Chambers County AlArchives Military Records.....Yates, Arthur M. May 1944
WWII 339 Infantry Regiment, Company K, 85th Infantry Division
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Amy Yates amyfmyates4948@hotmail.com October 10, 2012, 6:49 am

Memoirs Of Battle Of Sonino Italy World War II
Arthur M. Yates in the U. S. Army
[Hand written by Arthur M. Yates, Serial # C-3-898-937, date 2005] 
[Typed by his daughter, Amy F. M. Yates, when she found the papers on 07 
October 2012]


Sonino, Italy

Remember this as I talk. It has been 61 years since I was in Battle.
 
I started to fight on the 12th of 13th of May 1944. When we went up to the 
front it was in the evening. The artillery had started to fire at the Germans. 
You could see the flash of the artillery on the horizon from right to left as 
far as the eye could see. Hundreds of big guns [were] flashing every minute. I 
had been in the Army four years at that time and it was the greatest display of 
fire power I had ever seen. It was awe inspiring.
	My company engaged the enemy and fought most of the night. The next 
morning, out of 200 men there were only 42 of us left. But we did break the 
enemy line, which I think was the Gustav line. The Germans moved on north and 
took up another defensive line. This was my first night fighting with this 
company, K-Co. 339 Inf. Reg’t, 85th Division. My company got replacements, and 
we continued after we came to their [the German’s] line of defense. For two or 
three weeks, we were stationary, firing at each other across the Arno River. 
Nothing happened for several days.
	Then one evening as it was getting dark, a 20 man German combat patrol 
team entered the two story house down the road from us. An American soldier of 
Italian descent named Joseph Stereno was standing in the door with his shirt 
off.  A German soldier shoved him out of the way and started up the stairs 
shooting. The killed two young boys named McSwain and Simmons. Two G.I.’s 
started to return their fire, and they [the German’s] withdrew down the stairs 
and went back across the river. This left the house one man short, so I 
volunteered to move to that house. There would then be seven [U. S.] soldiers 
in each house. When I went down to that house, I found 21 hand grenades lying 
around and in that house. I took the hand grenades up stairs and laid them on 
the floor under a large window.
	My fox hole buddy was a new man or recruit in the company. His name was 
Walter Watts from Belmont, North Carolina. He had two sons about 18 or 19 years 
old. When dark fell that night, I took the first watch from [six] 6 o’clock 
until [twelve] 12 o’clock that night. I then woke up Watts for his shift. About 
one thirty [a.m.] Watts shook me and woke me up. He said, “I hear someone down 
there.” I said, “Shoot hell out of them.” He said, “I can’t find my rifle.” I 
said, “Use mine.” He did, firing one shot. He said, “Your rifle is jammed.” I 
said, “Move away from the window, let me up there.” I reached down and got two 
hand grenades, pulled the pins and counted [one] 1thousand and one, two 
thousand, and threw both grenades out the window at one time. I heard them go 
off – explode. After I threw about six of them – two at a time, I started 
throwing one at a time, because I figured anyone down in that yard would have 
moved if he was able to move. I started throwing the grenades farther and 
farther back in the Italian’s garden, knowing that no one could stay in the 
yard below. I was so afraid that I threw one of the grenades without pulling 
the pin, and it being as dark as it was [I] couldn’t find one of them. I threw 
19 grenades that exploded. A German fired several bursts at me from a machine 
pistol. I was fortunate enough to be bending over getting more grenades. [When] 
I was through [throwing] the grenades, a German had gone around in front of the 
house. He shot a six inch anti-tank rocket, which hit the front of the house. 
The rocket cut a smooth six inch hole through the [two] 2 foot thick wall. 
Joseph Stereno from Trenton, New Jersey was standing in front of where the 
black of the rocket came through, and it cut him in two. He was the same G.I. 
that the 20 man [German] combat patrol had mistaken for a native Italian and 
pushed out of the way only the day before.
	The Italian farmers kept their cattle downstairs and they slept 
upstairs. The blast from the anti-tank rocket set fire to the hay the farmer 
had for his animals. All this smoke was coming up stairs where I had done lay 
down of the floor. I was so afraid my heart felt like it was going to burst. My 
heart was rocking my chest up and down on the floor. After about ten minutes a 
German, who I had wounded with the grenades, said in plain English, “Please 
come to me,” in a high pitched pleading voice. I answered him and said, “When 
daylight comes I am coming to you, you S.O.B.” When daylight did come, I could 
see the one grenade I had not thrown. I took it and went out to the wounded 
German. I searched him first for papers to see what outfit he was from. [When] 
opening his jacket, I snatched the buttons off his jacket. When I did he 
hollered loud enough to be heard a mile. I then backed away from him with the 
grenade in my hand to throw on him, [and] when [then] I got in a ditch that was 
about 25 feet from him.
	At that time, a medic named Biondi came up and said, “What are you 
going to do?” I said, “I am going to throw this grenade on this so and so.” He 
said, “No, you are not.” I said, “Yes I am and if you don’t want to go with him 
you had better move away from him or you can go with him.” After much threating 
he did not move, and I did not throw the grenade. I suppose the German made it. 
I left the German in Biondi’s care.
	I went back in the house and with the daylight coming through the door 
I saw a puddle of blood about [seven] 7 foot wide. Stereno was in it. His body 
was pointing in one direction, and his legs in another. He was blown in two! 
His mid-section was 90 percent gone. He was 36 years old.
	That morning an Italian that lived about 100 yards away came up to the 
house where I was and wanted to know who killed all the 14 dead Germans in his 
house. He said that 18 Germans came to his house, and they were helping each 
other. There were only [four] 4 of them that got back across the river, and 
they were all [four] 4 wounded. What he wanted me to do was to drag the 14 out 
of his house and bury them. I told him I was not going to. He got mad and kept 
insisting that I bury them. Finally I told him that I would shoot him, [and] 
pointed my M-1 rifle at his chest. Only then did he quit. I killed 16 and 
wounded 4. I never got any kind of medal or commendation for that battle.

