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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Anzio, Italy, January 1944, at 0130, the
intermittent roar of firing from an eight-inch howitzer
battery and the drizzle of a light chilly rain made Pfc.
James Palmer and more than 760 of his fellow Rangers more
than eager and ready to carry out their special mission.
Palmer, a native of Buffalo, New York, was assigned to
the 6615th Ranger Force, 1st Ranger Battalion.
The
mission the 1st and 3rd Army Ranger battalions, commanded by
Col. William Orlando Darby, was ordered to carry out was to
infiltrate and assault supposedly lightly defended German
lines, to seize and hold the town of Cisterna and its
surrounding farms, and link up the following day with the
3rd Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Lucian K.
Truscott.
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August 13, 2015 - World War II Army veteran James Palmer (91) shows some of his wartime memorabilia. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Timothy Lawn)
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That link-up would never come. The moment
Palmer and the other Rangers marched across the line of
departure their fate was sealed. By daylight the two
battalions of Rangers found themselves trapped in an iron
vise of angry German defenders determined to push the U.S.
Army back into the sea.
That day's bloody battle
would be where Palmer and the rest of his Ranger buddies
would make military history, fighting in a Ranger
battalion's last stand, and cementing the Army Rangers'
fighting spirit and tenacity during World War II.
The
Rangers' minds were far from making military history when
they headed toward Cisterna.
As night gave way to
daylight, Palmer and his fellow Rangers skirted the edge of
a large open field on the southern edge of Cisterna. They
realized they were in a risky situation, because crossing an
open field in daylight was suicide, but they had orders to
take the town. It wasn't quite daylight, so they made the
dash for the village in the hopes of reaching it before the
sun came up.
The German defenders of Cisterna were a
robust and mixed force of combat hardened elements of the
German 715th Motorized Infantry Division, the Hermann
Goering Division and elite paratroopers from 2nd Parachute
Lehr.
Under the leadership of Field Marshal Albert
Kesserling, the Germans had transformed the rugged Italian
countryside. They created interlocking defensive
strongpoints using any man-made and natural environmental
obstacle to their advantage. Unfortunately for the Rangers,
they had paid particular attention to the built-up village
of Cisterna.
The German defenders had Palmer and the
two battalions of Rangers exactly where they wanted them,
the open field they had to cross was essentially a kill
zone, and they closed the trap on the small force of Rangers
coming at them.
From farmhouses, stone fences,
orchards, vehicles and tanks, the Germans counterattacked,
opening up with a violent fusillade of direct and indirect
fire and savagely attempted to destroy the American assault
force. In response, the Rangers fought back with equal
ferocity.
“A lifetime of action,” Palmer told a
Buffalo newspaper reporter while recovering from his wounds.
As the battle intensified, the Rangers quickly assessed
that they were surrounded. Palmer and his Ranger buddies
fought back with everything they had. Using bazookas, sticky
mines, carbines and grenades, the Rangers fought with savage
ferocity. Some of the Rangers even resorted to jumping onto
moving tanks and dropping grenades into hatches to destroy
them.
“It was really tough back there, because them
‘Jerries' (Germans) were firmly entrenched and all we could
do was watch and try to pick them off as fast as we sighted
them,” Palmer said in a wartime interview.
As the
day's battle progressed the Germans grew in strength, firing
point-blank with tanks, flak wagons and artillery, the
Germans brought deadly firepower down upon the lightly armed
Ranger assault force.
Though they had the upper hand,
they also quickly realized that the surrounded Ranger force
was not going to go easy. As the day wore on, the Germans in
frustration took captured prisoners and marched them in
front of vehicles in an attempt to force isolated pockets of
Rangers to surrender.
Efforts by other units
attempting to rescue Palmer and his fellow Rangers were
unsuccessful. By the end of the day, out of 760-plus Rangers
assaulting Cisterna, official Army records indicate that all
but six men were either killed or captured in the fight for
the town.
In the ensuing melee, Palmer disappeared, a
statistic, either killed or captured. His family was duly
notified that he was listed as missing in action.
Through fate or divine intervention, Palmer was one of those
lucky six who survived the savage maelstrom and return to
combat duty as a Ranger.
At some point during the
savage mid-afternoon battle, Palmer managed to break out and
survive the slaughter. A 4.2-mortar battalion discovered a
dazed Palmer walking along a road. When they questioned him
he only could recall being part of a surrounded force that
had been taken by surprise and ordered to surrender. He
spent a couple of weeks recuperating and becoming friends
with the soldiers, one of whom would later become a lifelong
friend.
Palmer later would return to fight with the
Rangers but his luck would quickly run out. A short time
later he suffered massive shrapnel wounds to his arm and
back, and was sent home for the duration of the war to
recuperate.
Palmer was neither meek nor shy. He
started life as an orphan at Father Baker's Orphanage in
Buffalo, New York, was later raised in foster care by a Ms.
Margaret Ryan returning to his maternal grandparents at
age10.
Right after Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the
Army at the young age of 17 and volunteered for the U.S.
Army Rangers. He was selected and trained with the original
fighting force.
Palmer earned his mettle in North
Africa before heading to Italy. He is a proud member of the
original founding World War II Ranger battalions and in
possession of the famed 1st Ranger Battalion Scroll sleeve
insignia.
“We were dirty SOBs, under a great soldier
(Darby) ... and we kicked the crap out of them... (Germans),”
Palmer said.
The battle of Cisterna is penned in
history as a tactical and bloody defeat for the 1st and 3rd
Ranger battalions but the brave actions and sacrifices of
soldiers like Palmer and his fellow Army Rangers add a
sharpened edge to the scroll they proudly wear.
Palmer was awarded the two Purple Hearts, Bronze Star,
Combat Infantryman's Badge and European Campaign Medals.
Personal note
I met
and interviewed Jim Palmer, 91 years, in the comfort of his
home, his daughter Julie, doted over him as we talked; He
was pleasant, and seemed to enjoy the attention.
During the interview,
my zest to capture his combat experiences came up a little
shy, he seemed to have difficulty recalling his wartime
memories. What he did expand upon was how proud he was to
have been an Army Ranger under Darby, and that they had
kicked the crap out of the Nazis.
Palmer had war
wounds that earned him a 100 percent disability rating, a
rare rating even for those days. After the war, he married,
sired a son and four daughters, and watched them grow and be
successful.
There were times I feel he did remember
some experiences, but I grew aware that he seemed to
possibly retreat due to the pain or sorrow those memories
evoked.
Regardless, Palmer's short story came to life
with the help of volumes of official Army published papers,
period newspaper clippings and interviews with him while he
was recuperating on convalescent leave, and family
documents, including his uniform and military regalia.
Palmer's interview is fact, based on fact. His memory
may have dimmed with time but the story is still there. A
young man at war who experienced and lived to tell about one
of the greatest battles of the Second World War fighting as
a Special Operations Soldier.
By U.S. Army Master Sgt. Timothy Lawn
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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