Staff Sgt. Al Weinstein, Civitavecchia, Italy

Taking a real stab in the dark here. I have very little info on my father's stint in the Army and because of the fire at the Army Records building in St. Louis 15-20 years ago, his records were destroyed so I can't get anything.

All I know is that he was a Staff Sargent in the Army, and supervised a cement factory in Civitavecchia, Italy. Does anyone know which outfit was assigned in that area or where I could find out?

I have a picture attached though there are no markings.

Thnx in advance.

 

I don't know whether you have seen it (and this is a WAG) but i'm wondering whether this may be the cement factory....




From: http://digilander.libero.it/archeoind/cementificio.htm
The google translation reads:

Civitavecchia, would have been a useful supply port as the allies moved further away from Naples and Anzio and (again i'm guessing) with the destruction of port facilities, bridges, roads and culverts during the German retreat cement would have been a valuable resource to keep the Allied advance going and supplied.

It was 5th Army which passed through Civitavecchia but that is no guarantee he was with them.

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/006/6-4-1/CMH_Pub_6-4-1.pdf
P229 gives you some good info on the importance of the port but no real clues as to who would have been stationed there. I had a flick through some records of the 1108th combat engineers but couldnt find anything.

 

Wow, no I haven't seen this- this is great! I am assuming that would be the cement factory. I mean how many cement factories would soldiers be watching?

Well, you have filled in a little bit more of the puzzle. Thank you very much. Would be great to find soldiers who were there with him, but I am afraid time has marched on and I waited too long. But these pictures and information will be a nice memory nevertheless. Thanks again.

One thing that pops out is, this factory is much bigger than I envisioned. My father was a Sargeant. Would they let a Sargeant oversee it or was my mother exaggerating a little bit?

 

I cant find any others in the immediate vicinity with Italcementi or any other company so im guessing this is a good bet. Italcementi is still an ongoing concern so its feasible they may have some information.

Youtube of the plant in recent days.

This is a report my Italcementi (the owner operator) which includes information from ww2:
http://www2.dse.unibo.it/negri/ricerca/ITALCEMENTI%20prima%20parte.pdf

Looks like it had a 1939 capacity of 300k tons which made it italcementi's 2nd largest producer. By 1941 it is listing production at 140k tons and interestingly, perhaps significantly it notes that in 1944 it is not under company control (from my poor italian and google translate - that may need polishing). by 1951 it is back up to production of 250k tons.

Again be wary of the poor translation!

More pictures and a little extra info (still in italian im afraid).

Good question and one i'm not really qualified to answer. It really depends on:

A) Is this the right place?
B)what was his role, unit and speciality? Its a shame there are so few clues in your photo. Was he responsible for guarding it? Repairing it? Clearing it of UXO? In charge of production? Its hard to say....

 

I am so appreciative of all this- THANK YOU!!!
Your research skills are excellent, and even your Italian (and google's) is very good!

I am quite sure that this is the place. It's a shame I didn't know this last year as I was in Rome and would have loved to gone and see it. Maybe even talk to someone to get more of its history.

I have no idea as to role his unit played, as it has been impossible to track it down due to the fire where his records were being stored, as I mentioned. And unfortunately I wasn't old enough when he was alive that I would start asking specific questions about the war. The only story I remember is one of he and his friend running around a corner during an air attack and, when he looked back, his friend had taken a direct hit and was dead.

As I mentioned, my mother told me that he was 'in charge' of a cement factory. But as I see it now I don't think they would have put a Sargeant in charge of such a large facility. She probably meant his unit was put in charge of it-overseeing operations, protecting, who knows? My father was a businessman prior and after the war so he wouldn't have been involved in any of the engineering oversight.

 

I would assume important facilities like this would have a small group to provide security from possible saboteurs. A Sergeant might well be in charge of such a group.

 

Its probably dangerous on my part to assume the Army followed any sort of logical path with regard to the distribution of personnel according to skillset.... however it does make me wonder whether he was involved with the AMG economic section for the provincial team (military government/civil affairs). Once again this is just wild speculation.

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/civaff/

P247

Chapter XVI onwards through XX deals with the fall of Rome and beyond. There may be something to be gleaned if you feel like some heavy reading. It mentions in numerous places the lack of skilled administrative personnel and in particular officers. An NCO with relevant skills could well have been made use of.

http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/en/library-and-archives/the-allies-1943-1945/monthly-reports-2/ Here are the monthly reports for the AMG Lazio region (which i believe Cativ falls under).

After a VERY brief flick through this document from the AMG it supports that they would have been responsible for cement. http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/en/library-and-archives/the-allies-1943-1945/monthly-reports-2/january-1945/

Also here: http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/en/library-and-archives/the-allies-1943-1945/monthly-reports-2/july-1944/

As does this one: http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/en/library-and-archives/the-allies-1943-1945/monthly-reports-2/first-relation-september-1944/

This is a Canadian document but appendix A and B may help you make sense of the organisation of the AMG in case you think it is a line worth pursuing: http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/rep-rap/doc/ahqr-rqga/ahq045.pdf
In the same vein: http://www.milhist.net/docs/milencyc/MilEncyc.14AMG.pdf

Sorry for the atrocious format and flow of consciousness style. Not even sure if this is the right avenue to be pursuing. Do we at least know what records were destroyed in the St Louis fire? May help put this in context if it was only specific branches that had them lost.

Regarding the photo would you say that it is desert/sand? I have to say my impression is that it was in America (mainly the watertower and obvious space available). I have seen a photo on this forum where the location has been identified down to the nearest yard on the basis of part of a cliff and a painted rock so i still hold out hope.