On the morning of 30 December, the Royal 22é Regiment (Vandoos) secured their objective within the forks of the Riccio after two costly attempts on the previous day had failed. The Vandoo’s Commanding Officer judged that to advance farther would create too dangerous a salient, and ordered the attack stopped. The Carleton and York Regiment on the coast road had less success. When mines and mud halted a troop of B Squadron, 11th Armoured Regiment (The Ontario Regiment) supporting a company which Lieutenant-Colonel Pangman sent forward to clear the headland, the infantry dug in to guard the stranded tanks and await reinforcement. The year ended darkly for
the New Brunswick unit. A second company attack early on 31 December and was thrown back in confusion. The few tanks that managed to reach the battalion bogged down and had to be protected. Orders came from Brigade Headquarters to postpone further attempts to take Torre Mucchia by direct assault, and instead to reduce the German resistance with mortar and observed artillery fire. Late on New Year's Eve the enemy launched a furious counterattack under cover of lashing rain and a raging gale which swept in across the bleak coast. The relentless paratroopers burst in among the two forward companies, forcing them back and inflicting more than 50 casualties.
Attacker: German (III.Bataillon, Fallschirmjägerregiment 1)
Defender: Canadian (Careton and York Regiment with B Squadron, 11th Armoured Regiment (The Ontario Regiment))
