Photo By Michael Strasser | Fort Drum’s Bomporto Bridge connects the main cantonment to Wheeler-Sack Army...... read more read more
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (April 5, 2024) -- Fort Drum’s Bomporto Bridge connects the main cantonment to Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, but it also serves as a connection that honors the legacy of the 10th Mountain Division during World War II.
After the 10th Mountain Division completed its attack on Riva Ridge and Mount Belvedere, the Soldiers left the Italian mountains in April 1945 for a rapid advance across the Po River Valley.
As the Allied forces surrounded the Germans from the west, north and east, the Italian Alps afforded the enemy’s only avenue to escape and regroup. It was imperative for Maj. Gen. George P. Hays, 10th Mountain Division commander, to deny them that opportunity.
Any successful advance to the Alps would require speed to outmaneuver enemy troops and secure the bridges at chokepoints before the enemy could destroy them. Hays dispatched a task force to spearhead the effort.
Task Force Duff, led by Brig. Gen. Robinson Duff, assistant division commander, began a motorized march across the Po Valley at 6:30 a.m. April 21. They moved with such surprising speed – even while meeting enemy resistance and collecting prisoners – that they cleared their objective by the end of the day.
The Germans had placed explosive charges under the Bomporto Bridge, which crossed the Panaro River. The 10th Mountain Division Soldiers caught them off guard, and the ensuing firefight was brief. Engineers removed the demolitions while the remainder of the division moved forward with only scattered enemy resistance along the way.
Capturing the Bomporto Bridge was a key part of the Po River Breakout, which cut off the enemy’s escape route to the Brenner Pass in the Alps. But the division’s march to the Po River was marked by constant fighting over 40 miles of terrain. Duff was wounded by shrapnel fragments while attempting to prevent a tank from hitting an enemy mine near San Bendetto Po.
After 19 days of continuous fighting, hostilities ceased, and the 10th Mountain Division had carved their legacy in the mountains and valleys of Italy.
Fort Drum’s new overpass connecting the main cantonment to Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield took the name Bomporto Bridge during a dedication ceremony on Oct. 16, 2018.
“This bridge will inspire generations of 10th Mountain Division Soldiers to come,” said then-Brig Gen. Gregory Anderson, 10th Mountain Division (LI) deputy commanding general for support. “It’s going to be a reminder to 10th Mountain Division Soldiers who walk this route and drive this route safely across Route 26 of the history and the lineage that they come from.”
Anderson returned to Fort Drum as division commander and, in 2023, led a battlefield staff ride in Italy while deployed to Europe. In addition to traversing a route up Riva Ridge, the group visited the Bomporto Bridge site.
“We are tying into our history on the very ground where it was made,” he said. “And that’s very powerful, and it’s inspiring, because it’s a bridge to where we are now and where we are going. This gives us the strength to move forward as a division, as we return to our roots and get back those light infantry, mountaineering, alpine and cold-weather capabilities.”
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2024 08:45 |
| Story ID: | 467876 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Around and About Fort Drum: Bomporto Bridge, by Michael Strasser, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT