04x05 - Himmler's Folly

[bunniefuu]

(theme music bellows)

NARRATOR:

October 1944, northern Italy.

A Canadian Private from an

experimental Tank Hunter platoon

faces down a German Panther tank,

armed only with a PIAT.

He knows the best range to make

his shot is less than 20 yards.

It’s an absolutely terrifying ordeal.

You had to practically stand right up in

front of the tank in order to hit it.

- (rapid g*nf*re)

- (dramatic theme music continues)

NARRATOR: The soldier waits until the tank

is within ten yards

(tank rumbling)

before he launches.

(theme music bellows loudly)

On June 6th, 1944. Allied forces

finally land troops in Normandy

to open the Western Front.

(low mumbled foreign language)

NARRATOR:

But n*zi fanatics and die-hards

continue to fight ferociously

for survival.

- (rapid fire)

- (dramatic theme music bellows)

D-Day was a battle.

They still need to win the w*r.

- (theme music crescendos)

- (flames whoosh)

October 21st, 1944.

The Savio river, northern Italy.

Soldiers from the Seaforth Highlanders

of Canada wade warily through the water.

(distant g*nf*re)

As the Seaforths enter the river,

it's really dark,

it's raining really hard,

and the water levels of the Savio River

are beginning to rise rapidly.

NARRATOR:

Platoon Leader Lieutenant D.H. McKay

scans the far shore.

(soft thematic music plays)

More than the mud and cold current

make the crossing a challenge.

While under fire from the enemy,

he must also locate soldiers from

Princess Patricia’s Canadian

Light Infantry Regiment on the other side.

(distant g*nf*re)

The PPCLI have crossed before them.

They're being shelled

quite heavily and frankly

the Seaforths don't know if the

PPCLI have been overrun or not.

NARRATOR:

The Canadians had landed

in Italy more than a year earlier.

They started in Sicily, long before D-Day.

Sicily is the supposed soft underbelly

of Europe because Churchill, above all,

does not want to invade France

and Normandy at this particular time.

He doesn't think the

western Allies are ready for it,

and yet there's tremendous

pressure from Stalin and

the Soviets to draw away

pressure from the Eastern Front.

NARRATOR:

But the progress has been very slow.

The Germans incorporate

the Italian terrain

into their defense lines.

And they built bunkers,

barbed wire, minefield and so on.

And this makes it extremely

difficult for the Allies to

proceed from bottom

of the boot up to the north.

NARRATOR:

Despite the effort of American

and Commonwealth troops, the bitter

fighting means that 15 months later,

the Germans still occupy

a swath of northern Italy,

including its industrial heart.

By October 1944, the

Canadians who fight with

the British Eighth Army emerge

from the Apennine mountains.

The mountains have been such

a terrible barrier with river after river.

NARRATOR: From the western

edge of the Adriatic sea

ALEXANDRA: It looks as if they're just

finally going to be able to get

to flat ground and

actually make a run for Bologna.

NARRATOR:

But numerous rivers still cut across

the plain, and the

enemy remains determined.

In response to the Canadian

breakthrough the Germans know that

this is extremely dangerous

for the entire position in northern Italy.

So, they bring in reinforcements

to stop the Canadian advance.

NARRATOR:

To exploit the natural defenses,

they have withdrawn to

the west side of the Savio river.

(thematic music grows suspenseful)

(rapid g*nf*re)

The German ninth Panzergrenadier Regiment

defends a sector about five miles long,

along the Savio,

north of the city of Cesena.

The Commander of second Battalion,

Captain Ekkehard Maurer,

has been assigned here

as part of his officer training.

Captain Ekkehard Maurer is

only 25 years of age during this time.

He got posted into this thing

only a couple of days earlier.

He pursues a General Staff Officer corps.

And at this moment,

he's on a front-line posting,

which is rotational.

NARRATOR: Maurer knows

Canadians have crossed the Savio.

But he has no idea

how far they’ve advanced.

