November 43: after crossing the Volturno River, US troops of the 133rd and the famous Nisei guys encountered a fresh German line of greenhorns. The Germans were defending the east-west road that ran via Hill 550 straight through Santa Maria Oliverto. The 133rd were ordered to take this small hamlet while the Nisei were tasked to take Hill 550 and to surge forwards into the hinterland and the hills beyond.

Actions started way early in the morning to surprise the defenders. However the Germans were not sleeping and had positioned FAOs at key positions. As soon as the Americans advanced, they were pelted with off board artillery and some well guided mortar fire. This slowed the advance and soon the Americans had to leave units behind so they could recover.

The Nisei troops were the only ones to shrug off the incoming fire as they searched their way through the western light woods. But halfway through they blundered into a German minefield and in the chaos of all this mayhem, they lost their sense of direction and headed for the wrong hills! It took a full hour until their American commander realized the incredible mistake. This logistic blunder cost them a lot of time and some serious curses and profanities were uttered while they were rushing back to their original target.

At the other side of Hill 550, the 133rd started assaulting Santa Maria Oliverto. Immediately they had a foot in the door and started pouring into the small town. The German commander had to defend several places at once and clearly this town was the "Achilles Heel" of his operation plan. The Germans were quickly overwhelmed and the town fell without US casualties. The Germans were putting up a much stiffer opposition at Hill 550, so the belated Nisei troops left this job for the 133rd and decided to bypass this objective to try to get through the German lines. The few German units defending the mountainpass were no match for the elite Nisei and the Germans faced utter annihilation. At that moment the Nisei victory mood gets spoiled when they step in another 2 well concealed minefields and they fail yards away from their objective.

In the end, the Americans accomplished a minor victory, which somehow felt sour after coming so close to total victory. The Germans had the impression that this scenario was unwinnable, but ended on a high note, considering that the end result could have been so much worse.