This episode of the History Guy brought to you by MagellanTV
and their documentary series, Medal of Honor: Exceptional Valor.
When allied forces landed in Italy in September of 1943, there was hope that the so-called Soft
Underbelly of Fortress Europe would fall quickly and hasten the end of the war. But as historian
Jeffrey Best noted, “The Italian government proved soft enough, but the Italian terrain,
not at all.” Fighting would continue in Italy through the end of the war. But the Italian
campaign largely faded from popular memory in the face of the dramatic fighting in France
after D-Day, but still the Italian campaign was an important part of the allied strategy,
and it had its share of heroes. Among them was Alton “Nappy” Knappenberger,
an infantryman in the third infantry division. In his brief service he
performed incredible acts of valor. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
The Medal of Honor is America's highest award for heroism. The MagellanTV series, Medal of Honor:
Exceptional Valor, details the history of the award from the Civil War up to the wars in Iraq
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Alton Knappenberger was born on December 31st 1923 in Coopersburg Pennsylvania a few miles from
the larger Allentown. According to the Washington Post, his father was a moonshiner during the years
of prohibition and died when Nappy, as he became known to his friends, was only five years old. He
had only a little schooling up to the fifth grade, and otherwise worked to support his large family.
He was the last of six children during the worst years of the Great Depression.
His teenage years saw him traveling the region looking for work doing any job he could find,
from working on chicken farms, to milking cows. According to a 2004 profile in the Morning Call
he spent hours every day hunting for food. For rabbits and pheasants he carried a shotgun,
but for squirrels he carried a .22 rifle. It was hunting for his meals that made him an
expert marksman. He was not a large man, between five foot four and five foot six and 130 pounds.
When he was drafted at 20 years old in 1943, he was working on a pig farm.
Nappy enlisted in Allentown on March 4th 1943. President Roosevelt had instituted The
Selected Service and Training Act in 1940, the first peacetime draft in the nation's history.
The act required all men ages 21 to 36 to register, and when it was passed nappy was
only 17. However, after Pearl Harbor amendments made to the original act made all American men
between 20 and 44 liable for military service, and required all men from 18 to 64 to register.
In 1942 another amendment made 18 and 19 year olds also liable for service. Each of the registrants
was divided by district, and the number of those districts was placed in a capsule that was pulled
out of a fishbowl. From there individuals in each district were checked by a local draft board for
eligibility. Allowances were made for those pursuing education, for physical disability,
and for men who worked in an important industry, as well as conscientious objectors. Alton was hale
and fit but worked in the agricultural industry which may have allowed deferment, shortage of
workers in the agricultural industry was a constant issue during the war years,
although he was a wage worker, and thus he may not have qualified. Regardless, he chose to go to war.
He was assigned to the 30th Infantry Regiment, part of the Third Infantry Division
the Third Division had gained fame in World War 1 at the Second Battle of the Marne, where
its steadfast defense earned the division the nickname, Rock of the Marne. The Third was among
the first divisions called up for combat in World War II and landed in North Africa during Operation
Torch on November 8th 1942. They participated in a second landing on Sicily in July of 1943,
and then participated in the fighting that took the Allied Forces to the prepared defenses of
the German Winter Line. There the Division fought until it was relieved by the 36th
Division. The Third Infantry Division's rest was brief, and became one of the core pieces
of a daring operation meant to force the collapse of German defenses in Italy, Operation Shingle.
By landing on beaches at Anzio and Nettuno, the goal was to draw defenses from the Winter Line so
Allied Forces could break through German defenses. Planners believed that Albert Kesselring who
commanded German Army Group C lacked the resources to defend the beaches, and maintain the defensive
line across the Italian peninsula. Before the landing at Anzio, Private First Class Alton
Knappenberger joined his unit as an infantryman in the First Platoon of Company C of the 15th
Battalion of the 30th Infantry. To the shock of the allies as they unloaded from landing boats,
the initial landings were essentially unopposed, and 36,000 soldiers were landed on the first day,
January 22nd. On the first day, the Third Division had penetrated three miles inland.
Major General John Lucas was in charge of the landing, but he had doubts about the
operation and waited for reinforcements before finally initiating advance on January 30th.
The initial advance by the Third Division had failed to capture the town of Cisterna.
For the new offensive, the plan was for several Ranger battalions to infiltrate enemy positions
in the night with the hopes of seizing the town long enough for the main defensive to catch up.
It was the first part of the plan that went badly. Though they passed by several German positions,
the Rangers failed to reach their target by first light and were ambushed by a large force of German
infantry and at least 17 Panzer IV’s. Around 800 soldiers have been part of the attack, and
with morning, they found themselves pinned down and cut off from the rest of the Allied Forces.
Ultimately over 700 Rangers were captured. The 30th Infantry Division contributed to the advance.
Knappenberger was marching with his company as a German force attempted to push them back.
According to Knappenberger, a buddy in the unit called Mooney was hit with an anti-tank shell.