From the village of Pieve Sestina,

Maurer will dispatch

the heavily armored vehicles

of a Kampfgruppe towards

the river to intercept them.

(thematic music bellows)

(rapid g*nf*re)

Still under fire,

and despite the darkness,

Canadian Lieutenant McKay and his men

link up with the Princess Patricias.

The Seaforths must've been

pretty excited to connect.

That means that the

Canadians had a bridgehead.

They were holding out and the

Seaforths weren't going to be

alone in fighting against the Germans.

NARRATOR: The Princess Patricia’s

point out enemy positions

including six machine g*n nests,

that had kept them pinned down.

SOLDIER:

Drake, hand over your g*ns.

NARRATOR:

They also volunteer to exchange weapons

with McKay’s men after the wet crossing.

They know that the Seaforths are going to

leapfrog over them to engage the Germans.

And to do that they need clean, dry g*ns.

- (solo g*nshots ring out)

- (music turns dramatic)

Move out.

NARRATOR: Companies D and B must clear

the enemy within 500 yards of the river.

Germans have occupied the local

farmhouses and outbuildings

and protect each one with up

to three machine g*n posts.

(rapid fire in distance)

Many remain concealed until

the Canadians step too close.

(rapid g*nf*re)

But the flashes of their g*ns

in the dark

allow the Seaforths to outflank them

(rapid g*nf*re)

and eliminate the

machine g*n nests from behind.

(g*nshots)

(music intensifies)

As company B and company D secure their

objectives on the west side of the Savio,

two more Seaforth Highlander

companies A and C arrive and

position themselves

to continue the advance.

Their mission is to cut off the

main north south road to Cesena

which runs parallel to the river.

This route is an important

transportation corridor for

the enemy and they

expect defenses to be heavy.

A platoon of Tank Hunters

is attached to C company.

Like so many of these things in w*r time,

the Canadian Tank Hunting

strategy came out of failure.

NARRATOR: Commanders reported

soldiers often panicked at just

the threat of enemy tanks.

And so it was very important

for commanding officers and

the soldiers themselves

to have strategies as

to how to attack these tanks.

NARRATOR:

Tank Hunters train to trap and destroy

all kinds of armored vehicles like

tanks and self-propelled g*ns.

They use only weapons

they can carry; anti-tank mines,

and Thompson sub-machine g*ns,

and the armor piercing rounds

of the Projector Infantry Anti-Tank;

the PIAT.

The strategy starts

with immobilizing the prey.

Tank hunters bury mines

across roads in front of

the armored advance.

When triggered, the

mines destroy the tank tracks

to stop it.

PIAT teams move in to fire bombs

straight into the tank’s hull.

The ideal range is just 20 yards.

Soldiers with Tommy g*ns

protect the PIAT operators

and take out any escaping tank crew.

After the Germans blew the bridges,

the rising Savio river means

the Canadians can’t bring

their own armor into the fight.

(thematic music plays)

These platoons are their best

chance against German tanks.

C company closes in on

the crossroads located beside

the parish church of Pieve Sestina.

With reports of enemy armor,

the Commander of the Seaforths

new tank hunting platoon,

Sergeant Keith Thompson,

must dispatch his teams.

He positions his men in ditches

on either side of the approach

and rushes into the road himself,

to bury the mines before

the German tanks arrive.

(tank engine roars)

(dramatic music crescendos)

NARRATOR: According to Canadian Tank

Hunter strategy, Sergeant Keith Thompson

must stop, or at least slow down,

the approaching enemy column.

(thematic music)

As a first step, he moves

to bury Hawkins grenades into the road

to cut off access to the intersection.

(music continues)

The Tank Hunters use the number 75

or Hawkins anti-tank grenade.

It was developed after Dunkirk for the use

of the British army and the Home Guard.

A Hawkins grenade is

a two pound expl*sive charge.

It's rectangular in shape

and kind of looks like a flask.

It can be buried like a mine,

it can be attached to something

like an expl*sive charge,

and it can even be thrown like a grenade.

