The first attack on the Gustav Line was mounted by the British X Corps’ 56th and 5th Divisions on the left of the Allied position, near the west coast. On the clear but freezing night of 17 January 1944, and after a major artillery barrage, the 56th crossed the Garigliano River in small boats, pulled across on a rope secured on the far bank.
The crossing itself was uneventful, but soon after they disembarked the troops came under machine gun and mortar fire from the defending forces of the German 94th Infantry Division, under Major General Bernard Steinmetz. Confusion reigned as the men became separated from their groups. As 19-year-old Fusilier Len Bradshaw recalled later: “We didn’t know what was going on. The night was very much like that.”
Panic crossing
The 5th Division crossing nearer the coast was less successful. The Americans crewing the