Battle for Sonino, Italy

[Arthur M. Yates, C3898937]

We, my company entered the town [Sonino, Italy] about [two] 2 o’clock in the 
afternoon. I was the first scout for the company going in the town. All the 
people had left the town and were camped out on the side of the mountain.
	There was one old man in town. He had worked for the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company for 40 years. He showed me his Railroad watch. He said the 
Germans told the people that the Americans would kill them all. He said he knew 
better than that. He had lived among the Americans for 40 years.
	We went on through the town; there were 120 Germans in the town. The 
Company killed 20 of them and captured 100. I did not fire a shot. I was on the 
opposite side of town where the action was. Once out of town, we went on down 
the mountain and then into a large wheat field, and went across the main 
irrigation ditch, which was about 20 feet wide and ten feet deep. We continued 
on in the wheat field about 200 yards and then stopped and dug fox holes. 
	We hadn’t been stopped over thirty minutes when we heard a motorcycle. 
One of [the men of] my company took a shot at the motorcycle and hit it. It was 
very dark. We didn’t know whether the rider was hit or not. About ten minutes 
later we heard tanks and knew we were being surrounded, and we started to 
withdraw going back the way we came. The Germans had zeroed in with 50mm 
mortars on the irrigation ditch. Men were dying crossing that ditch. I stuck my 
rifle down in the ditch and pulled out the last three men. And then I ran after 
the rest of the company in full retreat. 
	I passed one man named Hill. He had a 520 Radio on his back. I believe 
he was running 40 miles an hour with that 50 or 60 pound radio on his back. 
Later I commented on his running with that 520 Radio. He said he did not know 
it was on his back. All of this was at night. We retreated until we got back to 
the base of the mountain, where Sonino, Italy sits atop that mountain.
	The next evening about 1:30, another man and I went back to the 
irrigation ditch. The best we could count there were about 50 men dead – lying 
across each other. I picked up a Thompson sub-machine gun and a B.A.R. WHAT A 
HORRIBLE SIGHT. The next day we moved on north.