NARRATOR:

Multiple Hawkins grenades can be strung

together for a more expl*sive result.

One grenade might not do the trick,

but you know that a string of

them will most likely disable

any sort of armored vehicle

that rolls across them.

(thematic music continues)

NARRATOR:

Thompson finishes laying his trap.

As the sound of the

armored vehicles gets closer,

he camouflages the

grenades with leaves and dirt.

(car approaching)

(music intensifies)

His check complete,

Thompson jumps in the ditch

with the other Tank Hunters from

the Canadian Seaforth Highlanders.

(car approaching)

The lead German vehicle

approaches the road junction.

Thompson watches as the wheels

roll between the grenades

and fail to detonate the expl*sives.

Well, Sergeant Thompson's reaction

was probably of disbelief.

He had just set up this

minefield and somehow this

German staff car goes right through

it without triggering one mine.

NARRATOR:

Thompson and some of his soldiers spray

the moving vehicle

with their machine g*ns.

(heavy machine g*n fire)

While another Tank Hunter

jumps up with a PIAT.

At just the right moment,

he launches a b*mb at very close range.

The PIAT is a hand-held weapon that fires

a two and a half pound b*mb,

filled with RDX and TNT expl*sives.

The force of impact can tear through

up to four inches of armor.

(loud expl*si*n)

The expl*si*n of the PIAT b*mb stops

the car and kills the driver.

(music bellows)

A German officer escapes

the wreckage and attempts to alert

the armored column behind him.

But Thompson and the

others move in for the k*ll.

- SOLDIER 2: Fall back!

- NARRATOR: Then reset the trap.

It doesn’t take long.

Not far behind the lead staff car,

a German self-propelled g*n

bears down on the crossroads.

(music intensifies)

Self-propelled g*ns, or SPG,

look much like tanks.

But their g*n is in a fixed case-mate

instead of a rotating turret.

But in these conditions, operating both

vehicles would be a challenge.

Given the rain and the darkness,

visibility was extremely poor.

We can assume that the driver of

this self-propelled g*n didn't

understand and didn't see what

was going on in front of him.

(music grows dramatically)

NARRATOR:

Most likely unseen, a Canadian Private

takes aim with his PIAT.

But his b*mb misses the mark,

and the enemy self-propelled g*n

continues to rumble toward them.

(dramatic music crescendos)

(intense thematic music)

As the German armor nears the crossroads,

the Tank Hunters hold back to see

if Sergeant Keith Thompson’s minefield

can stop the self-propelled g*n.

The vehicle’s track

crosses the Hawkins grenades.

This time, it sets off an expl*si*n.

What's interesting is that in retrospect

Sergeant Thompson is probably pretty happy

the staff car didn't set off the mines,

because now what happens

of course is he's immobilized

the higher value target.

NARRATOR: With damage to its track, the

self-propelled g*n comes to a standstill.

Bringing the vehicle to

a stop is ideal for tank hunting.

You have a better chance of hitting it

and causing more damage

from the PIAT if you're

aiming at a stationary target.

NARRATOR: The Canadian Tank Hunters move

into the open to finish the job.

A PIAT team lines up their shot.

(g*nsh*t)

With an armor piercing hit,

the SPG ceases to be a threat.

Other tank hunters scramble

onto the g*n to finish its crew.

- They drop a grenade into the hatch.

- Fire in the hole!

- (muffled expl*si*n)

- (suspenseful music)

(rapid g*nf*re)

The self-propelled g*n is inoperable

and blocks the road.

(tank roaring)

The armored column has been dispatched

by Captain Ekkehard Maurer,

second Battalion Commander of

the German ninth Panzergrenadier Regiment.

The ninth Panzergrenadier Regiment

is the successor

of the Old ninth Infantry Regiment,

the traditional Prussian Regiment

that was based in Potsdam near Berlin,

and was seen as a source for

the aristocratic German

or Prussian Officer Corps.

NARRATOR: They had arrived in

Italy during the summer of 1943.

And moved into defensive position near

the east coast in September of ’44.

Maurer needs more information about the

Canadian advance in order to thwart it.

The Germans are on their back-foot here,

and they are extremely

surprised to see how far

the Canadians have already

penetrated into their lines.

NARRATOR: In addition, the

Canadian a*tillery barrage has

disrupted communication lines,

compounding the problem.

German Commanders cannot

communicate with each other, so,

the left neighbor doesn't know what his

right neighbor is doing and

Or even communication further up

the chain of command is barely possible.

NARRATOR: But Maurer still has significant

weaponry at his disposal,

including Mark V Panther tanks.

The Panzerkampfwagen or Mark V Panther

is one of the most powerful and

feared tanks in Hitler’s army.

The Germans developed the

medium sized tank rapidly

in 1941 in response to the

threat posed by the Soviet T-34.

The Mark V stormed onto

the b*ttlefield in 1943 topped

with a powerful

75 millimeter high velocity g*n,

and a pair of MG34 machine g*ns,

capable of unleashing

hundreds of b*ll*ts per minute.

At 45 tons, this

Panther is heavy but fast.

A 700-horsepower motor generates

a top speed of 28 miles per hour.

As a Mark V tank grinds up the road,

another team of Canadian Tank Hunters

dashes across a field.

Private Ernest Smith scouts

for the best possible position.

Private Smith is an interesting guy.

He's clearly brave.

And he's clearly a natural leader.

When things get hot, even

though he's not in command,

he takes the initiative

and people follow him.

NARRATOR: Smith’s natural

fighting instincts have been

rewarded with numerous promotions.

But they don’t seem to stick.

Private Smith earned a reputation for

being a troublemaker. Being insubordinate.

He was promoted to Corporal nine times

and demoted to Private nine times.

He clearly had a problem with authority,

but there was no question

that he was a hell of a soldier.

NARRATOR: With his Commander and

fellow Tank Hunters occupied

with the German self-propelled g*n;

(expl*si*n)

Smith has his eyes on the

Panther tank further ahead.

- (expl*si*n)

- (music bellows)

He directs his PIAT team

into a ditch with a view of the road.

But as the tank creeps closer, he decides

that a single PIAT isn’t enough.

With the operator set, Smith and Private

James Tennant hurry to fetch another.

Leaving that one operator

by himself is a risky move.

When you are firing a PIAT half

of your vision is blocked by the weapon.

Normally they work in twos so that

if a German does sneak up on you,

you have someone watching

your back to defend you.

NARRATOR: Smith’s company

needs to reach the main highway

to cut off German reinforcements

to the city of Cesena to the south.

But instead, they encountered

part of a German tank Kampfgruppe.

To coordinate their action,

C company has established

a headquarters in the rural parish church.

With the tank closing in,

Smith and Tennant must be quick.

They locate another

PIAT at the headquarters.

With the weapon in tow,

the duo races back to their position.

As they near the road

(rapid g*nf*re)

machine g*n b*ll*ts rip

into the ground around them.

(rapid g*nf*re)

(rapid g*nf*re)

NARRATOR:

From the protection of a ditch,

Canadian Private

Ernest Smith gets his bearings.

He sneaks a peek over the edge and

sees the tank getting closer.

The Panther sweeps the

road with its machine g*n.

Smith is probably

worried about two things,

first of all his own position

with his friend James Tennant

but also the lone PIA

operator that he left behind.

NARRATOR: A minefield like the one which

stopped the self-propelled g*n earlier

would have been helpful.

But it’s too late now.

James Tennant must get the

PIAT charged and ready to fire.

Private James Tennant is one of Smith's

closest friends in the Regiment.

The sources identify

them as thick as thieves.

(yells)

NARRATOR:

A machine g*n blast strikes Tennant.

- (g*nf*re continues)

- (muffled groans)

He’s alive but seriously wounded,

and can no longer operate the PIAT.

Smith likely considers his options.

He can hide in the ditch with Tennant

and hope he doesn't get shot.

He can bring Tennant to

a medical aid station and

expose themselves to German fire,

or he can take matters into his own hands.

He has a split second to make the choice

and he decides to engage the Germans.

NARRATOR: Smith grabs the PIAT and

readies himself at the edge of the ditch.

At this moment, Smith is one man,

against perhaps one of

the most powerful tanks of

the entire Second World w*r.

If he misses his shot,

it's unlikely he will survive.

NARRATOR: He charges the weapon as he

waits for the German Mark V Panther tank.

Smith has no back up, and while

the PIAT has armor piercing capabilities,

its reputation with soldiers is mixed.

It was really first used by the Canadians

in Sicily and it wasn't yet perfected.

The shells would hit the

sides of tanks and not explode,

of course this meant it was

still very dangerous

and so the initial use

of the PIAT was not really

inspiring a lot of confidence.

NARRATOR:

And even as reliability increases,

one thing stays the same;

the range.

The maximum range of a PIAT is 100 yards.

NARRATOR:

And worse, the Tank Hunters determined

the optimal distance for a hit,

to be only 20 yards at night.

(music bellows)

You had to practically stand right up

in front of the tank in order to hit it.

And so, it's an

absolutely terrifying ordeal

and it really required heroism

from these Canadian soldiers.

NARRATOR: Tank Hunters even

customize their PIATs

by drilling new sights to

accommodate the tight range.

Smith waits until the tank is 30 feet,

or just ten yards, away.

Then jumps from the

ditch and into the road.

(rapid g*nf*re)

With a b*mb in the

spigot and barely time to aim,

Smith launches his attack on the Panther.

As they fight for control of the sector,

the Germans begin to appreciate the

scale of the Canadian offensive.

Captain Ekkehard Maurer is

forced to further bolster defenses.

To the north, the Canadians are

overrunning the German lines

so that the Germans are

in such a desperate position

that they need to deploy their

battalion HQ into the battle.

(rapid g*nf*re)

NARRATOR:

Maurer finds himself under attack.

(speaking in native language).

If headquarter troops

are deployed into fighting,

it means the situation

is extremely critical.

And this is actually one of the

last resorts for the defenders.

NARRATOR:

The Canadians storm his position,

and Maurer is injured by a hand grenade.

He must withdraw from the fight.

(rapid g*nf*re)

On the road beside the

parish church at Pieve Sestina,

Private Ernest Smith

scores a direct hit on

the German Panther tank.

The giant beast grinds to a halt.

The wrecked Panther V tries to reverse.

When Smith hits the

Panther he immobilizes it.

The problem is he now has

to deal with about ten Germans

who were riding on the back,

who now hop off and start

moving forward towards him.

NARRATOR:

At very close range and all alone,

Smith doesn’t have a lot of options.

NARRATOR: The PIAT that Canadian Private

Ernest Smith had used against the tank,

is useless against multiple

advancing enemy soldiers.

He reaches for his

Thompson submachine g*n.

Here, Smith does something

kind of incredible.

Instead of retreating, he moves out

farther on the road and engages

the German Grenadiers with his Tommy g*n.

NARRATOR:

Arguably the most notorious firearm ever,

the Thompson submachine g*n was

designed as an automatic weapon

that could be

operated by a single soldier.

The sub of submachine refers to

compact b*llet caliber relative

to those fired by r*fles.

New box magazines deliver 30 rounds,

with a staggering rate of fire

up to 700 rounds per minute.

The American weapon was first

sold to the British military for

about $225 per unit in 1940.

Winston Churchill himself would quip;

“General Thompson’s g*n

may be, pound for pound,

the most devastating

weapon devised for w*r.”

Efficiencies to lower the cost make

the Thompson ubiquitous

among the allies in Europe.

Smith fires into the attacking

German soldiers at very close range.

- (thematic music)

- (rapid g*nf*re)

In the firefight, he kills four.

The others fall back in disarray.

As Smith continues to hold the line

a 75 millimeter tank

shell explodes nearby.

He sees another tank approach,

while more German infantry charge through

- the fields in his direction.

- Well at this point,

Smith figures that the second

German tank is out of range.

So, in fact the most pressing problem are

the German grenadiers bearing down on him.

NARRATOR: Smith maintains a steady stream

of fire against the soldiers

(rapid g*nf*re)

Until he runs out of b*ll*ts.

He returns to the ditch to find more,

and locates a spare magazine

near Private James Tennant.

Smith is certainly fighting to defend

the Seaforths hard won position,

but he's also fighting to defend

his friend James Tennant,

who's lying there wounded.

NARRATOR: Smith reloads and jumps back

on the road, staying close to Tennant.

(rapid g*nf*re)

The German infantry retreats.

But once again the

advancing tank opens fire.

And forces Smith to re-focus.

(rapid g*nf*re)

At this point in the battle, he decides to

grab his friend and take him to

a medical aide post at a nearby church.

Often when we think of battles,

we think of faceless soldiers

sort of firing at each other

in a melee of combat and chaos,

but in reality, a lot

of battles are made up

of these little human moments.

And this is one of those.

NARRATOR: Smith needs to be patient.

He must wait for a lull

that will allow him to assist Tennant.

When the tank pauses its attack,

Smith uses the opportunity to

help his friend out of the

relative safety of the ditch.

(rapid g*nf*re)

(thematic music grows)

The battle continues in

the surrounding fields and

along the road, as the rest of

C Company and the Tank Hunters

try to stave off the German counterattack.

The two move as quickly as

they can to the nearby church.

The Seaforth Highlanders C Company

Commander, Major Stewart Lynch,

has established his headquarters

with an aid post at the crossroads.

Smith arrives with the injured Private

James Tennant to get help from the medics.

When a soldier is injured in battle,

he's normally taken to the rear,

taken care of either in a

temporary medical facility

or brought back to hospital.

But when they were at the Savio River,

the river was so swollen there

was so much water going through

it that it was simply impossible

to get the wounded back and so

they were left there, uh, in

terribly vulnerable situations.

NARRATOR: With no way to cross the river,

the wounded can’t be evacuated.

And the flooding creates

other difficulties for Lynch.

At this point, Major Lynch's

biggest concern is reinforcements or

the lack thereof. The simple fact is the

Savio river water levels have

risen so rapidly that he can't

get any reinforcements across.

NARRATOR:

This has been a re-current problem for

the allies throughout

their fighting in Italy.

(melancholy music plays)

Proper Italian bridges were built high

above potential flood waters.

But many have been destroyed.

Some by allied aerial attacks

to prevent German retreat,

others blown up by the Germans to cut off

access to the other bank.

Either way, civilians pay the price.

The allies must often rebuild

during the rainy season when

the rushing waters complicate the job.

As before, allied forces battle

the weather and the Germans.

With the Savio flooding

The banks are so

muddy the engineers can't find

a good spot to build a bridge.

So no infantry's coming across.

No supplies and no armor.

NARRATOR:

The Seaforths are on their own.

SMITH (muffled):

Men are taking a beating.

NARRATOR: Smith would later

recall how dire things were.

According to Smith,

in the church Major Lynch turned

to him and said,

"We're surrounded, what should we do?"

And Smith replies, "Take a

window and get your head down."

Whether it happened

exactly like that or not,

there's no question that Smith

was a good guy to listen to and

a good guy to rely on for

advice in such a hot situation.

NARRATOR:

But Smith himself leaves the sanctuary

to be ready for more enemy activity.

The Canadians have slowed down the

German’s armored column,

but they need to destroy it.

Just outside the church,

Sergeant Keith Thompson and

other Tank Hunters hold off

German infantry who pour across

the fields and down the road

When a German self-propelled

g*n swerves towards them.

