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(View the map) The days following were, in the words of Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, "responsible for saving the Salerno beachhead". Men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions advanced across the flat valley floor, were subjected to intense enemy artillery and small arms fire; contact between the battalions and the CP group were lost, but all units pressed relentlessly forward and in spite of overwhelming enemy superiority in numbers, took their assigned objectives. The enemy counter-attacked stubbornly, and on the night of the 17th, it became evident that help had to be secured if the 504, now completely cut off from friendly forces, was to hold these key positions so necessary for the security of the beachhead. General Dawley, commander of the Sixth Corps, was contacted by radio, and suggested that the regiment withdraw and attempt to establish a line nearer to the beach. It was then that Col. Tucker uttered the statement that epitomized the saga of Altavilla - "Retreat, Hell! - Send me my other battalion!" The 3rd Battalion was then sent to rejoin the regiment. They moved into position on Hill 344, the 1st and 2nd Battalions repulsed strong enemy counter-attacks, contact between the units was made, and the Salerno beachhead was saved. The next day the 504 was relieved by elements of the 36th Division. This, the first contact with the enemy for men of the 504 since Sicily and the first time that the regiment had been committed as a unit in any single tactical operation, was a battle that turned the tide of the German onslaught on the Salerno beachhead and frustrated their attempts to contain the Fifth Army within the confines of the coastal plain reaching as far as Altavilla. With its flanks secured, the Fifth Army was at liberty to extend itself northward in the direction of Salerno, and ultimately to Naples. The area in the region of Altavilla for several years had been a firing range for a German artillery school; consequently there was no problem of range, deflection, or prepared concentrations that the enemy had not solved long before the advent of the Americans. Needless to say, hostile artillery and mortar fire was extremely accurate and capable of pinpointing with lethal concentrations such vital features as wells, trails, and draws. During the three days that the 504 occupied the several hills behind Altavilla, approximately 30 paratroopers died, 150 were wounded, and one man was missing in action. The majority of these casualties were caused by the enemy's artillery fire. Enemy casualties were, judging from the number of dead left on the field of battle and from information divulged by prisoners, several times those of the regiment. Four separate and distinct attacks by the enemy launched from the North, East, and West of 504 positions were driven back with heavy casualties resulting for the Germans. On the morning of September 20, the 504, less the 3rd Battalion, moved back into a reserve position. The 3rd Battalion moved directly from Hill 344 to Blue Beach in the vicinity of Paestum where they boarded LCIs and headed toward Maiori to join H Company, still holding out with the Rangers at Chiunzi Pass. For the remainder of the regiment, the period 20-25 September, was for the most part one of rest and resupply. However, road patrols were maintained by the regimental recon platoon which at the same time kept in constant touch with the British Eighth Army on the right flank. The enemy had apparently withdrawn to the North, and the report of the villagers was always the same - that the Germans had passed through in trucks a day or two before headed North. Before noon on the 25th, the regiment was ordered to join the 3rd Battalion and boarded LCIs at Red Beach where they skirted the coast to Maiori.
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