Ivy League envy is a familiar theme that has occasionally surfaced in American public and political life since the elite universities such as Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale and others opened more than 200 years ago. The current resentment wave led by U.S. President Donald Trump and his MAGA mob is a particularly pernicious, unwarranted inquisition and will surely backfire - just as happened in the past, including in World War II.

Moreover when U.S. Army General Mark Clark planned and commanded the 1943-44 winter American assault on the mountainous terrain of mainland Italy between Naples and Rome, he had at his disposal the first-ever specially trained mountain division of more than 20,000 soldiers. Known as the 10th Mountain Division, the troops had undergone rigorous training since 1941 - first on Mount Rainier in Washington state and then high in the Colorado mountains at a purpose-built training base where they honed their combat skills in frigid weather using skis and mountain climbing. But after more than two years of training - and despite a desperate need for infantry troops - the Tenth Mountain Division was rejected by Clark. Why? Because he considered them unreliable Ivy League ``elitists'' unsuitable for rugged combat. Indeed a large majority of the 10th Mountain Division were from Ivy League institutions, especially schools such as Dartmouth and others located in the New England mountains.

Clark's initial rejection of the 10th Mountain Division proved costly as the U.S. military struggled in the mountains between Naples and Rome . As it was, specially trained French and Moroccan troops were employed when U.S. commanders withdrew some American troops to conduct the amphibious, Anzio surprise beach landing 30 miles southwest of Rome in early 1944. The French and Moroccan troops were fierce fighters but they also sexually assaulted thousands of Italian women - a controversy that still lingers today and is a shameful legacy that some Italians use to either ignore or tarnish the sacrifices of Allied Forces in Italy . As it was, the winter of 1943-44 was a bloody battle that cost the lives of tens of thouands of Allied soldiers, many of whom had never trained or fought in the mountains.

Despite that costly campaign, Clark continued to reject the 10th Mountain Division when he planned the U.S. Fifth Army assault on the Gothic Line, which began in early September of 1944. Again faced with the deadly challenge of assaulting German mountain-top fortifications in the northern Apennine mountains, Clark insisted on using U.S. army infantry divisions that had been on the front lines for nearly two years with minimal or no rest - unheard of in contemporary military doctrine. Military historians cite low morale and high rates of desertion among those troops that Clark deployed with the launch of the U.S. Fifth Army's assault up the center of the Apennine mountains between Florence and Bologna.

Finally Clark and other U.S. commanders, facing failure as the Gothic Line offensive stalled, relented and in December 1944 the 10th Mountain Division infantry arrived in Tuscany in the western part of the Apennine mountains. They would go on to play a decisive role in breaking through German mountain-top artillery that had earlier slaughtered thousands of American and Brazilian troops trying to break through the Gothic Line.

Ultimately, the 10th Mountain Division would not only break through the Gothic Line with alacrity but would arrive in the Po Valley and then at the foot of the Alps when WW II in Europe ended in May 1945. They had achieved every objective assigned to them but at a cost. Of the approximately 20,000 10th Mountain Division soldiers that arrived on the front lines in Italy in December more than 1,000 soldiers were killed and approximately 3,900 were injured in six months.

By Joe Kirwin

There are numerous Gothic Line Offensive stories that are obscure and nearly lost to history but none more so than the more 7,000 South African black soldiers who helped to end Nazi and Italian Fascists tyranny in Italy.

Fighting in Tuscany between American and Brazilian troops in the mountains above the city of Montemurlo, the Black South African troops' role was restricted to menial labor and other service-related duties under the command of the White South African Sixth Armored Division. That's because South African law prevented the Black South African soldiers from carrying a firearm. Instead they could only arm themselves with spears and shields against German machine guns, artillery and mortar fire.

The firearm restrictions were part of the overall racial abuse imposed by white South Africans going back to the early 1900s when they confiscated from blacks most of the arable land in the country. In 1939 when South Africa agreed to join the Allied Alliance and declare war on Germany, Italy and Japan, the controversial decision caused political upheaval - especially among Afrikaans political factions that identified with Nazi Germany.

When the war decision was taken by the White South African government, it realized it had a big problem: a severe shortage of infantry troops. Reluctantly the white South African government realized their only option was to allow Blacks and Coloreds into the Army.

Many Black South Africans agreed to join a special Native Military Corp in the South African army hoping it would lead to civil rights and land reform rewards when WW II ended. Whereas most other soldiers of color who fought and died for democracy on the Gothic Line in Italy - even though they did not have it in their own country - there was a slow and minimal post-war dividends. Ssome, such as U.S. African American troops, eventually gained civil rights in some parts of the United States. In the case of the approximately 60,000 Indian troops, their Gothic Line war service did play a role in helping India gain its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Japanese American troops were were compensated for being imprisoned after the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan in 1941.

