US Army

At the conquest of the Mussolini’s residence

57th FG Association

In the Lake of Garda’s splendid landscape some US Army’s six-wheel-drive amphibious truck DUKW (“Duck”) photographed by James C. "Wabbit" Hare, pilot of 65th Fighter Squadron of USAAF’s 57th Fighter Group, at this time, late April 1945, based at Villafranca Airfield, Verona. Likely the “Wabbit” Hare’s photo is related to a very few know event: the operations on Lake of Garda of the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division and in particular of his 85th Infantry Regiment. The 10th fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest terrain in the country and crossed the Po River on 23 April 1945, reaching Verona 25 April. After an amphibious crossing of Lake Garda with the DUKWs, it secured Gargnano and Porto di Tremosine. Throughout the course of this operations, on the night of 29/30 April 1945, the K Company and a MG platoon of the M Company of 10th Division’s 85th Infantry Regiment crossed the Lake on board of twelve DUKWs for the conquest of Villa Feltrinelli, at Gargnano, on the Garda’s West coast, Mussolini’s residence during the 600 day of the Fascist Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI). The Villa was occupied without combats, the zone were already in the Italian partisans hands, in the morning of 30 April and many American soldiers sleep, in turn in the Mussolini’s bed. Unfortunately, during the night, a storm swept one DUKW which sunk with 25 soldier of the 10th (only one survived). According some sources during the operations on the Lake of Garda other two DUKWs was sunk by German artillery on 29 April 1945, but without soldiers losses. Victor Sierra