Monte Della Torraccia becomes the next objective for Ben Givens’s unit after the capture of Mount Belvedere. Its slopes are approached through a damaged, snow-covered landscape under continuing fire, and the advance turns from a staged military plan into a disordered struggle to reach the German line.

Setting and Strategic Context

At dawn, after P-47s bombed the summit of Mount Belvedere, Ben’s company moved up the slope and took cover behind chestnut trees. At 0700, the company commander announced that the 85th Regiment had taken Mount Belvedere and shortly afterward Gorgolesco. The Third and First Battalions of the 85th were ordered to defend those gains against counterattacks, while the Third Battalion of the 86th Mountain Regiment, Ben’s unit, was directed through the forward lines to take Monte Della Torraccia.

The route toward the mountain passes through the area around Mazzancana and across slopes marked by artillery damage. The men encounter military dead and wounded on the way, while shattered trees and snow-covered ground register the fighting that has already crossed the terrain. Monte Della Torraccia is therefore presented not as an isolated landmark but as the next position in a sequence of costly advances.

The Planned Advance

Lieutenant Daniels explains that the platoon is to cross the shoulder of Hill 1018 at dusk and move onto the slopes of Monte Della Torraccia. The men are authorized to hold in the thick pines until daybreak; the front lies directly ahead, with no friendly troops between them and the enemy. Their assault is to follow artillery preparation, and the platoon is assigned as a second wave after the Second Battalion of the 85th Regiment has taken considerable casualties covering the ground before them.

The instructions make the terrain and the unit’s role concrete. The men are to dig in for the night, preferably deep or, if necessary, in a slit trench. Ben’s Browning automatic rifle is meant to provide heavy fire in support of a frontal attack, while its ammunition bearers must stay close. The plan depends on both cover in the pines and the coordination of the men carrying and operating the weapon.

The Approach Under Fire

When the assault begins, P-47s fly low and drop fragmentation bombs to clear a path. Ben follows other men into a north-facing hay field, still ankle-deep in snow, then moves into sheltering pines along its edge. He sets up his Browning automatic rifle and fires into the trees, but the action is no longer the coordinated advance described in the briefing: no one from his squad is nearby, the ammunition bearers have not appeared, and Lieutenant Daniels is missing from view.

Ben holds among the trees until a staff sergeant arrives to organize the company’s assault on the German line. The men climb along a mule path; after an artillery shell knocks two soldiers from the trail, Ben leaves the path and climbs directly toward the ridge. There he finds Kelly Lastenpole and Bill Stackhouse halted by trip wires. They pass through under fire and descend into beech trees, where they lie on the ground and struggle out of their packs. In this sequence, Monte Della Torraccia is the objective that draws the scattered men uphill, even as the plan’s supporting roles and formations fail to remain intact.