun for the Germans, however. A large number of German troops who had witnessed the incident quickly surrendered to the American forces. Moreover, it wasn’t long until many more of the enemy were surrendering.

5 As the Germans were pushed toward the river, they began to panic when they saw that there wasn’t any way to cross it. A few brave souls jumped into the fast-moving water, but they were quickly swept away. Thereafter, the Allies began to take on many more prisoners.

6 Within a week of pushing them out of the mountains, the tank-infantry crews had cleared the enemy from the south side of the river. The tanks of three companies of the 757^th deployed along the river to support the infantry as they crossed the water in assault boats.

7 They kept shelling the already retreating Germans to make sure that they didn’t turn around and try to pick off their comrades while they were vulnerable in the boats. That accomplished, they waited patiently while the engineers threw up a pontoon bridge so that they too could cross the Po.

8 When the bridge was finished, the tanks hurried across and continued their pursuit of the Germans toward Legnago and the Adige River. However, when they arrived at the Adige, everything quickly ground to a halt.

9 The M1 Treadway Bridge that the engineers had erected would not accommodate the tanks that were equipped with flotation grousers. Fortunately, eight of the tanks from Company A (including Buford’s) were not equipped with the wider tracks, and they were able to cross the bridge and continue to support the ground troops. The rest of the battalion’s tanks were diverted to a nearby railroad bridge and crossed there.

10 On April 27^th, “A” Company made contact with a German convoy and began firing on it. “Blast those Krauts to Hell and back, Buford,” Bob encouraged. When Buford and his buddies were finished, what little remained of the enemy convoy fled the scene in disarray.

11 As the month drew to a close, Sgt. Kenneth Martin’s tank had to stop for an irrigation ditch. Unfortunately, his infantry unit came under enemy fire at precisely the same moment, and the tank was helpless to defend or support them.

12 Sgt. Martin quickly borrowed an M1 rifle and started off in the direction of the sniper. Under withering machine gun fire, he made his way toward the sniper’s nest and shot him dead. Then he destroyed the weapon and returned to his tank. There was no stopping the boys of the 757^th Tank Battalion!

13 The tanks had covered about one hundred and forty miles in just over two weeks and had fired over 3,500 rounds of ammunition. Thousands of Germans had been killed, wounded and captured; and the survivors were still fleeing north toward the mountains.

14 At the beginning of May, all four of the line companies of the 757^th assembled near Treviso and waited for new orders. They didn’t have to wait long. They were detached from the 91^st Infantry Division and assigned to the 85^th. Company “A” was attached to the 339^th Infantry Regiment and moved northward again.

15 It was raining now, and everyone was tired and miserable. “Man, this rain is getting me down,” Bob admitted. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Buford agreed. “This has got to be over soon!” someone else grumbled.

16 They did not, however, meet much resistance from the fleeing Germans. In fact, they continued to collect hundreds of prisoners every day, and most of the time that was accomplished without firing a single round!

17 They were racing against the fleeing enemy – trying to get to the Alps before they did. “I don’t want to have to fight those bastards in the mountains again!” Bob exclaimed. Buford nodded.

18 Then, suddenly, they received orders to halt their advance. All enemy troops in Italy and Austria had surrendered. The war in Italy was finally over! Company “A” was deployed to provide security for the mountain village of San Candido. Nevertheless, it was now obvious that Buford would be returning home to Alabama very soon.