But it was the opposite for Black South African soldiers when they returned from Italy. Apartheid was codified into South African law in 1948. As a result Blacks were forced onto desolate homelands or township slums. When Nelson Mandela's was released from prison in the early 1990s and led the African National Congress into government, the story of the Black South African soldiers service in WW II in Italy was disregarded. To this day it is still absent from most history book sand museums in South Africa and Italy.

After a four-month search for this podcast I finally found a man who has arguably done more than any over the last 50 years to keep the Black South African WW II soldier story alive. That person is University of Johannesburg Prof. Emeritus Louis Grundling. In the early 1980s he wrote his PhD thesis on the Black South African WW II history including on the Gothic Line and taught it for the next five decades at South Africa's largest academic institution.

Some 80 years later after the end of the Gothic Line Offensive and WW II in Europe, Prof. Grundling said there is still no recognition in the South African education system or in museums about the Black Soldiers' role in WW II, which started in north Africa under British command and then continued in Italy. Grundling said it was only in January of 2025 that recognition was given to Black South African soldiers who fought in WW I.

``Hopefully sometime soon recognition for the WW II Black South African soldiers will come,'' he told me.

The ferocious 4-month battle that took place at Monte Cassino when Allied Forces attempted to break through the mountains between Naples and Rome and drive the German and Italian Fascist forces out of Italy will always be remembered as the bloodiest and most brutal chapter of the 1943-45 WW II Allied campaign in Italy.

Later in 1944, when Allied armies launched the Gothic Line offensive after the liberation of Rome on June 4, the fighting across the northern Apennines is not as steeped in folklore as Monte Cassino but there were a number of epic battles that equaled in intensity if not in length and casualties. The fierce fighting in the mountain-top town of Gemmano overlooking the Adriatic Sea is often referred to as the ``Cassino of the Adriatic'' although some historians insist the battle over the old Roman coastal and port town of Rimini, was even bloodier.

On the western side of the Gothic Line in Tuscany, not far from where the Apennines and Apuane mountains meet, the battle of Monte Castello, Monte Torraccia and Monte Belvedere and nearby Riva Ridge, involving American and Brazilian troops, is sometimes referred to as the ``Cassino of Tuscany''.

In the center of Italy where the U.S. Fifth Army launched in mid-September, 1944 its part of the Gothic Line one-two punch, pincer movement to capture Nazi headquarters in Bologna, the struggle to control the strategic heights of Monte Battaglia (715 meters) above the Santerno and Valsenio river valleys is often referred to as the ``Cassino of the North.'' It was fought off and on over the course of several months starting from Sept. 27, 1944 when American 88th ``Blue Devil'' troops, aided by Italian Partisans, waged a week-long struggle.

If you climb to the top of Monte Battaglia today you can understand why it was the site of deadly combat. The commanding view of the Adriatic coastal plain extends all the way to the Po River valley and, Italy's breadbasket, Beyond it is Italy's industrial heartland. Although not in view, the city of Bologna and the Nazi military headquarters, is less than 40 kilometers.

So when the U.S. Army took control of Monte Battaglia in early autumn of 1944 the Gothic Line Offensive was on a roll. But the momentum was short-lived. Torrential rains, frigid weather and stout German resistance - as ordered relentlessly y by Hitler - proved insurmountable. As a result the Allied Forces, including American forces struggling to breakthrough in the mountains southwest of Bologna, called a halt to the offensive in mid December, For three months a battle of attrition similar to WW I warfare ensued. The Gothic Line offensive would not resume in full until March of 1945 when weather, refreshed troops, mechanical innovations, restocked ammo supplies and waning German soldier morale revived momentum.

Valerio Calderoni , 64, and a native of nearby Imola, has spent decades roaming the Santerno River Valley, especially over the last 40 years during his work as a veterinarian and pursuing his passion as an independent historian. For many years, Valerio has heard the local stories about the battle of Monte Battaglia some of which varied when it concerned the role of Italian Partisan freedom fighters and the U.S. Army troops and the relationship between the two. More than 20 years ago, Valerio took it upon himself to do extensive research examining archive records in the United States, Italy and Germany to understand the true story of what happened on Monte Battaglia. In 2014 he published his results in a book titled ``Monte Battaglia 1944: from Myth to History. Valerio explained in this podcast episode his conclusions and ongoing work, which includes forensic recovery of fallen soldiers on Monte Battaglia. Valerio is also a board member of the Gothic Line museum located in Castel del Rio in the Santerno River Valley.

For more infomation contact Joe Kirwin at joekirwin@compuserve.com or tel: 00 32 478 277802