Panzer Division Italy October 1943

[RosyRedd]

Hello to everyone. This is my first post on these forums and I hope that I am posting this question in the right place.

I have been trying to find as much detail about where, how and by whom my Great Uncle was killed. So far I know that the battle he was in was at Macchiagodena, near Isernia, on October 30th 1943. He was a signaller for 2/ Northants and was out on one of the peaks above the town. As it was mainly rock there was nowhere to protect themselves and he was killed by shellfire.

I have a copy of the map 'Summary of 5th Army Operations, 12 October 1943 - 15 November 1943' which places 26 Panzerdivision right in the area, with 29 Panzer also close by.

My question is, does anyone know which division and which unit my Great Uncle would be fighting against please? If you need any more information about the allied side, I do have more I just didn't want to overload this message with too much of it!

Thanks very much,

Jules.

[Tom Houlihan]

Jules, in reference to you PM, there's nothing wrong with your post.

As for your fear of overloading the thread, that's not a worry! The more information available, the easier it could be for someone with a lead to follow up. Someone digging into your query would waste time finding things you already know. Who knows, you could lay something out that catches someone's attention, connecting some dots that help you get your answers!

[RosyRedd]

Thanks Tom for your reply and in response I will add the other stuff that I know already. :)

According to the 2/Northants Regimental History & the War Diary on 28/10/1943 the Battalion had moved to the southern outskirts of St. Elena. It was at this time that the plan was to clear the village of Macchiagodena - which could only be taken if the Axis forces were cleared from the mountains that overlooked it. Because of weather conditions the attack started on 30/10/1943. The mountain peaks were recorded here as Points and the three recorded are Point 1385 (350315), Point 1281 & Point 1102. Pesco Antilla is also mentioned and also that 6th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders were involved in the fighting.

This is a link to the map: http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/ ... /map30.jpg

The following are some units in the area around the time - but not necessarily involved in the fighting.

Grenadier-Regiment 576 13/11/43 (This is obviously later - I don't know if they were in the area earlier on though)
305. Infanterie-Division 00/08/43 - 00/12/43
26. Panzer-Division 00/07/43 - 00/12/43

I would appreciate any information - even information about where I should go/who to contact etc.

Kind regards,

Jules.