(thematic music bellows)

NARRATOR: As the rain continues,

Canadian Sergeant Keith Thompson

confronts yet another threat in the dark.

A German self-propelled g*n needs to avoid

the wreckage of the Kampfgruppe.

(music intensifies)

The next German self-propelled g*n is

kind of stuck at the road.

There's wrecked vehicles, there's bodies.

So the Germans attempt to out flank the

Canadians by moving towards the church.

NARRATOR: As the teams ready their PIATS,

the supporting Tank Hunters

open fire with

their Thompson machine g*ns.

But the b*ll*ts ricochet

harmlessly off the armor.

As the self-propelled g*n comes into range

the Tank Hunters unleash their PIAT bombs.

(music grows more dramatic)

There’s a direct hit and

a second SPG is put out of action.

With Captain Ekkehard Maurer injured,

first Lieutenant Strangen is the

only German officer available to

assume control of the battalion.

Maurer is wounded by a grenade blast,

his adjutant, a First Lieutenant,

takes over command.

And this is quite rare that

a First Lieutenant takes command

over an entire battalion.

It just shows you what a desperate

situation the Germans found themselves.

NARRATOR: But while the Canadians

prove tenacious

the battle isn’t over yet.

Sergeant Thompson and his men mop up from

the earlier attack on the SPG.

They strain to see what will

emerge next from the darkness.

In time, another Panther

tank crawls forward

also trying to move around

the back of the church.

Thompson’s PIAT teams resight and reload.

The tank slows as it reaches the destroyed

self-propelled g*n blocking its path.

Operating a 45 ton Panther tank at

the best of times would be difficult.

But in this situation, it's dark out.

It would've been extremely

difficult to navigate around

this b*ttlefield that was

strewn with so much debris.

- (dramatic music grows)

- (flames licking)

NARRATOR:

The conditions prove disastrous.

DAVID: It's wet, it's muddy and the

Panther ends up sliding into a ditch.

NARRATOR: Thompson seizes the opportunity

and motions his PIAT team forward

- SOLIDER: Tank! Tank!

- THOMPSON: PIAT! PIAT!

NARRATOR:

Flanked by the machine gunners.

They knock out the tank with their PIATS.

(rapid g*nf*re)

As the German crew tries to flee,

two are k*lled.

Others escape into the darkness.

(thematic music swells)

By 0-600, the Germans withdraw after

losing over 100 men and many vehicles,

including the two self-propelled

g*ns and two Panther tanks.

Casualties for the Seaforth Highlanders

during the operation amount to 106 men;

including 18 k*lled and 61 wounded.

The Canadian victory is

so quick and so complete

Hey!

A group of German soldiers who had

been bypassed in the dark,

turn up at their former

command post for breakfast,

not aware it had been captured overnight.

(speaking in native language)

56 are rounded up

and taken as prisoners of w*r.

(soft thematic music plays)

For his coolness and tenacity,

Sergeant Keith Thompson earns

a distinguished conduct medal.

He’s credited with the preservation of

the Canadians’ bridgehead

in the face of a determined

and strongly supported counterattack.

Ernest Smith earns the Commonwealth’s

highest military honor;

The Victoria Cross.

Smith was the

only Canadian Private to earn

the Victoria Cross

during the Second World w*r.

And this is an incredible achievement,

but he was also a very colorful character.

For instance, before he

was to meet King George VI

they supposedly locked him

in jail with a few beers to

make sure that he would show up the next

day. And when he did he refused to bow.

He saluted instead.

And I think this was a testament to his

rather complicated

relationship with authority.

NARRATOR: Smith was Canada’s last living

Victoria Cross recipient

when he passed away in 2005.

He was honored as a national hero.

Despite allied hopes for a

quick victory in northern Italy,

after the breakout from

the Apennine mountains,

Bologna wouldn’t be

liberated until April 1945.

And by then, Seaforth

Highlanders of Canada would be

fighting the Germans in the Netherlands.