began to run out of ammunition. With only three mortar rounds left, Reese ordered his crew to the rear while he advanced to a new position and knocked out a German machine gun with the last rounds. He then shouldered a rifle and continued to engage the enemy until he was killed by a barrage of hostile fire. Through the efforts of men like Reese, the 26th Infantry held its position. The United States recognized Reese's heroism posthumously by awarding him the Medal of Honor. The Germans evacuated Troina later that night. 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. As the 9th Infantry Division took up the pursuit, the 1st Division retired for rest. While the 1st Infantry Division battled for possession of Troina, Major General Lucian Truscott's 3rd Division encountered opposition at San Fratello, the northern end of the Etna Line. Here the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division along with the Italian 26th Assietta Infantry Division, that had been allocated the most exposed section of the line, had entrenched itself on a ridge overlooking the coastal highway. Truscott made repeated attempts to crack the San Fratello position beginning on 3 August, but failed to gain much ground. The strength of the German position prompted him to try to outflank it by an amphibious end run. On the night of 7–8 August, while the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, seized a key hill along the San Fratello Line, Lieutenant Colonel Lyle Bernard led the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by two batteries from the 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, a platoon of medium tanks, and a platoon of combat engineers, in an amphibious landing at Sant'Agata, a few miles behind San Fratello. The amphibious assault force achieved complete surprise and quickly blocked the coastal highway. Unfortunately, the Germans had selected that night to withdraw from San Fratello, without advising the Italian defenders,. and most of their troops had already retired past Bernard's position by the time the Americans arrived. Nevertheless, the 3rd Infantry Division's combined land and sea offensive took over 1,000 prisoners. Aftermath Allied pressure had broken the Etna Line, but there would be no lightning exploitation of the victory. Taking maximum advantage of