Note 30 — Chapter XII · The Mountain Barrier: Part One

Both companies were so far in advance of the rest of the 21st Infantry that only limited supplies of ammunition and rations could reach them. As the afternoon hours wore on, the pressure from the 57th Infantry increased but the companies dug in and held their positions. During the night they repulsed three counterattacks of about fifty men each.30 On the following morning the 57th Infantry placed mortar fire upon the companies,31 augmented at first by fire from one artillery piece and later by fire from a four-gun battery.32 The intensity of this fire forced the companies to withdraw from their position and rejoin the rest of the 3d Battalion on the beach near Colasion.33