Smoke Pots Into Position, Rapido River

Carrying Smoke Pots Into Position in the Rapido River Area 

River Crossings. Infantry Journal, LVIII, No. i (January, 1946). 57-41 (5) Interv, Hist Off with 

In this its first forward area mission the i/id Company quite naturally met with problems not found in rear area screening. For one thing, the unit worked in two shifts because of the necessity of a constant daytime screen as well as the possibility of operations at night. (Installations at the rear, it will be remembered, did not include smoke among their daytime antiaircraft defenses.) The problem of security was greater because of the danger of enemy patrols. Communications maintenance increased appreciably and the need for continuous fog oil resupply in an area both difficult and dangerous to reach involved problems unknown at the port screen at Naples. 

That same month saw the beginning of a concerted effort by the 15 th Army Group to penetrate the Gothic Line to which the Axis 

In partial answer to this threat on the supply route, the lyad Smoke Generator Company maintained a smoke line from i6 October 1944 until 14 April 194s- For 181 days, except when the weather made screening unnecessary or when II Corps for one reason or another needed perfect visibility in the area, the smoke haze concealed friendly movements along a 2-mile stretch of the highway. Periods of bright moonlight sometimes forced the 1726 to operate on a 24-hour basis. 

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