Battle of Troina

The was a group of several attempts to take the town of Troina, as seen and mentioned in in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.
== First attempts ==
During the first portion of the battle, the Americans had trouble securing the town. Stephen Kelly and his squad was sent in and out of the town five times before going in the sixth time, and capturing it.On the level, "Farewell to Friends", Stephen Kelly remarks, "That's what they [(the commanding officers)] said the last five times we've gone in.", when approaching Troina on a tank.
== American advance ==
Before the first shots were exchanged, the 1st Infantry Division was advancing toward the town through unheld fields, with Fox Company on point.
The soldiers on the left flank were charging in on foot, while the soldiers on the right flank went in casually via Sherman. Before even getting through the front gate, some of the boys of Fox Company exchanged conversations. After the first Sherman went through the gate, it was destroyed by an anti-tank weapon from down the street.
Glenn Hawkins took over, and ordered everyone off the tanks, and to proceed with caution. He and his squad then continued down the road a few hundred feet to an intersection, which was heavy with Wehrmacht forces.
The Americans took them out, and took a right. About 50 feet down the road from there, they encountered another intersection, which had two MG42s stopping their advance. Hawkins ordered Denley and Bloomfield to lay down suppressing fire so Roger and Kelly could flank the emplacement and make it safe for Hawkins and the others to advance.
The two ran through the crossfire while the others gave them covering fire. They met up with three other Americans down the road, also trying to take out the MG42 emplacements. Shortly after reinforcing the three, they were all killed by the overwhelming amount of Germans in the courtyard behind the machine gun emplacement. Roger and Kelly fight their way into the building, and secure the first floor, then work their way up to the second floor, which was home go the MG emplacement.
After killing the gunner, the few riflemen across the street noticed the Americans, and started shooting at them. The two returned fire, killing the enemy machine gun crew.
Kelly then led Roger out of the building to regroup with the rest of the squad at the end of the road, which would have been covered by two machine guns earlier, if not for the twos' flanking.
== Air superiority ==
While the squad proceeded down the street, German Luftwaffe bombers started to come in to try to kill the advancing GIs. Once at the end of the road, Hawkins ordered Denley to open a door to a building, so they could all get out of the sights of the bombers.
After opening the door, Denley was shot several times by a German in the building with an MP-40. Denley fell backwards off the patio he was on, and was killed upon the impact on the street, if he even survived the submachine gun burst.
With the problem of enemy bombers growing, Hawkins ordered the surviving members of his squad into the house to keep at least some of his squad alive.
After a bit of preparation, the squad continued through the house, through some back alleys, and got to a building with some fellow Americans in it. Hawkins' squad then took positions in the building, and fired into the town square that the building overlooked.
Privates Roger and Kelly went up the stairs to the second floor, where Roger manned an MG34, and held back the Italian attack on the building. With Rogers covering them, the rest of the squad advanced and cleared the square. Rogers then rejoined his squad and continued through the square and through an archway on the other side.
Following a side street, Hawkins' squad merged with a column of tanks and infantry pushing down the road to the German-held church. When a Flak-88 opened fire upon the column and casualties started stacking, Hawkins had his men flank around the church and enter through a side door.
Rogers lead, on point, through the rubble-filled sanctuary of the church, cleared it of all enemy resistance, set a Breaching Charge on the Flak gun, and detonated it. When the building was cleared of hostiles, he regrouped with his squad.
Looking around, Kelly judged that "this town must be at least a thousand years old", upon which Bloomfield commented "too bad Vic ain't here to see it."
At the end of all the chaos, Hawkins' squad mourned Victor Denley's death.
==References==
Category:Conflicts
Category:History
Category:World War II
Category:Real Life Article