Major Stephen J. Spingarn and the 305th CIC Detachment in the Italian Campaign
- Spingarn and the 305th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment prepared to enter Naples, shifting from frontline survival to sustained static counterintelligence operations.
- 1, 1943, dispersing personnel across several vessels to survive the 850-mile journey.
- As the Fifth Army pushed outward from the beachhead, the detachment transitioned from survival to active counterintelligence work, interrogating wounded and captured soldiers alongside Italian civilians.
On Sept. 30, 1943, Maj. Stephen J. Spingarn and the 305th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment prepared to enter Naples, shifting from frontline survival to sustained static counterintelligence operations. Throughout September, Spingarn’s 35-year-old leadership shaped how the Fifth Army’s intelligence agents adapted to fluid conditions along the Italian coast, moving from a reactive unit to a strong security presence.
Salerno Beachhead and Early Operations
The detachment deployed from Oran, Algeria, on Sept. 1, 1943, dispersing personnel across several vessels to survive the 850-mile journey. Their arrival at the Salerno beachhead on Sept. 11 placed them immediately under heavy enemy fire, forcing agents to establish makeshift operations from foxholes ahead of the American infantry. Spingarn later recalled an incident where two German tanks advanced within 100 yards, opening fire with machine guns and 88-mm cannon. Only a slight ground rise, perhaps a foot high, kept the machine-gun rounds inches above the agents as they flattened themselves against the earth.
Expanding Intelligence and Resistance Networks
As the Fifth Army pushed outward from the beachhead, the detachment transitioned from survival to active counterintelligence work, interrogating wounded and captured soldiers alongside Italian civilians. Agent Merle V. Ploghoft mapped out Axis-aiding collaborators, followed hostile troop movements originating from Benevento, and discovered German strategies for a major defensive stand at Bologna. By mid-to-late September, Spingarn surveyed offshore islands and assigned Agent Donald M. Funk to establish a CIC presence on Capri. Spingarn also met with prominent anti-Fascist figures, including Senator Benedetto Croce and Col. Tito Zaniboni, the World War I hero who attempted to assassinate Mussolini in 1925, to cultivate cooperation and lay foundations for resistance networks.
Preparation for the Occupation of Naples
Toward the end of September, Fifth Army G-2 Col. Edwin H. Howard directed Spingarn to prepare for an immediate entry into Naples upon its fall. Spingarn worked in tandem with the British Field Security Police and the 82d Airborne Division to form a detachment convoy consisting of eight jeeps, nineteen Field Security Policemen, sixteen CIC agents, fourteen motorcycles, and four trucks. With Naples opening to Allied occupation on Oct. 1, 1943, the detachment prepared for its first opportunity for sustained static counterintelligence coverage, building informant networks and providing comprehensive security oversight that produced definite results.
