Salvina, Sicily, May 25, 1943
Corporal Jaroschek gripped his rifle tightly. He glanced right. He glanced left. His half of the squad was with him. The BAR was set up and the ammo carriers had dumped the extra magazines next to the assistant gunner. They were in a good position, on a little roll of the earth overlooking the Italian defensive positions. As long as he could shoot straight, he could hit somewhere along the trenches. Those were formidable positions, taking them would ruin the squad again, but thankfully, that was not the mission for the morning.
A minute later and the entire front exploded. The early morning bombardment of every gun in the division along with a good chunk of the corps commanders’ personal firepower was now firing. Shells were landing close, but far enough way to not cause too much concern. They began to eat up the earth, throwing rocks and bodies skyward, raining down sharp pebbles and broken limbs indiscriminately.
Ten minutes later, the heavy guns ceased firing. The lighter guns had switched to smoke a minute ago. Several squadrons of medium bombers descended from a holding pattern they had been in over the sea to drop their loads. Strings of five hundred pounders pox scarred the evolving battlefield. The corporal could feel his bones shake repeatedly for the next ten minutes. As the last planes left, the artillery started up again. The riflemen and machine gunners began to fire. They had a simple job, demonstrate a threat without exposing themselves too much. This beat attacking head on into defensive positions.
He started to fire a few shots here then shifting a few yards to the right. An Italian sniper probably would not be able to see his rifle flash through the smoke and even if he could see the flash, it was one of hundreds, but the risk was not worth it. He muttered a few words of encouragement and coaching to the other riflemen as the BAR burped out a few more rounds. If he had a moment to look to the west, he would have seen two battalions of infantry from one of the other regiments of the division motor along in their landing craft just at the horizon. By lunchtime, they would be landing on the far side of the provincial capital, outflanking the defenses and creating quandaries where American firepower and deep digging could work in conjunction with each other.