The battle focused around the numerous hills and mountains surrounding Troina which the German and Italian forces had heavily fortified and used as bases for direct and indirect fire.

The US 7th Army commander, Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr, had ordered the US 1st and 9th Infantry Divisions to be moved into the valley to attack the city of Troina.

Early on the first day of fighting, Sergeant Gerry H. Kisters of the 91st Cavalry was awarded the Medal of Honor for silencing two machine gun positions.

Axis pressure practically cut off the men on Monte Basilio from the rest of the 1st Division, and attempts to resupply them from the air were only partially successful.

By 5 August food and ammunition were low and casualties had greatly depleted the regiment, with one company mustering only seventeen men effective for duty.

Hard pressed by American forces throughout the Troina sector and unable to dislodge the 26th Regiment from its position threatening his line of retreat, General Hube withdrew the badly damaged 15th Panzer Grenadier Division toward Randazzo.

Unfortunately, the Germans had selected that night to withdraw from San Fratello, without advising the Italian defenders,[5] and most of their troops had already retired past Bernard's position by the time the Americans arrived.

Taking maximum advantage of the constricting terrain and armed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of mines, General Hube withdrew his XIV Panzer Corps in orderly phases toward Messina.

Patton made a second bid to trap the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division on 11 August, when he sent Colonel Bernard on another amphibious end run, this time at Brolo.

Bernard's group proved too small to keep the Germans bottled up, and by the time Truscott linked up with the landing force, the bulk of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division had escaped.