The quick surrender of the pillbox crews typified the halfhearted resistance the Americans encountered throughout the occupation of Gela. For the most part, the Italian defense crumbled quickly. Two determined snipers, one in a church belfry and another behind a stone wall at the end of a dead-end side street, did cause the engineers a slight delay in their advance. Despite that, by 5:15 a.m.less than two hours into the ground campaign-the engineers and Rangers successfully reached their assigned objectives at the north edge of town. Every pillbox in the northern sector surrendered before firing a single shot. Mopping up continued for a time, but by 8 a.m. all resistance in Gela had ceased.

Indeed, the operation had progressed so well that back at the beach a platoon of engineers from Captain Hanson's Company A was having difficulty accommodating the unexpected swell of POWs. At least 200 Italians had surrendered up to that point, and more were arriving with each passing hour.

So many prisoners showed up that soon the makeshift wire holding pen was filled to capacity, eventually requiring the compound to be opened up to allow the POWs some movement outside its barrier. Even so, the Italians required little attention. They made no attempt to escape their American captors.

A short distance from the POW compound, men of the 83rd Chemical Weapons Battalion had been hurriedly working to set up their 36 tubes of 4.2-inch mortars. Like the engineers, they too had had trouble with the sandbar, which hampered their getting to shore with the heavily laden two-wheel carts containing their equipment. Except for some Italian field guns captured by the Rangers, the 83rd's mortars were the only heavy weapons momentarily ashore at Gela. With an enemy counterattack expected, it was time to get the mortars into position.

The counterattack came at 9:30 a.m., when a column of 13 Italian Renault R-35 tanks supported by infantry (elements of the reserve Mobile Group E, stationed at Niscimi) was spotted advancing toward town. Naval gunfire slowed the advancing armor, destroying several of the tanks and sending the infantry scurrying for cover, but at least seven of the tanks reached the streets of Gela.

Neither the Rangers nor the engineers were sufficiently armed for such a confrontation. Since 60mm mortars and .30- caliber machine guns were the heaviest weapons carried by the Rangers, they were at a distinct disadvantage against the tanks. The engineers were not equipped much better, with only .30-caliber machine guns, bazookas, some pole charges and a few borrowed anti-tank Teller mines, originally planted by the Italians, to augment their firepower. Nevertheless, into battle they went.

Colonel Darby anticipated the armor's penetration and had taken his jeep back to the beach in search of some assistance. He was lucky enough to locate a 37mm anti-tank gun as it was being unloaded from a landing craft. Commandeering the weapon, he raced back to town, located the first of the advancing tanks and personally blasted a hole through its turret.

The colonel's position would face no further challenge. Shortly after moving into town, the second tank had run into a determined squad of Dziuban's engineers led by Lieutenant Dee Baker of Company B. Baker and his men concentrated their fire with rifle grenades and bazookas on the Renault's wheel and tread assemblies until it was finally stopped. The engineers then continued their fire until the tank was totally destroyed.

A third tank was disabled under similar circumstances. The remaining four retreated under a torrent of harassing fire from both the engineers and the Rangers.

Meanwhile, at the west end of the engineer sector, Company C was busy helping the Rangers repel an attack by a battalion of Italian infantry (an element of the 4th Livorno Division) advancing from the direction of Butera. The enemy soldiers were approaching across open ground in an unusual close-order formation, fully exposed to the American gunners. It was a baffling move by the Italians, who seemed to have a death wish. Every weapon at the Americans' disposal-captured field guns, the 83rd's mortars and offshore naval gunnery-rained devastation upon the hapless Italians. As a result, not one enemy soldier reached Gela.

Six miles east of town and fighting his own battles was Lieutenant John Pacer, motor officer for Company B, who was trying to locate and bring forward the battalion's heavier equipment. Due to the unexpected loss of the concrete pier, all LSTs (landing ships, tank) had been diverted to a beach in the 1st Infantry sector. It was there that Pacer's nightmare began.

The beach was mass confusion-men, machinery and equipment everywhere and moving nowhere. Despite the chaos, Pacer managed to get aboard the only LST (388) that was unloading and was fortunate enough to locate some of what he was looking for, including desperately sought M2 halftracks needed back at Gela. At 10 a.m., just as the lieutenant was beginning to make progress with the unloading, three German Messerschmitt Me- 109 fighterbombers suddenly attacked the beach area, dropping two bombs that straddled the LST on which Pacer stood. The explosions sent a shower of deadly shrapnel throughout the immediate area without causing any serious damage or casualties.

Shaken but unharmed, Pacer checked himself and his equipment for damage and went back to work. His equipment retrieval effort was stymied by a friendly sentry. No sooner had the lieutenant gotten his equipment to shore than the sentry guided the vehicles into soft sand, where they sank up to their axles. Pacer had little choice but to return to Gela empty- handed, reporting his delay to a very disappointed Major Dziuban.

Pacer was not the only engineer with problems on the beach. Captain Hanson was deliberating his own unloading problem. LSTs loaded with medium tanks were beginning to reach shore, and they needed at least a mile of cleared area to unload. Teller mines as well as S anti-personnel mines were known to be all along the beach. The battalion's mine detectors remained with the trucks and halftracks on the other beach, which left the captain but one option. His men would have to probe with their bayonets to locate each mine.

Hanson had to decide if the desperate need for the tanks ashore was worth putting his men at extra risk. The enemy's armored counterattack quickly supplied the answer: The risks were indeed necessary. Sending a platoon down the beach, the captain had his engineers probe until the pattern in which the mines had been laid could be determined. Then, deliberately ignoring the very real threat posed by the S mines, Hanson ordered his men to step off the pattern to locate the rest of the Tellers. The procedure worked. Soon the mile of beach was clear and the tanks were rolling ashore. Remarkably, all was accomplished without a single casualty.

