Read Online Ortona by Mark Zuehlke - Free Book Online

five-foot-four, Quayle six-foot-three. Shrapnel sprayed overhead. Fearing that any moment the barrage would enter the RCR lines and that the “artillery was making a stupid mistake,” Quayle ran back to ‘A’ Company HQ.
    Not realizing that Spry had brought battalion HQ forward with ‘C’ Company, he was surprised to find the battalion commander sitting calmly on the mud floor next to the RCR’s assigned forward observationofficer. The FOO was passing on firing coordinates that were almost exactly those held by the RCR to the on-call gun batteries. Quayle told Spry of the danger posed by the closeness of the shelling. “I know. It has to be that way,” Spry responded. He then turned his attention back to interrogating a German officer who remained “very erect, very polite, and totally uncommunicative.” 33 Realizing that Spry was right and that some rounds of the protective wall of fire would likely fall inside the Canadian position, Quayle returned to his platoon position.
    Minutes later, rounds from one salvo did fall short, landing near the headquarters. Three soldiers were wounded and two Indian muleteers killed. Several mules, used to carry the FOO’s radio equipment and the three-inch mortars, were torn to pieces. The German armour, apparently deterred by the heavy shelling, never appeared. Soon enemy shells started falling to the immediate south of ‘A’ Company’s position. Spry realized that the Germans, seeing shells land in the area occupied by ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies, had assumed the RCR must be dug in farther to the south. They remained deceived throughout the night, continuing to bombard the wrong location. For his part, Spry kept calling salvoes down on the edge of his battalion’s position whenever the Germans made the slightest move toward it.
    As the night wore on, the RCR reorganized. The battalion HQ was full of wounded. When moonlight shone down through the rickety roof onto the mud floor, it was decided they had to be moved to a more solid location. The cream-coloured building occupied by Lieutenant Mitch Sterlin’s ‘D’ Company platoon was sturdy and sound, so the wounded were transferred there.
    Spry and his battalion command staff on the scene spent the remaining hours of darkness gathering an appreciation of their current position. One thing was clear. The Panzer Grenadier resistance was too strong and the casualties suffered so far too heavy to enable the RCR to continue its attack toward San Leonardo. Spry concluded that the flat little hilltop his battalion occupied was defensibly untenable due to an overlooking low ridge and the flat terrain, providing perfect ground for tank manoeuvre. Downhill from the house, already dubbed Sterlin’s Castle, was a slight reverse slope.
    Spry decided to shift everyone down the slope and to leave Sterlin and his platoon in the house to hold the right flank closest tothe road. This meant again moving the wounded out of what would now become the RCR’s forward defensive point. The move was completed without incident. The regiment concentrated in a tight little island with Liddell’s ‘A’ Company holding the northern flank, Lavoie’s ‘C’ Company the east, and Galloway’s ‘B’ Company the remaining edges of the circle around battalion HQ, the three-inch mortars, the wounded, and the surviving muleteers. The lateral attack had failed. The RCR was cut off and possibly surrounded.
    There remained one glimmer of hope. Shortly before daylight, Spry received word from Brigadier Howard Graham that 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade supported by tanks would cross the river in the morning and smash its way into San Leonardo. Once San Leonardo fell, the RCR should be able to fight its way through to the village. Failing that, it was probable that the Panzer Grenadiers would at least have to divert their attention to containing the 2 CIB