Destruction of the enemy south of the River Po – 24 April 1945
At 0500 hours on the 24th, the fighting in Saletta was over and the Inniskillings were breaking through the town and pushing north. As soon as they were clear of the village, the Irish Fusiliers followed and turned towards Ruina. As morning broke, both battalions were pushing on slowly, but surely, towards the Po.
(NA 24489) Original wartime caption: View of the river PO from the window of an O.P.
On the left, 11 Brigade, with the Bays, had also made progress. The Northamptons, advancing north west from Giacomo, were nearing Correggio at dawn, and the Surreys on the right, were preparing to attack a strong enemy position at Corlo, covering the bridge over the canal north west of the village.
During the evening, a break began to appear. The Northamptons attacked and captured Corregio, the Surreys forced their way through Corlo and seized the bridge intact – a notable achievement and one of the first importance at this stage: the RAF struck at very strong enemy positions on the line of the Canale Fossetta in front of which the Irish Brigade was held up; the ‘Kangaroo Force’ was passed over the river and prepared to strike out on its last taste of destruction.
Amidst all this activity, a further great work was in hand; plans were being made for crossing the Po and the next stage of the pursuit. In this connection, 78th Division had been ordered to cross the river with one Brigade Group as soon as could be done after reaching the south bank. At the same time, a Brigade of 56th Division was to assault on the right.
The Divisional Commander had chosen 36 Brigade to lead the Division over the river and, accordingly, operations were in progress during the evening of the 23rd and the morning of the 24th to relieve the Brigade of its existing commitments south east of Ferrara. By 1045 hours on the 24th, this relief was complete and 56 Recce Regiment had taken over the Brigade’s positions.
At midday, a big planning conference was in progress at Brigade Headquarters: ‘Fantails’ and amphibious tanks were being discussed; the launching and landing beaches were being chosen; a thousand questions, not previously thought of, were popping up to puzzle; and at 1300 hours, the operation was cancelled. 6th Armoured, 2nd New Zealand and 8th Indian Divisions were all up to the Po farther to the west and were meeting no opposition on the banks; it was obviously a waste of time for building operations to be delayed until the 78th Division reached the river through an area still strongly held by the enemy.
Soon after midday, 2 Armoured Brigade’s private army was launched. It was ordered to pass between the two infantry brigades and sweep westwards towards the Ferrara – Pontelagoscuro canal moving between the Canale Fossetta and the Fossa Lavezoola.At the same time, 11 Brigade was to do a similar sweep westwards and clear the ground between the Canale Fossetta and the Po di Volano. The Irish Brigade was to continue on its original axis, directed on Zocca and Ruina.
“Mobile battle” and “fluid situations” reigned during the afternoon but, as evening approached, a distinct stiffening of resistance was noticeable on the Armoured Brigade’s front. At 1800 hours, there were reports of many enemy tanks in the area just north of Ferrara and, shortly afterwards, as the light was failing, 9 Lancers fought an exciting action in which 7 enemy Mark IV tanks, moving north east towards the ferries, were knocked out for the loss of only one of their own.
By this time, a peculiar state of affairs had been reached. Having swept right across 11 Brigade’s front, the ‘Kangaroo Force’ was strung out for some 4,000 yards with an open right flank and, with tank actions in progress over the whole area; night was drawing on; the infantry, in their ‘Kangaroos’, were a wonderful target for lurking enemy tanks in the general confusion and semi darkness. To exploit the enemy’s distress, however, it was decided that the battle would be pressed on by moonlight. The landscape was ablaze with burning houses and vehicles: further north, the RAF was dropping flares and bombing the roads and railways beyond the Po: in addition to the fires caused by bombing, shelling and mortaring, a new destruction had begun – the enemy was setting light to everything he had.
At 2030 hours, 5 Corps telephoned to say there were strong indications that the enemy had lost control of the situation. Intelligence channels had intercepted messages from the German command, that the situation was desperate and that each man must fend for himself. It was believed that the chief confusion was centred round the river crossings north of Pescara and Francolino.
As a result of this information, the Divisional Commander ordered 2 Armoured Brigade to swing round the north, cross the Fossa Lavezzola and make for the “disorderly enemy”. This was not, however, to be done before the engagement already in progress was brought to an end.