After the South African troops had captured the steep Monte Vigese, they found themselves facing Monte Stanco, at an altitude of 716 metres. At dawn on 8 October 1944, the 4th Indian Battalion of the 13th Frontier Force Rifles (British Indian Army) reached the hamlet of Stanco di Sopra (where today the monument stands).From there, they immediately launched an attack on the summit, which was held by German troops of the 36th Grenadier Regiment of the 16th SS Panzer Division, but were repelled. On the night of 10 October, the South African Royal Natal Carbineers regiment captured the secondary summit of the mountain, but was then repelled by a fierce counterattack by the 274th Regiment of the German 94th Division, which was replacing the SS.13 October was the decisive day: this time it was the turn of the South Africans of the De La Rey and First City/Cape Town Highlanders regiments. The battle lasted all day and, after capturing the summit, the South Africa troops had to repel no fewer than two German counterattacks, but Mount Stanco was definitively captured. In 1950, an altar was built on the summit, where a mass is celebrated every year in memory of the fallen South Africans. In 2018, in the hamlet of Stanco di Sopra, a monument to those same fallen South Africans, was also unveiled.

Italy

A memorial platform in the left foreground holds a white carved statue-like figure with a large white draped cloth and green-white-red and blue-red flags on poles. In the right foreground, a woman in a blue coat stands at a microphone on a stand while several men in matching plaid shirts and caps stand in a line outdoors on a grassy hill. Mountains and a cloudy sky are in the background.

Unveiling of the monument to the fallen South Africans Monte Stanco

Outdoor ceremony on a gravel path with rows of uniformed men and flags in the background. In the center is a white-and-blue draped arch over stacked black metal rings, with potted plants and blue carpet on the ground; three men in suits stand in the foreground facing it.

Monument ter nagedachtenis aan Zuid-Afrikaanse soldaten

Stanco di Sopra, Grizzana

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