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(View the map) The remainder of the 504 was restlessly waiting at airfields in Comiso, and Trapani, Sicily, for the parachute mission that they had been told to expect. On September 13, they were again alerted. "Another dry run", was the cynical comment of most men. Nevertheless, each man gave his equipment a last minute check - just in case. Early chow was eaten and immediately afterward the troops fell in at their bivouac areas in the appointed plane loading formations; then marched to the battered and roofless hangars where they picked up their chutes. It was not until the men were seated in the planes that the mission was disclosed. In probably the briefest briefing of any comparable operation of the war, men of the 504 were informed that the Fifth Army beachhead in Italy was in grave danger of being breached; that the 504 was to jump behind friendly lines in the vicinity of the threatened breakthrough in order to stem the German advance. A pathfinder group was going in ahead with special equipment to guide the planes into the DZ, the center of which the Fifth Army was to indicate with a large flaming "T". That was all; no one knew specifically what was to be required of him - nothing more than the fact that the Fifth Army was endangered and that the 504 was needed badly. Each man felt an inward surge of pride in his importance. Morale climbed. As the planes speed down the air strip and lifted into the night sky, these men felt that they had a big assignment ahead of them; the rescuing of the Fifth Army. Though some may have had misgivings about what the morrow would bring, they were confident in their strength and happy to be on the way. Shortly after midnight the planes, flying in a column of battalions, passed over the clearly marked DZ and unloaded their human cargoes. With the exception of eight planes which failed to navigate properly to the DZ, but whose planeloads were subsequently accounted for, there was little difficulty or confusion experienced in completing the operation. Assembly was made in the designated areas with a minimum loss of time and a later check revealed that only 75 men had suffered injuries as a result of the jump. This mission is still regarded as history's greatest example of the mobility of airborne troops - in exactly eight hours the 504 had been notified of its mission, briefed, loaded into planes, jumped on its assigned drop zone, and committed against the enemy. On the DZ, situated a few hundred yards from the beach and two miles South of Paestum, the boom of cannon and the flash of gunfire were distinctly evident a short distance to the North. Assembled, organized, and entrucked, the regiment was within the hour moving slowly, along the road that led in the direction from whence the sounds of battle came. By dawn the regiment, less the 3rd Battalion, was firmly emplaced in a defensive sector three miles from Paestum and Southwest of Albanella. The days of the 14th and 15th of September, were spent in anticipation of a tank attack that threatened from the Calore River region to the North. The 2nd Battalion assisted in the repulsing of one tank attack across the Sele River while E Company, on a reconnaissance in force of the same area, encountered scattered and small elements of the enemy. The regimental recon platoon patrolled the area several miles to the front and battalions also sent out reconnaissance and combat patrols of their own with particular emphasis on the Altavilla sector. Hostile artillery fire was spasmodic and largely interdictory in character. Air activity was confined principally to friendly craft, though the enemy in groups of two and three would occasionally make an appearance over 504 positions only to be driven off by intense fire from supporting anti-aircraft units. On the morning of the 16th, the regiment marched four miles to occupy the town of Albanella, where at noon, Col. Tucker issued to the battalion commanders the order to seize and hold the high ground surmounting Altavilla.
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