Remember The Italian Campaign Essay
Owen Jones
May 13th, 2014
Mr. Heffernan
Y2 History
The Italian Campaign
In January 19431, Allied leaders gathered at the Casablanca Conference. After long meetings, they determined that after they had gained all of North Africa, the next step would be to rid the Axis forces from the Mediterranean. The largest target was Italy. The
Allied leadership named this operation the Italian Campaign. The goal was to get Italy out of the war and to draw German troops away from the Allied advance through Nazioccupied northern Europe aimed at Berlin, Germany. The Italian Campaign, from July
10, 1943, to May 2, 1945, was a series of Allied beach landings and land battles from
Sicily and southern Italy up the Italian mainland toward Nazi Germany.2 The …show more content…
Italian
Campaign was one of the most important military efforts for Canada during the war.
Along with allied troops from Great Britain, France and the United States, more than
93,000 Canadians3 played a vital role in the success of the Italian campaign. Canadians faced difficult battles against some of the German army’s best troops as they pushed from the south to the north of Italy over a 20-month period 4. The Allied advance through Italy produced some of the most bitter, costly fighting of the war, from the streets of Ortana to the treacherous mountain terrain of northern Italy. Canadian troops fought in the dust and
1
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
2
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/history/pish ~
“Canada Remembers the Italian Campaign”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
3
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
4
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign ~ “Canada
Remembers the Italian Campaign”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
heat of summer, the snow and cold of winter, and the rain and mud of the spring and fall.
I believe that the Canadian troops played a vital role in the Italian Campaign. Throughout this research essay I will discuss the Canadian involvement in Sicily, their effect on the liberation of Ortona and the Liri Valley in Southern Italy, and their contributions toward breaking through the gothic line in Northern Italy.
Late June 1943, The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank
Brigade, under the command of Major-General G.G. Simonds, sailed from Great Britain to Sicily5. The Italian Campaign began with the Allied landings on the island of Sicily in the south of Italy. Canadian soldiers from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st
Canadian Armoured Brigade had an active and important role in this effort, codenamed
“Operation Husky.” 6 It was a difficult task. Just getting men and equipment to the region that assigned was close to impossible. Three ships carrying Canadian troops from Great
Britain to Sicily for the attack were sunk by enemy submarines in early July 1943. Fiftyeight Canadians drowned and 500 vehicles and a number of guns were lost 7. “Operation
Husky” began in the early hours of July 10, 1943. Canadian and British troops landed ashore along a 60-kilometre stretch of coastline near Pachino at the southern tip of
5
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
6
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign ~ “Italian Campaign”, History.com, A&E
Television Networks, May 13, 2014
7
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943-to-1945 ~
“Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Sicily 8. This assault was one of the largest seaborne operations in military history. Nearly
3,000 Allied ships and landing craft. The fighting in Sicily would last more than four weeks, during which Canadians would battle through hundreds of kilometres of difficult mountainous country. More than 1,300 Canadians became casualties, almost 600 of which were fatal. Five weeks later sicily had fell 9 . Taking Sicily was important. It helped secure the Mediterranean Sea for Allied shipping and contributed to the downfall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The new Italian government surrendered to the
Allies; however, the Germans were not prepared to lose Italy and seized control. Without the help of canadian troops, the taking of sicily would have been much more difficult.
The fall of Sicily cleared the way for the Allies’ next step: landing in mainland Italy.
The Allies came ashore in mainland Italy on September 3, 1943 10. After losing Sicily, however, Germany was determined to hold the Italian mainland. To slow the Allied advance, the Germans took advantage of the mountainous landscape and turned the length of the Italian peninsula into a series of defensive positions which stretched from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea 11. These defensive lines were well protected with
8
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/public/pages/publications/system-pdfs/SWW_Italian_e2.pdf ~ Page 1
9
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
10
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland ~ “Allies Invade Mainland Italy”,
History.com, A&E Television Networks, May 13, 2014
11
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/infosheet ~
“Canada Remembers the Italian Campaign Historical Sheet”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
machine gun nests, barbed wire, land mines, and artillery positions.12 Canadians joined other Allied troops in what amounted to a painstaking crawl up the Italian mainland over poor roads and through challenging weather.
One of the most difficult battles for the
Canadian troops was the The Battle of Ortona, 20-28th December 1943,13 was fought in the small town of that name, which is located on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. It was notable for the ferocity of the fighting which took place there, leading to the nickname 'Little Stalingrad '.14 Its narrow, rubble-filled streets limited the use of tanks and artillery.
