Chapter 5:
14th September 1943
Paestum, Italy
"Husky had been bad, but they didn't tell us the whole story. I got orders to prepare for assault training. It wasn't long before the orders came down. I got reassigned to the 505th Regiment, I was fighting alongside Corporal Capelli and Sergeant Dempsey once more.
Tommaso's a solid soldier, tough and dependable, much like his brother. The two are pretty similar when I think 'bout it. I promised Joe that I'd look his brother up and thankfully, I did as he asked me to.
Lieutenant Matthew Campbell was joining us once more. We got lucky to have a solid leader with us again, especially one like Lieutenant Campbell.
We were preparing for another jump. The beachhead at Salerno wasn't secured, the enemy was hitting the Salerno landing area pretty hard, surprise counter attacks launched from staging areas had us all worried.
We were headed for Paestum, a small dig site not far from Salerno. This wasn't gonna be easy for any of us and we knew it."
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Alex Galzetti and the stick of the 505th Parachute Regiment paratroopers he was jumping with were ready and waiting for the fight.
The rumble of the C-47s made it hard for the men to not to think. There was no friendly fire coming from the Salerno beach areas where the 5th Army had landed at.
Alex had constantly checked he was ready with his weapon attached to his leg bag; he carried a M1 Thompson instead of his M1 Garand.
The red light came on just as the gunfire from the ground started, as always Alex had hooked up and stood ready in the door to jump. His equipment was checked and ready.
He jumped out first seeing the green light, then his fellow soldiers joined him, he landed in the amphitheatre, clearing the position of German soldiers that had set up an ambush position.
After clearing the place, he moved directly towards an ammo dump that was secured inside one of the archaeological dig sites in the Paestum area.
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Alex lead a squad consisting of Tommaso Capelli and Alex Dempsey along with several other paratroopers, they fought fiercely to secure the ammo dump.
Once secured, Alex then said, "Corporal Capelli, set Comp-B on the ammo dump, we can't let the krauts get a hold of those munitions!"
"I'm on it." Capelli had said.
The rest of the squad cleared out of the dig site and moved to a nearby motor pool. Allowing Capelli to complete the mission of destroying the ammo depot.
They destroyed the motor pool and had assisted Lieutenant Campbell with securing intelligence.
The communications array had been next on their target list, they destroyed the area and cut off German communications.
Once regrouping, their radioman spoke up, "Lieutenant, we've got orders to link with a demo unit. They've been sent up from the beaches."
"What's their mission?" Campbell asked. The radioman had replied instantly, "We're to get the story from them, sir."
"Sergeant Galzetti, take your squad to rendezvous with the Demo team, I'll follow behind you." Campbell said.
Alex nodded and said, "Yes sir." he turned to the squad and said, "Alright, you guys. Let's hustle, we gotta get to the demo unit."
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Racing to the Amphitheatre, the paratroopers set up security in event of an ambush, they spotted a group of soldiers as one of them said, "You 82nd?"
"505th, you guys are the demo unit?" Alex asked. The leader acknowledged, "Daniel Lynn and Steve Dempsey, 3rd ID."
"I didn't know the 3rd had landed already." Alex said. Steve replied, "We're the only demo unit, they wanted sent up from the beaches."
One of the soldiers ran to Steve and said, "Charges are set, sir."
"EVERYBODY COVER!" Steve shouted; the four soldiers took cover as the explosions went off.
Daniel peered from his cover as he said, "Let's get to those cannons!"
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Suddenly however, one of the soldiers was killed by a sniper, as Alex took cover by a crate, he then said, "We got company!"
Waffen SS soldiers swarm the Amphitheatre, beginning to open fire on the group of soldiers.
Alex formulates a plan as he speaks to the two Lieutenants, "Lieutenant, we can flank 'em via the stairways, one man can get through on each side and hit those bastards."
Steve Dempsey nodded and said, "Lieutenant Lynn, flank the right and hit the krauts with everythin' you've got. Sergeant Galzetti, flank the left and smash through."
Alex nodded pulling two smoke grenades from his jacket as he pulled the pins on them, he tossed them as he said, "Wait for the smoke to build!"
The gunfire continued with frightening rate as the smoke began to build, Alex soon shouted, "Flankers out!"
Alex made a dash for the left flank and laid down suppressing fire to cover his advance, he reloaded a fresh magazine as he made it up the steps as he blasted away at the German soldiers that stood in his path.
Across the way, the SS soldiers fired on Alex who took cover as Daniel swooped in with an M1 Carbine eliminating the ambushers.
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With the firefight brought to an end, the Airborne and the Demo Unit proceeded across the way, Daniel took a knee for the minute with Alex noticing he clutched a pair of dog tags in hand.
Steve walked over and pointed to the large gate before saying, "That's our target!"
"You must be Sergeant Galzetti, me and my men were sent up here to mark an 88 battery for destruction. We've got Warhawks waitin' to do a flyby…" Daniel reported.
"Want us to join you?!" Alex smirked. Steve returned the grin, "It'll be a blast, I can tell you that."
Two of Steve Dempsey's men had set charges on the gate and were running for cover. Soon enough they exploded as Steve formed a look of determination on his face as he prepped his weapon before saying, "Wanna live forever?!"
Alex turned to his squad and shouted, "Alright Squad, rally on me!"
Steve, Alex and Daniel lead their men into the fray of the final German position, Alex shouted, "Capelli! Grenade that cover!"
Capelli pulled out a grenade as he turned to another paratrooper and said, "O'Malley, cover fire."
The paratrooper known as O'Malley provided cover fire as Capelli cooked a grenade and tossed it, the resulting explosion killed several Germans as Alex signalled to everyone fighting, "Everyone, on me. Let's hit those sons of bitches."
The men followed Alex Galzetti and Tommaso Capelli who pushed forward, Alex blasted away at the enemy with his Thompson making sure they cleared a pathway for the demo unit.
Alex switched to his sidearm as he fired at the enemy scoring headshots for the ones he had killed.
Pulling out his bayonet, he thrusted it into one of the SS soldiers, the enemy started to retreat as Alex reloaded, he charged up the steps as the Germans fired MG42s at him, he knocked one MG42 out and tossed a few grenades towards the other.
Alex shouted, "Flankers out, hit 'em on their flanks!"
At Alex's orders, the unit split up. Alex headed for the AAA cannon as he fired on the German forces hoping to get to the cannon.
Lieutenant Lynn set a charge on the cannon as Alex covered the soldier. The German force was eradicated, in one swift move, Steve Dempsey and Daniel Lynn ordered the blended force to fall back and get out of the kill zone.
The signals were lit and air support arrived bombing the 88mm battery out of existence and allowing the Allies a chance to get off the beach.
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In the coming days that marked pivotal moments for Alex and his fellow soldiers, the 505th Infantry were ordered to break through the coastal plain and launch a counter offensive.
They were soon nearing Naples and Alex was excited at the prospect of liberating his hometown and with the very pride and expectation of doing it for his beloved late Mother and Father.