Valour at Casa Berardi MTO (id:#63013)

(Valour at Casa Berardi ID: CASLO 4)   [next]   [previous]

Casa Berardi, Italy 1943-12-13 (6 others)

Overview:

At 07.30 hrs, the Vandoos started out for Casa Berardi under heavy shellfire, crossing the “Gully” at a point deemed “its least formidable”. Once across, “C” Company, under the command of Captain Paul Triquet, was ordered to perform a right flanking manoeuvre, which would enabled the remainder of the Battalion to attack Casa Berardi from the front. “C” Company, apart from Captain Triquet himself, was reduced to a fighting strength of two sergeants and fifteen men, armed with small arms, and a woefully low on ammunition; while the accompanying Ontarios, under command of Major “Snuffy” Smith, had four tanks left- two of them bogged in the thick mud nearby. Captain Triquet decided that with the Germans to the front, on the flanks, and in behind them, “The only safe place was on the objective itself!” and with these slender resources, organized his defences against a counter-attack; issuing the order "Ils ne passeront pas!" (They shall not pass!). Surrounded, the handful of men drew back from the crossroads; however, the battle was not yet done. The Germans persisted in trying to overrun the handful of French- Canadians lodged around the farmhouse; launching infantry and tank attacks piecemeal against the Vandoos, as they arrived..

Defender: German (3rd Fallschirmjäger Regiment)  

Errata (source)