Italy 1943–1945
Piano Lupo crossroads, near Gela
Battlefield
The story
The road junction the 505th paratroopers were meant to seize on the night of 9–10 July. A small group under Captain Edwin Sayre took the complex of Italian pillboxes here and, joined by 1st Division infantry, held it against the German armoured thrust of 11 July.
What to look for
Look for surviving Italian pillboxes on the slope of the Niscemi road and look south over the Gela plain where the German tanks were stopped.
Plan your visit
Roadside; pillboxes are on private farmland, view from the road. Busy junction: park with care.
Nearby sites
- 82nd Airborne memorial, Ponte Dirillo · 5 km
- Gela seafront and pier, Gela · 10 km
- Landing beaches, Licata · 37 km
- Agira Canadian War Cemetery, Agira · 68 km
- Centuripe, Enna · 71 km
- Primosole Bridge, Simeto river · 73 km
All 96 sites in Italy 1943–1945 →
Into Europe: Italy 1943–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The places of the Allied campaign in Italy, from the Sicily landings of July 1943 through Salerno, the Winter Line, Ortona, Cassino and Anzio, Rome, the Gothic Line and the final battles on the Senio and the Po in April 1945.
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