1 Supported by Sherman tanks of the 751st Tank Battalion, the mountaineers ………..

pushed the
Germans out of their bunkers and off the…………. , only to be on the receiving end of tremendous
artillery and mortar barrages and numerous ………….. counter attacks that took place for four days.
Despite the bitter fighting and the heavy casualties, the hill mass was finally secured by February 24. The
10th had had its long-sought baptism of fire. Most importantly, the mountaineers had ……………..
themselves and had accomplished their mission; the German grip on the northern Apennines was
finally……… .

           Suffering, proven, depths, shattered, heights, gradually, messy, disorganized

2 The men of the 10th celebrated the ……… of the war in the one way that seemed ………….. appropriate
for them: They organized a ski race. On the crusty summer snows of Mount Mangart, where the borders
of Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia come together, the 10th’s best skiers ………… each other. First Sergeant
Walter Prager, the Dartmouth ski team coach, won. It ………… a fitting way not only to end a war, but to
begin a new world.

             Seemed, challenged, end, commonly, confronted, uniquely

3 Major streets were barricaded, houses were ………… with gun loopholes, and artillery platforms were
erected. The Gross Garten, or Great Garden, a landscaped park that lay to the southeast, ………… by a
wall, guarded Dresden’s approaches in that direction and was considered a………….. .

Napoleon directed that the seven gates to the suburbs be ……….. and the Pirna Gate be strengthened by
excavating a ditch in front of it that could be ………… with water. Saint-Cyr was counting primarily on the
13 redoubts that ringed the city like a necklace.

Occupied, obstructed, filled, weakness, fitted, strongpoint, blocked, surrounded

Answer TEST 1

Ans- gradually, heights, disorganized, proven, shattered

Ans- end, uniquely, challenged, seemed
Ans- fitted, surrounded, strongpoint, blocked, filled
1 As bridges ………. the River would be subject to strong defence, and to avoid the likelihood of
detection, the site chosen for the …………. was between the bridges. Two strong swimmers from among
the New Zealand Troops went back to the River in the evening. They took across the first constructions
of ………….. boats – thick canvas pull-up sides with struts to hold in place (like canvas buckets). More
troops soon followed pulling themselves across on the boats to …….…… on the north bank. The pontoon
boats were ………….. together, with big duckboards on top, to form a floating platform for the crossing
and amphibious tanks made their own way

                   moored, raft, crossing, junction, terminated, pontoon, watch, over, guard

2  The soldiers studied the rock face for a very long time, speaking ………… as they scanned the shale with
………… and jotting notes onto a map of the area. The map named this series of connected peaks Monte
Della Riva. The troops simply called it Riva Ridge. They could see places on the ridge that looked fairly
easy to…………. , and other parts of the trail that offered more of a challenge—places where snow and
ice ……………… to shadowy crevasses, places where small waterfalls cascaded over rock, places where the
shale looked loose and easily broken. What they could not see but knew was there was an alert German
battalion on the summit, just waiting for the Allies to make another …………… attempt on the neighboring
mountain, Monte Belvedere.

      Rash, navigate, foolhardy, noiselessly, binoculars, pilot, clung, quietly

3  Nowhere was the fighting more ………….. than on the far eastern spur of the ridge known as Pizzo di
Campiano. Here, Lieutenant James Loose and a dozen of his men from Company A of the 86th became
…………… from the rest of their platoon and ………… two enemy companies—a much larger force than
intelligence had estimated was there. At 0500 hours, the battle for the ………… began. The Yanks were hit
by a flurry of grenades, then attacked several times, each time fighting off the attacks with their …………..
supply of ammunition.

      Bourgeoning, separated, dwindling, whole, spur, met, intense, encountered

Answer TEST 2

Ans- over, crossing, pontoon, guard, moored

Ans- quietly, binoculars, navigate, clung, foolhardy
Ans- intense, separated, encountered, spur, dwindling