Frank Polizzi - Somewhere in the Stars

Con amuri, vostru patri .

Over the next few months the fighting continued to be brutal on the ground throughout the Cassino area. It wasn’t until May 18th that a Polish unit toppled the Nazi flag at the monastery and placed the 12th Podolski Lancers Regiment pennant on a branch, signaling the start of the break through over the Gustav Line.

On May 23rd at zero hour, 0545, over a thousand mortars, artillery pieces and tanks pounded the town of Cisterna di Latina. The tracers from countless machine guns lit up the enemy targets. Overhead Nick spotted a shrieking squadron of fighters and light bombers flying over Cisterna adding to the devastation. The blasting noise was so incredible, it was as if Vesuvius had erupted once again just like it had two months earlier. Nick recollected from a newspaper article how the volcano had bellowed and heaved black smoke, orange-red fire, lava and cinders, smothering and crushing every living thing in its path. He reckoned it was all the past Allied bombardments. At this very moment, Nick felt he was imploding as he confronted everything right in front of him, palpable for unseen miles, burnt into his memory to be brewed in nightmares to come.

Their medium tanks and tank destroyers had become invisible to the enemy, either hidden inside farmhouses, sunk in maneuverable gullies, covered with mounds of a straw or camouflaged in vineyards. The tanks rushed out after the barrage, searching for targets to protect the infantrymen, who had to break through the German defenses of barbed wire, minefields and the constant shelling from enemy machine guns, mortars and artillery, then hand to hand combat, using everything they had, rifles, bayonets and grenades.

With his binoculars, Captain Monroe spotted German Panther tanks that were causing a lot of damage on the right flank of the battlefield. He ordered Nathan’s crew to lead a group of tank destroyers, fanning out through a wooded area northeast of the town. Nathan instructed Nick to stop periodically, so Paul could climb a tree and locate the exact position of the lethal Panthers. On the third try, the object of their mission was in their sights. Nathan had Nick speed to a clearing that put them to the side of the Panthers that had been firing nonstop from their position. He also radioed to the other crew commanders to find their own strategic spots. Moving away from the trees, their tank destroyer blasted several hits at the thinner side armor of the first Panther, which burst into flames. When the other Panther turned its turreted cannon on them, Nick reversed at full speed into the woods, as the German gunner fired and hit the trees instead. Minutes later, Nick zipped out of the woods, traversing the direction of that same tank. Paul and Al got off a volley of shots on Nathan’s command, taking out the second Panther in the same weak spot. The other scout tank destroyers had already joined Captain Monroe’s company, charging forward and continuing the destruction of the invincible Panthers in the battlefield.

Nathan’s crew were so close to the enemy, he could hear the German Field Marshall screaming at his officers: “Idioten! Zerstoren der Amerikaner Panzer! Sie verichten!” Suddenly, all the big German guns, from tanks to artillery to rocket launchers, barraged their tank and the other charging tank destroyers. Captain Monroe radioed his tank crew commanders to pull back immediately into the woods and regroup with the main attack force.

“Nick, get the hell out of here! Stand on it!”

Nick maneuvered the tank, heading for the cover of the woods. Unexpectedly, a Tiger I tank drove through the front façade of a barn and fired several blasts from its big 88mm gun, one shot hitting their front end, the other traveling through two sides of its armor. Their tank destroyer spun around but Nick managed to sputter its way into the tree grove before smacking into a large tree.

Nick cried out in pain from his smashed right leg that looked like hanging meat in a North Beach macelleria . He inched his way out of the driver’s hatch, groaning all the time and crawled over to the edge of the smoking turret, while flames burst from the engine in the rear. Nick yelled down: “Nathan! Paul! Al!” No one responded. “For Christ’s sake, somebody say something.” This time he heard a moan and Nathan’s voice: “My head’s bleeding. I can’t see too well.” Nick stretched his neck over the turret opening and saw Nathan starting to black out.

“Nate, stay awake. Nathan!” Nick screamed with such force it caused Nathan to crack his eyes open and recover his senses.

“Paul and Al are on the floor,” Nathan cried out. “I’m still a little dizzy. I’ll try to lift them up. Get a grip as soon as you see shoulders.” Nick winced in pain as he leaned into the turret and grabbed the back of Paul’s shirt, dragging him over the top as Nathan heaved him up. They repeated the same routine with Al. Nathan climbed out, while Nick pulled Paul to the edge of the tank. Nathan jumped off and fell to the ground. He slowly pushed himself up and opened his arms, as Nick slid Paul down followed by Al. Nathan hopped onto the tank and got Nick off, then leaned him against one of the wheels. He carried Paul on his shoulders and placed him behind a tree and did the same for Al. Nathan made his way back to Nick who put his arm around Nathan. He limped along with his friend’s help and was placed next to his cousin. The wide berth of the tree protected the four of them, when within minutes the tank blew, billowing up clouds of black smoke.

“Paul, wake up. Cuginu! Please, it’s me, Nick. Madonna !” He loosened Paul’s fatigues and saw a red soaked t-shirt. As the tears welled up in his eyes, he crossed himself and hugged his cousin.

“Nick, Paul’s gone,” Nathan said, as he put his hand on Nick’s shoulder.

“What about Al?”

“Al’s dead too.” Nick looked at Al’s body lying on the ground. He saw his brain exposed from the left side, as Nathan stared at Nick who vomited. Nathan went over to Al, turning his head to the other side, a profile they could recognize, and moving his eyelid down.

“Poor guy didn’t know what hit him,” Nathan mumbled.

Nick turned towards his cousin and the glint of Paul’s gold cross caught his attention, as the chain drooped from his cousin’s neck. He gently pulled it over Paul’s head, kissed the cross and dropped it into his shirt pocket. Nathan closed Paul’s eyes and moved him closer to Al. Nick sat impassively near his dead comrades after Nathan passed out. Hours later, the medics found what remained of Nathan’s crew after their hazardous search.

Their crew was separated at the rear lines, two for the field hospital, the other two for a temporary morgue. The next morning Nick woke as the painkiller wore off, while Nathan lay in a coma, his head still swathed in Carlisle dressing with pink stains over his right temple, his body surrounded with tentacles of life-support. He slept on Nick’s left side, while another tanker from their company lay on the other side with burns on half his face. From a distance he could see a row of wooden coffins that were bound for the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno and recalled his last impression of their stiff faces. He took out Paul’s cross and wrapped it around his right hand, squeezing the gold cross in his palm.

“Medic!” Nick called out. One of the attending medics acknowledged him by waving his hand. He came over when he finished changing a battle dressing.

“Corporal Spataro, how are you feeling today?”

“Lot of pain, but that’s not why I called for you.” Nick looked at his nametag and epaulet.

“What can I do for you?”

“Specialist Kelly, I need a favor.”

“Sure, but call me Bill. And you’re?”