Come on in and give up. We have you covered,’ blared German loudspeakers as GIs waded ashore. The Americans replied with obscenities. But the enemy was ready for them–an inauspicious beginning for Operation Avalanche, the Allies’ September 9, 1943, amphibious landing at Italy’s Gulf of Salerno. Between Salerno and Agropoli–the American sector–the Germans had sown minefields and established strongpoints. Within 400 yards of the beach were many 88mm guns.

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D-day would prove a stern test not only for the GIs but also for the men of the U.S. Navy’s 4th Beach Battalion who landed with them. The sailors had received an assignment critical to the success of Avalanche. Their battalion was to serve as the link between the troops ashore and the ships offshore. Operation Avalanche required them to mark and clear sites to land craft and control beach traffic; unload equipment, supplies and reinforcements; evacuate casualties; salvage and repair boats and equipment; and set up fire control and ship-to-shore communications.

The 4th Beach Battalion, known as the ‘Knee-deep’ sailors, had prepared well for this assignment. After advanced training in North Africa, the sailors had received their baptism of fire in July during the Sicily landings. At the end of operations there, they returned to North Africa for replacements and rest. Before long, however, training resumed. Their instructors were Army Rangers. ‘They were supposed to toughen us up for Salerno,’ recalled Seaman James Townley.

On September 1, the battalion boarded USS Thomas Jefferson at Oran. Joining a sizable Allied armada, Thomas Jefferson entered the Gulf of Salerno on September 8. That evening, D-minus-1, the men aboard the transport enjoyed showers and a hot meal. They also listened over the shipboard radio to Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower announce Italy’s surrender to the Allies. Unfortunately, Eisenhower’s announcement dulled the combat edge of the assault troops. With Italy no longer a belligerent, the men relaxed, expecting an easy walk ashore. ‘They were telling us this was going to be a piece of cake,’ remembered Carpenter’s Mate Warren Baker.

Around midnight on September 8, the battalion began transferring to LCVPs (landing craft, vehicle, personnel). Swells of up to 10 feet made climbing down cargo nets into the smaller boats tricky business, and several men suffered broken limbs.

After a run of some 10 miles in favorable weather, the first attacking wave hit the beaches at 3:30 a.m. The Germans opened fire, guided by the light of chandelier flares. Signalman Fred Bingaman recalled: ‘It was pitch dark, and we started in. I remember…sticking my head up a little bit…and I saw all this stuff flying around: all different color tracers. The first thing I thought about was fireworks back home as a kid.’

Ahead of the landing craft a strip of white sand sloped gently upward to a series of dunes. These, in turn, gave way to a cultivated coastal plain dotted with a few villages. A pair of mountains loomed in the distance, Monte Soprano on the left and Monte Sottane on the right. Opposite the center of what would become a 2,400-yard-wide American beachhead stood the ancient temples of Paestum. Among them a 50-foot stone watchtower, the Torre di Paestum, dominated the surrounding area.

The 4th Beach Battalion landed with the 531st Shore Engineers and elements of the 36th Infantry Division, in the second through the sixth waves. It took until 9 a.m. for all the battalion’s nine platoons to reach their designated beaches. From north to south, these were Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. Battalion headquarters set up on Red Beach, though Lt. Cmdr. James E. Walsh, the commanding officer, remained aboard Vice Adm. Henry K. Hewitt’s flagship, USS Ancon.

About 3:45 a.m., Coxswain Harry Stephens landed with Platoon B-4 (B Company, 4th Platoon) on Red Beach. ‘It was still dark, and those 88s were trying to reach us, but luckily we landed safely,’ Stephens recollected. ‘We dug foxholes where we landed, and prepared for action.’ Platoon B-5 and A Company subsequently joined B-4 on Red Beach.

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