[about the Front Lines]

	We were walking to the front lines after we got out of the trucks. We 
started smelling a terrible odor. We soon passed by a man who had been dead 
quite a few days. Maggots were crawling all over him. [They were] crawling out 
his nose, ears, [and] mouth. It was a terrible sight. He had an Italian’s 
uniform on.
	Not long after this the Italians surrendered, and [they] helped bring 
our food to us up in the mountains and carry our dead back. They were called 
Partisans. They fed my whole company once – a very good beef stew.
	Not too long after this, Mussolini and his lady friend were captured 
and hung up by the heels. A woman who had lost three sons in his war shot him 
[Mussolini] nine times while he was hanging by his heels. I did not see this 
myself, but read it in the paper. I believe the paper was the Stars and Stripes.

The Farmhouse up Above Florence, Italy

	We were walking along through the country side in single file close to 
an Italian farmhouse when a mortar round exploded about 80 feet away. The men 
started to run into the farmhouse. All of them went into the house except 
[four] 4 of us. We could not get in. I got hit with a mortar shell fragment.
	After I got hit the company moved on north. It was [four] 4 days before 
anyone came to pick me up. Then they took me to the company on the front lines. 
It was [two] 2 weeks later before they sent me to the hospital. The Germans 
were counter attacking. I was tied to a stretcher or litter on one side of a 
jeep, and a boy from West Virginia was tied down on the other side. His last 
name was Short. His appendix had ruptured.
	The jeep driver took us to a mash unit on Highway 65 and put us out. It 
was about 1:30 in the morning. We lay down on canvas cots. I fell asleep 
immediately. I had an Army blanket spread over my head. The next morning when 
Major Brazell uncovered my face, she scared me with a very loud scream. When I 
recovered, I asked her what was wrong “with you.” She said when she saw me it 
scared her. She gave me a bath and shaved off a one inch beard. The doctor came 
around and saw that I had been wounded. He said I had pneumonia and 
malnutrition. I only weighed 135. They carried me around on a stretcher for 
three months. I could not keep anything on my stomach for three months. The 
doctors said I had a nervous stomach. I was fed with an I.V. for three months.
	They shipped me back to the states to a hospital on Long Island, New 
York only for about [four] 4 days. Then [put me] on a hospital train to Fort 
Sam Houston at Brooks Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas for two weeks 
intravenous solution. Then [I was shipped] to Welsh convalescent Hospital at 
Daytona Beach, Florida for about [two] 2 months there. And then [I was shipped] 
to Northington Army Hospital at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for [one] 1 month for 
nervous or disturbed soldiers. I was in the hospital for over [seven] 7 months. 
The doctors told me not to work anywhere for [one] 1 year. When I went to work, 
I lost at least ¼ of the time until they told me I was not able to work. This 
was 1958. I haven’t had any jobs except part time jobs since then. I haven’t 
worked even part time jobs since I was 62. I am now 81. I have trouble walking. 
I have a walker and a wheel chair the V. A. gave me. I can’t do my own work. My 
[two] boys and my daughter does it [house and yard work] for me.

The Surrender

[Company K, 339 Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division]
[Serial # C-3898937]

My Company was moving up through Italy. I think it was a few miles north of 
Florence and Pisa. We stopped for a while. I don’t know why. I looked over 
toward some low lying hills, and I saw two Germans coming toward me with their 
hands on their heads, which was a sign of surrender. They walked on up to me 
and started to talk. Of course I don’t speak German. But a German American had 
come into my company only a couple of months before. His name was Kahler. He 
was standing about 40 feet from me. I called him over and asked him to 
interpret for me, which he did. I asked him to ask the Germans if they knew the 
war was over. They said they didn’t know it was over. I said yes it had been 
over several hours and we had just got the news only about an hour ago. Then I, 
talking through Kahler, asked the Germans if any more men were over there where 
they came from. They said, yes their company. I asked them if they wanted to 
walk back over there and let their buddies know the war was over. I told them 
it would be better to surrender now than for some unit to see them and start 
shooting. They said yes. They went over there [towards the low lying hills], 
and about [eight] 8 minutes later, here come the whole company. The majority of 
them were polish. A detachment of [U. S.] men came by about 30 minutes later 
and took them away.
I never even got a thank you. It was NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN.


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