The
MtMestas.com
Blue Devils Research Library
of Dedicated to the Memory
of Todd Wheatley.

Col. Edwin Todd Wheatley, Jr., was a bunkmate of Pvt.Mestas and spent his later years advocating for a Medal of Honor upgrade for his friend. Mr. Wheatley authored a lenghty article about his work which was published in a national magazine in June 2003. To read "Silver Star or Medal of Honor?" - Click Here.

During endless hours of searching the internet for "Blue Devils" information I upon came this January 2003 FORUM message that Mr.Wheatley had posted elsewhere during his own search, shortly before his death in May 2004.

Gothic Line

The most formidable defensive positions in Italy. After the fall of Rome on June 4, 1944, the Germans retreated to this new defensive line, a heavily fortified belt.

Axis forces tenaciously defended every mountaintop and valley amid deteriorating winter weather - 10 September 1944 to 4 April, 1945.

Study of German operations against the Allied beachhead at Anzio, 22 Jan to 31 May, 1944 reflect the German point of view based on the available journals and records of the German 10th and 14th Armies.

The battle for Capello, which lasted two days, was a struggle between German soldiers who would not withdraw and American troops who would not be stopped.

Perhaps the most spectacular fighting of took place on three craggy mountain peaks in late September and early October. On 27 September, elements of the 350th Infantry Regiment linked up with Italian partisans and occupied Mt. Battaglia without opposition. However, over the next six days, the “Green Devils” of the German 1st Parachute Division attacked fiercely and without surcease in an effort to seize this key terrain.

Island outposts strategically located in the narrows between North Africa and Sicily, virtually commanded the passage between the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean and served as stepping stones to the Italian mainland.

Participation of the 9th and 12th Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign.

Task Force 45 was a polyglot task force of American and British anti-aircraft gunners acting as infantry with Italian Partisians, Brazilians and Colored American troops fighting by their side.

From Gruber to the Brenner Pass with the 88th Division in Italy. This short pocket history was compiled by Headquarters, 88th Infantry Division and covers the 88th Infantry Division in WWI and WWII from training through the fighting in Italy to final German surrender.

In late 1942 began a ground offensive against the European Axis that was to be sustained almost without pause until Italy collapsed and Germany was finally defeated. From the American Military History Army Historical Series.

The Invasion of Italy

A condensed overview of the Italian Campaign from the invasion of Sicily to the end of the war in Europe.

The German Conduct of Operations in the Italian Theatre
1943-1945

He overruled his military advisers; in his decisions on the defense of Italy, he chose between the conflicting recommendations of the two commanders best qualified to advise him.