Regimental S-2 Supports Assault River Crossing

Courtesy Photo | Troops crossing the Volturno on 13 October with assault boats and rope guidelines  

FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

10.14.2022

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian

During the early morning hours of 13 October 1943, Col. Harry B. Sherman’s 7th Infantry of the 3d Infantry Division made an assault river crossing over the Volturno River in south-central Italy. Through Capt. Lee L. Dymock, the regimental S-2, Sherman received useful intelligence developed from within the regiment as well as from the division’s G-2.

By the end of September 1943, Anglo-American forces had seized the heel and toe of the Italian boot and advanced up the ankle to a line about 120 miles south of Rome. On the western side of Italy, the Germans established defensive positions along the Volturno River to delay the American Fifth Army under Lt. Gen. Mark Clark. As part of the Fifth Army, Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott’s 3d Infantry Division fought northward along rugged terrain to within a few miles of the Volturno. On 7 October, Clark ordered Truscott to cross the river in three days and attack toward Teano, about thirteen miles to the north. Rain, mud, and poor roads, however, delayed preparations, and Clark postponed the attack by three days.

Colonel Sherman’s regiment, which was to be the division’s main effort, took advantage of the delay to better reconnoiter the area. Captain Dymock, a 36-year-old Coloradoan, directed these efforts. He had enlisted in the Army in 1925 and received his commission in 1936. Joining the 7th Infantry, he fought in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Dymock’s assistant S-2 was the talented 28-year-old Eric A. Sturley. Sturley was fluent in French and German and interrupted his graduate studies at Yale to serve as an intelligence officer with the 7th Infantry.

Aerial photography from the 3d Division G-2 greatly added to Dymock’s situation development. The photos revealed the general enemy disposition and showed the Germans were heavily entrenched on the high ground along the eastern half of the division’s sector. This knowledge of the enemy dispositions and their strength reduced the possibility of surprise, since Dymock knew where the enemy was and what the Germans were capable of doing. While the aerial photos were invaluable, they did not yield all the information that Dymock needed to provide his commander. 

For a successful crossing, the commander needed an appreciation of a river’s width and depth, strength of current, and bank conditions. The only sure way of gaining this awareness was to send out patrols to select crossing sites and determine the potential for fording. Consequently, Dymock kept his regimental Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon out nightly looking for possible routes and crossing sites. In addition, the platoon established observation posts. The regiment’s three battalions also send out nightly patrols. Dymock ensured that the patrol activity remained constant throughout the regimental sector so it did not give away the plan of attack.

The patrols often engaged in firefights with enemy patrols. Some received German mortar and artillery fire. During one of the first patrols, Maj. Everett Duvall, commander of the 2d Battalion, narrowly escaped capture while his S-2 and one company commander did not. It was not until the attack was postponed that the regiment was able to get a patrol across the river. Eventually, the aggressive patrolling paid off. Collectively, the patrols located fords and marked the routes as well as uncovered German machine gun positions. These patrols gave Colonel Sherman the information needed to launch a coordinated regimental attack.

The combination of intelligence from aerial photos and patrolling aided the 7th Infantry immeasurably in its successful assault crossing over the Volturno on 13 October. The information of the terrain and enemy enabled the battalion and company commanders to plan how to overcome both the river and its defenders prior to the attack.

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• Date Taken: 10.14.2022
• Date Posted: 10.13.2022 16:49
• Story ID: 431256
• Location: FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US