This meant the Canadians had to engage in vicious street fighting and smash their way through walls and buildings—“mouseholing”, which involved blasting through a wall with explosives or even man-carried anti-tank weapons, then storming through the hole to take the enemy inside by surprise. The Canadians liberated the town on December 28 after more than a week of struggle. More than 2300 officers and Soldiers died in …show more content…
the battle.15 In the spring of 1944, the Germans still held the line of defence north of Ortona, as well as Monte Cassino which blocked the Liri corridor to the Italian capital.16
Determined to maintain their hold on Rome, the Germans constructed two formidable lines of fortifications, the Gustav Line, and 14.5 kilometres behind it, the Adolf Hitler
12
Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri Valley, (Laurier
Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995), 3
13
Ibid., 7
14
Ibid., 27
15
Don Quinlan, Doug Baldwin, Rick Mahoney and Kevin Reed, The Canadian Challenge, (Oxford
University Press, 2008), 120
16
Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri Valley, (Laurier
Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995), 57
Line.17 During April and May of 1944, the Eighth British Army, including the 1st
Canadian Corps, was secretly moved across Italy to join the Fifth U.S. Army in the struggle for Rome. The Allied armies hurled themselves against the enemy position.
Tanks of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade supported the Allied attack. After four days of hard fighting, the German defences were broken from Cassino to the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Germans moved back their second line of defence.18 On May 23, the 1st
Canadian Corps, attacked the Hitler Line.19 Under heavy enemy fire, the Canadians breached the defences and poured through. The operation developed into a pursuit as the
Germans moved back quickly to avoid being trapped in the valley by the American thrust farther west. This victory essentially resulted in the capture of Rome on June 4.20
Without the help of Canadian troops these offensives could have easily failed, and the
Italian Campaign would be severely delayed.
During the autumn and winter of 1944, Canadians had the objective of breaking through the Gothic Line.21 This line, running roughly between Pisa and Pesaro, was the last major
German defence line separating the Allies from the Po Valley and the great Lombardy
17
Ibid., 59
18
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War,
May 13th, 2014
19
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War, May
13th, 2014
20
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War, May
13th, 2014
21
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Plain in northern Italy.22 Since many factories producing supplies were located in the north, the Germans would fight hard to prevent a break in the line. The line consisted of 2
376 machine-gun posts, 479 antitank guns, mortar and assault guns positions, 120 000 metres of wire and many miles of antitank ditches.23 I. Its first phase, "the battle of
Rimini", "the biggest battle of materials ever fought in Italy"24 , was one of the most crucial (and unknown) battles of the 2nd World War, fought by 1 200 000 men and thousands of guns, tanks and aircraft.25 The Allies planed a surprise attack on the east flank, followed by an movement toward the west. To trick the Germans into believing the attack would come in the west, the 1st Canadian Division was sent Florence, baiting the german defences, then secretly moved northward to the Adriatic. It was a giant pincer manoeuvre fought by the British and Canadians on the Adriatic and by the US Army in the Apennines. Against Rimini, already ruined by 92 air raids, the Allied Artillery fired 1
470 000 rounds.26 The Gothic Lines were breached and the allies had captured Rimini gateway to North Italy and to the Balkans, and cut the German defences in the
Apennines. The Victory was short lived however, because the American Army drew back.
22
Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy (Douglas & McIntyre 2006), 6
23
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
24
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
25
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
26
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
Casualties amounted to around 80 000, including civilians, and to more than 754 armoured vehicles destroyed or damaged only in the Adriatic sector. In the whole battle, casualties were around 100 000.27 There were approximately 30.000 allied casualties and
42.000 German casualties) The battle climaxed in the last days of September 1944.
28Without
the Canadians as a distraction, and spearhead, the offensive surely would have
failed months before they reached the second line of defence.
Canadian casualties in the Italian Campaign reached more than 26,000, nearly 6,000 of which were fatal. The majority of Canadians who died fighting in Italy are buried in the many Commonwealth war cemeteries there, or are commemorated on the Cassino
Memorial, located in the Cassino War Cemetery south of Rome. The courageous
Canadians who fought in Italy were among the more than one million Canadians who served valiantly during the Second World War. Coming from all different backgrounds and jobs, these Canadians accomplished so much and made a sacrifice for the rights and freedoms of others. Because of the effort Canadian troops put into battles in Sicily,
Southern and North mainland Italy, they played a vital role in the success of the Italian campaign. For many, war is something that happens somewhere else, far away, and most of us have had no personal experiences of war. Today, however, the belief in freedom and fundamental human rights for all people is a part of our everyday life.
27
28
Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy (Douglas & McIntyre 2006), 15
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Bibliography
1. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canadaItaly-1943-to-1945~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13,
2014
This is a government funded website, so the authors, although I couldn’t find their names, they would have a wide range of government archives.
I found this source to be very useful, it had many helpful facts and focuses on the Canadian involvement in the war.
2. Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy
(Douglas & McIntyre 2006)
Mark Zuehlke does a wonderful job of explaining in great detail the Canadian troop struggle in trying to break through the gothic line. In this 550 page book he talks of the many battles along the gothic line. The author has written many books based on Canadian involvement in WW2 and is very credible.
