The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Po Valley Campaign - Italy 1945 - Jan. 8th, 2004

www.army.mil ^

[snippy_about_it]

SAM's
SHADOW



SAM's
KODI and SHADOW

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. My goodness!

[AnAmericanMother]

She invented "The AmAAAAzing Levitating Labrador" all by herself. She knows she isn't supposed to pull on leash, so she just goes straight up in the air. She can go as high as my head with no trouble whatever.

Naturally she can jump anything - when our stable had an open house I took her up to the barn and ran her over the horse jumps set up in the ring. Three feet plus is no problem for her at all. After she jumped everything in the ring, the kids up on the hill applauded like mad, and she went nuts and got the "zoomies" - I don't know if Shadow does the "Labrador butt tuck" but when Labs get really excited they kinda run while sitting down. Shelley made an entire victory lap of the ring in full "butt tuck" with her ears flying and eyes rolling white - and got another round of applause.

That's why we switched her from obedience competition to agility. At least she can run around, jump, and bark.

[SAMWolf]

Kodi might do that when he gets excited but Shadow is way too overweight.

[snippy_about_it]

Okay, while we are showing off dogs, here's mine.

Natasha and Sadie ~ Mutts are Us

[SAMWolf]

Oh Yeah, Shadow has been known to scoot around on her butt, doesn't do it anymore since she had her back knees orerated on. She mostly just lays around and watches the world go by but every once in a while the puppy in her comes back and she'll tear off across the yard ready to play.

[SAMWolf]

AWWWWWWW! I have to say I like Sadie, she looks so comfortable in that chair.

[Light Speed]

For a "soft underbelly" that real estate sure had a steep price

Although their were periods of cold,rain and mud...Italy was more weather kind for German forces than their battles on the Russian front..the Ardennes and the forest battles of the fall/winter/spring 44/45.

German Arty in Italy was power in scope...they were able to pile up allied advances with surgical arty and mortar attacks....traveleing Italian roadways and valleys below the mountains was costly for the allies.

Airpower...airpower which knew the lay of the land from 42 onward..the opps run out of North Africa.
In time the units flew to bases in Italy..and the hurt began to be applied to the Nazi's.

I remember watching some film of the last German units fleeing thru Rome...trucks going on 2 wheels with 88's in tow.

A proper picture...the Allies ran the Germans out of Italy : )

[AnAmericanMother]

Another Chair-Ridin' Dog:

And doing what Labs do best:

[AnAmericanMother]

Natasha and Sadie are very cute. Is Sadie part Shepherd?

[SAMWolf]

Evvning Light Speed.

Italy was a tough fight but in the end the Allies prevailed. The Germans were able to delay us and make us pay a high price but they were never able to push us out or stop us once we landed.

[SAMWolf]

What the heck is she chewing on? LOL! Looks like a stuffed parrot.

[snippy_about_it]

Your pictures are so sweet. She looks very lovable.

We found Sadie last summer and have no idea what she is. She still acts like a youngin' but she's awfully big. Certainly has the shepard coloring, like Natasha. Natasha is part retriever too. Just a couple of good dogs. Natasha is 12 years old and getting that familiar gray hair, like Shadow and like me. LOL!

While I'm here let me say Goodnight to everyone. It's late for me and I post in the morning so I better get some sleep.

Thanks so much AAM for sharing with us tonight.

[SAMWolf]

Everything I've read about the Italian campaign tells how accurate and lethal the German artillery and mortars were. They usually had the advantage of holding the high ground, as soon as they lost it or were outflanked they just pulled back to the next series of hills.

[AnAmericanMother]

"It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-PARROT!!"

Actually, it's a stuffed pheasant toy. Shelley gnaws her bones and all hard plastic toys to bits, but tends her stuffed toys carefully. She still has the mallard duck stuffed toy she had as a tiny pup (its squeaker however is long since come unsqueaked.) She used to have a bright neon orange stuffed hedgehog with four little hard rubber feet (in tennis shoes). She very carefully chewed all four feet off close to the body, but takes very good care of the rest of the hedgehog.

I guess it's her "soft mouth" heritage not to chew anything that feels like it might be feathers. She sure doesn't. She once caught a tufted titmouse in flight and brought it to me completely unharmed (that bird had a story to tell his wife when he got home!)

[AnAmericanMother]

I've got the grey hair too! Guess it happens to us all if we're lucky.

I'd better be toddling off to bed myself. Catch everybody in the a.m. Good night!

[SAMWolf]

Good night Snippy.

[Light Speed]

Hi Sam

The airwar over North Africa..The Med and into Italy sometimes is overlooked in comparison to what was occuring over Europe and the Russian front.

For England..the Med was like the Battle of Britian which just went on and on.
Malta and other North African battles saw German technical prowess surge ahead when the FW -190 arrived in increased numbers.
RAF up engined their Spifrife 5's..with the Spit 9 being able to hold its own with the FW 190.

Yet..the air battles the RAF and U.S. saw were not easy wins....the Luftwaffe pilots of this region were experten....ME-109 Gustav's were a handfull with a skilled pilot behind the stick.

Many cases of Chivallry occured....both Luftwaffe and Allied pilots..allowing a damaged foe to retire.

Downed airmen ..some in Luftwaffe Hospitals had their injury status conveyed by letters dropped on airfields.

An intersting story within a story..the Airwar over the Med.

[Light Speed]

Spifrife 5's

Should read Spitfire 5's.

Blame it on Italian Vino : )

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Another Python fan?

My dogs have chewed everything they've been given. Kodi like to chew the fuzz off tennis balls and then pop them.

My first dog, Sam, had a rubber squeeky hedgehog, he'd run all over the house squeaking it. He never chewed it up for some reason. He chewd all his other toys.