That afternoon and evening, the area around Gela became considerably quieter. Air attacks from both the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica continued throughout the period, but most were against the offshore shipping. Still, the battle for the town was far from over.

As expected, at 7:30 on the following morning the counterattacks recommenced. On the east side of town a heavy- armored battalion of the reserve German Hermann Goring Division began advancing from the direction of the Ponte Olivo airfield toward the 1st Infantry sector. A little farther west, an infantry battalion of the Livorno Division was again advancing south toward the north edge of Gela.

Major Dziuban, who had established his headquarters in the cellar of a house on the north edge Of town, watched the advancing enemy. He had not gotten much rest during the night-an infestation of sand fleas had seen to that-but his spirits were high. One reason for his good frame of mind was the arrival of the battalion's half, tracks. Lieutenant Pacer had finally gotten through. Dziuban was also aware of other additional strengths. The 531st Engineers had arrived ashore to assume the beach duties, allowing Hanson's company to move up. Several medium tanks were now forward, and additional field batteries had arrived during the night. The engineers and Rangers were in a much better defensive posture than the day before.

Nevertheless, the Italians and Germans put the American defenses to a serious test. The attack from the north was strong and preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment. The engineers and Rangers, however, were unshaken by the enemy thrust and responded in fierce fashion.

Again, as on the previous day, they rained down a deadly concentration of fire upon the Italians. As a result, the enemy advance faltered, though it continued to within 800 yards of the town before being brought to a complete stop. What remained of the force dug in and put up a halfhearted and disorganized resistance. Soon, an engineer-led halftrack offensive overwhelmed the weakened opposition, resulting in the capture of an additional 300 Italians.

Meanwhile, a second attack developed on the northwest side of town. Another infantry battalion of the Livorno Division was again attempting an approach along the Butera Road. There, too, the Italians were greeted warmly. From their advantageous positions the Rangers unleashed an artillery bombardment on the advancing enemy, sending the Italians back their own ammunition courtesy of the previously captured field guns. The attack slowed. The 83rd Chemical Weapons Battalion added some of its firepower, and the attack slowed even more. When supporting fire from the cruiser Savannah contributed a shower of 6-inch high-explosive projectiles, the attack staggered to a complete stop.

From nearby positions, Captain Hanson and his men had a spectacular view of the decimation rained on the Italian column. It had been an awesome display of power. just arrived at Hanson's position, Lt. Gen. George Patton, commander of American forces engaged, had also observed the scene. Patton was not as impressed as the others and ordered Hanson forward to personally reconnoiter what remained of the enemy's strength.

Orders are orders. The captain grabbed four men, jumped into a halftrack and headed up the Butera Road, where his halftrack almost immediately came under fire. Moving off the road and into a meadow, Hanson and his men then got into a firefight with a group of Italians positioned in a nearby gully. Raking the area with the halftrack's .50-caliber machine gun, Hanson continued forward. Finally, however, his transport sustained a minor hit from a hidden anti-tank gun, which forced him to call off the sortie and retreat.

Upon his return, Hanson reported his observations to Patton. The enemy appeared disorganized yet seemed to be digging in to hold their ground. Dziuban, who had also arrived on the scene, sent two additional halftracks, supported by two medium tanks, to circle behind the enemy positions. This time the results were surprisingly different.

The advancing halftracks located an Italian field hospital full of wounded. Then, as they sought information from the hospital's staff and patients, the engineers were suddenly overwhelmed by a large body of enemy soldiers bearing white, flags. They had been badly mauled by the earlier bombardment, suffering casualties as high as 50 percent. They were finished and unwilling to fight on. When the halftracks returned, trailing behind them came a column of some 450 Italian POWs.

East of town, a battle with German armor continued, and it too was destined to end as another American victory. Throughout the nighttime hours, air attacks also continued. Although they were largely ineffectual, the air attacks indirectly led to the accidental shooting down of several incoming American transports, resulting in a number of casualties among the men of the 82nd Airborne. Despite this setback for the Americans, at 3 a.m. on July 12, the battle for Gela finally ended, and the push toward the strategically important city of Palermo began.

At Gela, the 1st Battalion, 39th Combat Engineers, had performed beyond expectation. Dziuban's men had done all that was asked of them and more. Soon after, the rest of the regiment was to join them. The complete unit would proceed across Sicily, building 97 bypasses and shoveling rubble in seven cities along the way.

In Italy, too, the engineers of the 39th were destined to continue their valiant effort, taking part in both the Salerno and Anzio landings, the capture of Rome and the vicious battles for the Po Valley. During the Italian campaign the 39th would fight its way through enemy territory while building 77 bypasses, 123 culverts, 24 major roadblocks, seven airstrips and a floating footbridge. And that is only a partial listing of the engineers' accomplishments.

On July 12, Major Dziuban was thrown from a halftrack when it struck a mine along the Butera Road. Under enemy fire and with a fractured wrist, he returned to the burning wreck to pull a wounded man to safety. Dziuban's heroism was noted by all who served with him. Yet the battalion commander always shied away from attention and focused instead on his men. At the end of the Sicilian campaign, Dziuban would proudly say to those who had served him so well, We take our hats off to no one in the quality of our soldiering, combat ability and engineer work.

Certainly the 39th's record, beginning with its support of Darby's Rangers at Gela, was never to prove his proud statement false.

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This article was written by Rex A. Knight and originally appeared in the September 2001 issue of World War II magazine. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today!

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