More men were killed under heavy fire as they marched doggedly towards Cisterna,
only 30 miles away from Rome itself. Approaching the town on February 1st,
Knappenberger's company was pinned down by fire. Face down on the rough snow-dusted ground,
Knappenberger abandoned his M1 rifle in favor of a Browning automatic rifle, dropped by a soldier
killed 10 feet away. In general, a squad of 12 men would have only a single BAR gunner. With little
cover, the Germans continued to advance and C Company was devastated. Already most of their
sergeants were dead and higher officers hadn't come this far forward. Eyeing a 10-foot rise,
Knappenberger got up and zigzagged across open ground, already littered with dead, and dirt
knocked up by bullets. He reached the knoll and threw himself down, looking just over it. Bullets
kicked up around the hill. In an April report by Kenneth Dixon, an American war correspondent,
a witness described it. “So Knap goes up on this little hill with his automatic rifle. One bunch
rushes the hill and he cuts loose with a gun. There Knap is, all alone, but we could see him.”
The bullets from a machine gun to his right flew around him about 85 yards away landing within six
inches of him. He rose to a kneeling position, aimed his automatic rifle and opened fire. Two of
the gunners were killed, a third wounded. When he faced them several more Germans had crawled near
his position preparing potato masher grenades. Nappy turned his gun on them and killed them both.
According to Dixon's story in the paper, “There were more soldiers nearby. They missed him but
he gives the guy with the grenade in his hand a burst with the automatic rifle that kills him.
The cocked grenade goes off and kills one more. Next he targeted a second machine gun
nest which he silenced with a short burst.” But the private's troubles weren't over. Ammunition
was scarce and he crawled about to find more ammo from soldiers to continue firing. It must have
seemed like the entire German army was shooting at him, exposed on the hill. At one point,
a 20-millimeter anti-aircraft gun was aimed at him which Dixon's witnesses said, “Had more guns than
a damned porcupine has quills.” Instead of trying to retreat, Knappenberger aimed again, wounding
one of the crew and sending the others scrambling for cover. When he ran low on ammo he crawled for
more, maintaining his position either prone or kneeling, and shooting at every German armed with
machine pistols and machine guns which he could locate. “Finally they sent a whole platoon up
to get him.” said Dixon's witness, “Knapp holds his fire until they're about 50 yards away and
then he lets them have it. He kills and wounds so many that the rest of them hightail it back.”
Artillery and tank shells landed about him some within 15 yards yet still he held his ground,
with a handful of other men from his Company providing what support they could.
Finally, out of ammo and without orders, he and about six other men of his Company
withdrew to the left, eventually running into another Company where fighting had died down.
The sun was setting by then, and the days fighting coming to an end, or
at least a lull. “Go back and find your regiment.” the other company commander told Nappy and the
others. They went back the way they came, but this time angled away from the fighting. C
Company had been nearly destroyed in the fighting though other parts of the 30th regiment survived.
Nappy had fought on that knoll for two and a half hours, holding off a significant part of the
German counterattack single-handedly. Later units that found the knoll counted over 60 dead Germans
in the area. The Allentown Pennsylvania Paper thought that his small size is what saved him,
saying he presented a scant target to the Germans. His only injury, a blister from his boot.
Dixon reported about a meeting in April where several men were decorated.
While Knappenberger wasn't officially decorated at the time, he was recognized, and the details
of his heroism recounted. The Brigadier General there, Dixon doesn't name him, reportedly shook
Knappenberger's hand and said “A one-man army, that's what you are. A blasted one-man army!”
The nickname stuck and he was reported far and wide as, A One-Man Army. Nappy had been
in combat for all of 11 days when he was pulled out of the line. A story more valuable than
further service. “I just loafed” he said, “They didn't let me go back up in the lines no more.”
He spent several days at a Naples hospital treating the blister, and from there he remained
at the Anzio beachhead doing nothing much, even helping the Red Cross girls make donuts.
On June 8th in Rome, only a few days after victorious allies captured the city he was awarded
the Medal of Honor by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, Commander of the Fifth Army. Even years
afterwards Nappy didn't know who nominated him for the award, but thought that some of the few men
who had been near the knoll with him must have provided the incontestable proof of his deeds.
By August, Nappy was headed stateside on a furlough. He was never one for attention.
According to him, “I was scared all the time I was over there. I just
did what I had to do.” Even decades afterwards his wife just shook her head, “He acts like
it's nothing. When he returned he gave his escort the slip, “I just wanted to go home.” He went to
Spring Mount Pennsylvania to see his mom and step dad. His mom was shocked and could only ask “What
are you doing home?” He was given a three-week furlough but had only twenty dollars to his name.
Money he had been saving up had been pickpocketed in Italy. He used those three weeks to buy a
ring for his sweetheart whom he married that week. Nappy never liked all the parties and
receptions. He avoided many despite invitation, and even turned down an offer from an author to
write a book about him. The rest of his service was spent stateside and even almost
missed receiving the Italian War Cross as he was napping. He even went AWOL when he got sick of
the endless bond drives where they took him out as an example. He finally left the army in 1945
when a War Department ruling granted discharge to all soldiers who had earned the Medal of Honor.
Alton Knappenberger worked several jobs laying asphalt, working in foundries, driving trucks.
He saw his share of tragedy, his second wife died of cancer as did two young daughters. He attended
reunions of men who had been awarded the Medal of Honor, and met most presidents since the Second
World War. He had heart issues due to a lifelong smoking habit, and when he died in 2008 his wife
Hazel had him buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. “He wouldn't have done it for
himself,” a family member said, “He didn't like all the fuss and stuff, but we just thought
he deserved it.” It might surprise you to know that as of July 2022 there are no longer
any surviving recipients of the Medal of Honor from the Second World War. All 473 have passed.
Each one had a story, a story that deserves to be remembered.
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