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Battle of Monte Marrone

The Battle of Monte Marrone on 31 March 1944 saw the Italian Liberation Corps, commanded by General Umberto Utili, fight in the vicinity of Cassino. In the battle, Italian units supported by Moroccan units operating nearby attempted to force the Germans to abandon Monte Marrone and Monte Mare, two heights of the small Mainarde mountain range, between Lazio and Molise.

Battle
This battle was part of the Italian war of liberation. The attack on the peak, 1805 m above sea level, was launched in the middle of the night on 31 March by the Italian Alpine troops of the Piemonte battalion who occupied it with a surprise attack. Deployed with the Italian Liberation Corps (CIL) were elements of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment, specifically the XXIX and XXXIII battalions and the first motorcycle company who on this occasion earned a Silver Medal for Military Valour awarded to the Goito battalion; furthermore the "Piemonte" Alpine Battalion and the paratroopers of the 185th Autonomous Arditi Paracadutisti "Nembo" unit born from the "Nembo" paratrooper division were involved in the battle; the Alpine troops reached the objective while the supporting paratroopers managed to dislodge the German units from the peak. On 2 April the Germans made an exploratory attack which however stopped 800 metres from the Italian lines, and the following day at 5.30am they began a strong attack, repelled by the fire of the Italians and by the minefields placed to protect their lines; a new attack was attempted on 10 April with three battalions of Gebirgsjaeger (the German Alpine units), one of which managed to penetrate the Italian lines giving rise to a series of hand-to-hand fights in the trenches and threatening to oust the Italians from the summit, but a new company of Alpine reinforcements averted the danger; the artillery fire prevented the influx of German reinforcements and the Italians were able to reconquer the positions which had fallen into enemy hands. ==Aftermath==
Aftermath
The conquest of the summit allowed the Italians to advance along the Monte Marrone, Monte Mare, Venafrana plain, Picinisco route, a town which was reached on 28 April. == References ==
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