3. http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea
Gothica”, May 13th, 2014
In this website, an organization dedicated to examining the battle of the gothic line. It is extremely credible due to the author, an italian historian, who has dedicated most of his life to studying the gothic line. It has many facts and isn 't byast.
4. http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”,
Canada at War, May 13th, 2014
Canada at War is a website created to honor the memory and history of the Canadian military contribution in all armed conflicts since the First World War. Since it 's creation
in
2005, this website has grown into one of the most visited resources devoted to Canada 's military history on the internet with over a million people visiting every year.
5. Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri
Valley, (Laurier Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995)
The Canadian battlefields in Italy are portrayed in revolutionary, new, three-dimensional satellite maps that show the terrain and towns as they have never been seen before. The
detailed narrative takes the reader through some of the toughest fighting of the Second
World War. It has alot of useful content and describes in detail the canadian involvement.
6. Don Quinlan, Doug Baldwin, Rick Mahoney and Kevin Reed, The Canadian
Challenge, (Oxford University Press, 2008)
A school textbook, The Canadian Challenge had some useful information on the battle of
Ortana. It is credible due to the fact that the information in the textbook is taught at schools. 7. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland “Allies invade Italian mainland.” 2014. The History Channel website. May 14 2014, 11:09
On this website, there were many clear summaries and important dates of the many battles of the Italian Campaign. It was very useful and had many pictures of the war.
8. http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”, WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
The website gave some valuable information of the casualties and some information on the gothic line. As well there were some links to newspapers at the time. This gave me a very good idea of what the people at home thought of the war.
May 13th, 2014
Mr. Heffernan
Y2 History
The Italian Campaign
In January 19431, Allied leaders gathered at the Casablanca Conference. After long meetings, they determined that after they had gained all of North Africa, the next step would be to rid the Axis forces from the Mediterranean. The largest target was Italy. The
Allied leadership named this operation the Italian Campaign. The goal was to get Italy out of the war and to draw German troops away from the Allied advance through Nazioccupied northern Europe aimed at Berlin, Germany. The Italian Campaign, from July
10, 1943, to May 2, 1945, was a series of Allied beach landings and land battles from
Sicily and southern Italy up the Italian mainland toward Nazi Germany.2 The …show more content…
Italian
Campaign was one of the most important military efforts for Canada during the war.
Along with allied troops from Great Britain, France and the United States, more than
93,000 Canadians3 played a vital role in the success of the Italian campaign. Canadians faced difficult battles against some of the German army’s best troops as they pushed from the south to the north of Italy over a 20-month period 4. The Allied advance through Italy produced some of the most bitter, costly fighting of the war, from the streets of Ortana to the treacherous mountain terrain of northern Italy. Canadian troops fought in the dust and
1
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
2
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/history/pish ~
“Canada Remembers the Italian Campaign”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
3
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
4
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign ~ “Canada
Remembers the Italian Campaign”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
heat of summer, the snow and cold of winter, and the rain and mud of the spring and fall.
I believe that the Canadian troops played a vital role in the Italian Campaign. Throughout this research essay I will discuss the Canadian involvement in Sicily, their effect on the liberation of Ortona and the Liri Valley in Southern Italy, and their contributions toward breaking through the gothic line in Northern Italy.
Late June 1943, The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank
Brigade, under the command of Major-General G.G. Simonds, sailed from Great Britain to Sicily5. The Italian Campaign began with the Allied landings on the island of Sicily in the south of Italy. Canadian soldiers from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st
Canadian Armoured Brigade had an active and important role in this effort, codenamed
“Operation Husky.” 6 It was a difficult task. Just getting men and equipment to the region that assigned was close to impossible. Three ships carrying Canadian troops from Great
Britain to Sicily for the attack were sunk by enemy submarines in early July 1943. Fiftyeight Canadians drowned and 500 vehicles and a number of guns were lost 7. “Operation
Husky” began in the early hours of July 10, 1943. Canadian and British troops landed ashore along a 60-kilometre stretch of coastline near Pachino at the southern tip of
5
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
6
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign ~ “Italian Campaign”, History.com, A&E
Television Networks, May 13, 2014
7
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943-to-1945 ~
“Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Sicily 8. This assault was one of the largest seaborne operations in military history. Nearly
3,000 Allied ships and landing craft. The fighting in Sicily would last more than four weeks, during which Canadians would battle through hundreds of kilometres of difficult mountainous country. More than 1,300 Canadians became casualties, almost 600 of which were fatal. Five weeks later sicily had fell 9 . Taking Sicily was important. It helped secure the Mediterranean Sea for Allied shipping and contributed to the downfall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The new Italian government surrendered to the
Allies; however, the Germans were not prepared to lose Italy and seized control. Without the help of canadian troops, the taking of sicily would have been much more difficult.
