A bloody baptism of fire

17th January 1944: Fresh to the front line, Canadian infantry suffer heavy casualties as they attempt to make a second attack behind an artillery barrage

The Crossing of the Garigliano River, Italy by the Fifth Army on the night of 17 - 18 January 1944. 4.5 inch guns of 214 Battery, 69 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery firing during the six hour barrage laid down by the British section of the 5th Army

4.5 inch guns of 214 Battery, 69 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery firing during the six hour barrage laid down by the British section of the 5th Army.

In Italy the Allies had come up against the formidable defences of the Gustav Line and the obstacle of Mount Cassino. Here the German defences had been well prepared and they dominated the high ground - and so they dominated the battlefield. It was a forbidding place to make an attack especially as the Garigliano and Rapido rivers had also to be crossed. Yet it was essential to pull the Germans into the area - away from the forthcoming Anzio landings.

The sky above us was a crowded highway of shells all going in one direction, some so low on their downward journey that we feared one of them would come down on top of us.

On 17th January Stanley Scislowski¹ and his comrades in the Perth Regiment were adjusting to their first day in combat. The artillery had opened up at 0530 and Dog Company had moved off at 0700 to back up the Companies who had made their first attack. The day had not gone well and they spent most of it pinned down under machine gun fire - the Germans had been largely unaffected by the first artillery barrage. Most of the day had been spent in watery slit trenches.