Operation Winter Storm (Gothic Line)

Operation Wintergewitter (Winter Storm) was an offensive conducted by Italian RSI and Austrian forces against American forces dug in on the west side of the Gothic Line. Often referred to as the Battle of Garfagnana or Offensiva di Natale ("Christmas" Offensive), the attack resulted in an Axis tactical victory against the Allies. The battle lasted from 26 December 1944 to 10 February 1945.

On 13 October, Italian Waffen SS units fighting alongside German units defeat American attempts to capture Bologna city. The Americans suffer 15,700 casualties & call off their assaults.

The US 92nd Buffalo Infantry Division was expected to launch a major offensive on Christmas Day in support of the renewed Allied attacks against the Axis defenders dug in and around Bologna. The attack was cancelled due to the surprise Axis counteroffensive.

Operation Wintergewitter

On 13 December, as part of the planned Axis offensive, an experienced Italan night-fightin patrol penetrated through the US platoons guarding Vergemoli and Gallicano in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the concrete bridge at Farnaci and cut off the American retreat and reinforcements.

From 26–31 December, as part of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani's Operation Winter Storm (planned and promoted in conjunction with Benito Mussolini), the Monte Rosa (Alpine) and San Marco (Marine) Divisions under General Mario Carloni, with supporting Austrian Gebirgsjäger (mountain) units attacked and overran the forward battalions of the US 92nd Buffalo Infantry Division (under General Edward Almond) entrenched along the Serchio Valley, with the Italians forming and commanding two of the three Axis Spearheads involved.

The Axis force advanced in three columns on the night of 25 December. The first column moved toward Vergemoli-Calomini, the second toward Treppignana-Castelvecchio, with the third advancing toward Sommocolonia-Barga. The soldiers from the 2nd Battalion (US 366th Regiment) at Sommocolonia were hit first, with several forward platoon positions overrun and Bebbio and Scarpello captured. The American battalion had no option but to withdraw toward Coreglia.

Around 4 in the morning on 26 December, a company of American soldiers from the 92nd US Infantry Division and Italian Communist Partisans in Sommocolonia (a village of 200 inhabitants) reported coming under heavy enemy mortar fire.  29-year-old Lieutenant John R Fox, an artillery officer, reported seeing the narrows streets of Sommocolonia filled with soldiers from the Austrian 4th Gebirgsjäger (Mountain) Battalion. The attacking Austrian soldiers expected little resistance as many Black American troops had been reported in the area. However, the Buffalo soldiers put up a tough fight in Sommocolonia.

By 9 in the morning, house-to-house combat was reported taking place in Sommocolonia. The outnumbered American soldiers and Communist Partisans, soon reported that they could, at best, only slow down the enemy attacks.

Orders to retreat were transmitted from US headquarters in Barga, but by that time, two thirds of the American and Communist defenders were killed or wounded. With the American and Partisan wounded dragged inside, the Austrians started burning houses in Sommocolonia.

The US field artillery at Barga provided fire support for the Somocolonia defenders, with Lieutenant Fox radioing the co-ordinates. With Axis infantry reinforcing the attack, several men at Barga heard Fox's last call for smokescreen to cover the escape of the surviving American soldiers and Communist Partisans. Heavy artillery fire then rained down on Fox's position. The US artillery commander hesitated at first in firing directly on his position, but Lieutenant Fox had his way and was killed soon after. Of the Somocolonia defenders, only 18 Americans made it back to the lines of the US 5th Army.

In the fighting on 26 December, Austrian mountain troops also captured Fornaci from the Americans, and the Italians captured the village of Molazzano but failed to take Brucciano.

On the night of 26/27 December, the surviving civilians from Sommocolonia were rounded up by the Austrians and suspected Communist Partisans and sympathizers detained. The local Italian priest later told of seeing Lieutenant Fox's body in the rubble, along with the bodies of about 100 Austrian soldiers. About 50 American soldiers and 30 Communist Partisans were killed in the defence of Sommocolonia.

On 27 December, Austrian troops renewed their advance and captured Pian di Coreglia, while Italian troops captured the village of Calavorno.

On 27 and 28 December, with the US 92nd Buffalo Division falling back or digging in all along the 9-kilometre frontline, around-the-clock bombings and strafing missions from 1,000 US P-47 Thunderbolts, Mustang fighters, Mitchell bombers and British Commonwealth Spitfires, Kittyhawks, finally halting the Axis advance.

US War Correspondent Sid Feder would report the Allied air power that halted the Axis offensive:

Strong Allied air and ground forces were thrown into battle today in an effort to halt the German assault on a six-mile front in the Serchio river valley, where American doughboys have been driven from the important road town of Barga in two days of fierce fighting. The Germans declared that the U.S. 92nd division had been knocked back "some kilometres", which evidently was aimed at the vital Allied supply port of Livorno (Leghorn) ... The Allied tactical air forces hurled the full fury of their bombs, cannon and machineguns against the attacking enemy, with well over 1,000 warplanes participating in the headlong strikes against troop concentrations, gun posts, occupied buildings and road junctions in the battle area. American Thunderbolt and Mustang fighters and Mitchell medium bombers were joined by British and South African Spitfires and Kittyhawks in the blistering assault. Many fires and explosions were seen around Barga and two towns in the immediate northwest, Castelnuovo and Gallicano.

Despite Allied air superiority, a number of Italian rifle companies and platoons advance 10 kilometres or more and reach the outskirts of the Spa Town of Bagni Di Lucca and the Monte Rosa and reinforcements from the San Marco and Italia Divisions would successfully defend their forward positions in the Serchio Valley for several days, weeks or months.

Although the Axis offensive had pushed back the Americans by about 25 kilometers, Allied air power and reinforcements from the 8th Indian Infantry Division halted the offensive.

The Italian and Austrian units would form a new defensive line about 2 kilometers south of the original Axis line, bringing back large amounts of captured weapons, food, equipment, and 300 POWs.

Aftermath

Generals Mark Clark and Lucian Truscott would be at a loss explaining the defeat of the 92nd Buffalo Division, claiming that several crack German Gebirgsjäger Battalions had overrun the US 366th and 370th Infantry Regiments. The two participating Austrian Mountain Battalions, in fact would come under heavy criticism from the Italian commanders for taking too long in clearing Sommocolonia.

In February 1945, the 92nd Infantry Division again came up against RSI units. This time Bersaglieri battalions from the Italia Division. The Italians successfully halted the American advance. The Americans admit losing 22 tanks from the 758th Tank Battalion and suffering more than 1,100 killed, wounded or captured (including 56 officers) in the fighting for Mount Della Stella and Cinquale Canal.

After the war, Sommocolonia's residents built a peace memorial to honour Lieutenant John R Fox and all the civilians and Allied and Axis soldiers that died in the battle. The villagers even named one of the streets in Sommocolonia after the Buffalo Division of which Fox was a member.

n 1997, Lieutenant Fox was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on 26 December 1944, that helped stop the Axis drive from spilling into Livorno.

In July 2002, Antonio Nardini (president of the Lucca Historical Society) that fought against the Buffalo soldiers in Operation Winter Storm recognized the bravery of Lieutenant Fox in an interview with Alessandra Stanley from the New York Times, "His gesture may have been futile, but he acted like a real soldier."