The fall of Sicily cleared the way for the Allies’ next step: landing in mainland Italy.
The Allies came ashore in mainland Italy on September 3, 1943 10. After losing Sicily, however, Germany was determined to hold the Italian mainland. To slow the Allied advance, the Germans took advantage of the mountainous landscape and turned the length of the Italian peninsula into a series of defensive positions which stretched from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea 11. These defensive lines were well protected with
8
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/public/pages/publications/system-pdfs/SWW_Italian_e2.pdf ~ Page 1
9
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”,
WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
10
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland ~ “Allies Invade Mainland Italy”,
History.com, A&E Television Networks, May 13, 2014
11
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/infosheet ~
“Canada Remembers the Italian Campaign Historical Sheet”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
machine gun nests, barbed wire, land mines, and artillery positions.12 Canadians joined other Allied troops in what amounted to a painstaking crawl up the Italian mainland over poor roads and through challenging weather.
One of the most difficult battles for the
Canadian troops was the The Battle of Ortona, 20-28th December 1943,13 was fought in the small town of that name, which is located on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. It was notable for the ferocity of the fighting which took place there, leading to the nickname 'Little Stalingrad '.14 Its narrow, rubble-filled streets limited the use of tanks and artillery.
This meant the Canadians had to engage in vicious street fighting and smash their way through walls and buildings—“mouseholing”, which involved blasting through a wall with explosives or even man-carried anti-tank weapons, then storming through the hole to take the enemy inside by surprise. The Canadians liberated the town on December 28 after more than a week of struggle. More than 2300 officers and Soldiers died in …show more content…
the battle.15 In the spring of 1944, the Germans still held the line of defence north of Ortona, as well as Monte Cassino which blocked the Liri corridor to the Italian capital.16
Determined to maintain their hold on Rome, the Germans constructed two formidable lines of fortifications, the Gustav Line, and 14.5 kilometres behind it, the Adolf Hitler
12
Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri Valley, (Laurier
Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995), 3
13
Ibid., 7
14
Ibid., 27
15
Don Quinlan, Doug Baldwin, Rick Mahoney and Kevin Reed, The Canadian Challenge, (Oxford
University Press, 2008), 120
16
Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri Valley, (Laurier
Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995), 57
Line.17 During April and May of 1944, the Eighth British Army, including the 1st
Canadian Corps, was secretly moved across Italy to join the Fifth U.S. Army in the struggle for Rome. The Allied armies hurled themselves against the enemy position.
Tanks of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade supported the Allied attack. After four days of hard fighting, the German defences were broken from Cassino to the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Germans moved back their second line of defence.18 On May 23, the 1st
Canadian Corps, attacked the Hitler Line.19 Under heavy enemy fire, the Canadians breached the defences and poured through. The operation developed into a pursuit as the
Germans moved back quickly to avoid being trapped in the valley by the American thrust farther west. This victory essentially resulted in the capture of Rome on June 4.20
Without the help of Canadian troops these offensives could have easily failed, and the
Italian Campaign would be severely delayed.
During the autumn and winter of 1944, Canadians had the objective of breaking through the Gothic Line.21 This line, running roughly between Pisa and Pesaro, was the last major
German defence line separating the Allies from the Po Valley and the great Lombardy
17
Ibid., 59
18
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War,
May 13th, 2014
19
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War, May
13th, 2014
20
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”, Canada at War, May
13th, 2014
21
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Plain in northern Italy.22 Since many factories producing supplies were located in the north, the Germans would fight hard to prevent a break in the line. The line consisted of 2
376 machine-gun posts, 479 antitank guns, mortar and assault guns positions, 120 000 metres of wire and many miles of antitank ditches.23 I. Its first phase, "the battle of
Rimini", "the biggest battle of materials ever fought in Italy"24 , was one of the most crucial (and unknown) battles of the 2nd World War, fought by 1 200 000 men and thousands of guns, tanks and aircraft.25 The Allies planed a surprise attack on the east flank, followed by an movement toward the west. To trick the Germans into believing the attack would come in the west, the 1st Canadian Division was sent Florence, baiting the german defences, then secretly moved northward to the Adriatic. It was a giant pincer manoeuvre fought by the British and Canadians on the Adriatic and by the US Army in the Apennines. Against Rimini, already ruined by 92 air raids, the Allied Artillery fired 1
470 000 rounds.26 The Gothic Lines were breached and the allies had captured Rimini gateway to North Italy and to the Balkans, and cut the German defences in the
Apennines. The Victory was short lived however, because the American Army drew back.
22
Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy (Douglas & McIntyre 2006), 6
23
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
24
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
25
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
26
http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea Gothica”, May 13th,
2014
Casualties amounted to around 80 000, including civilians, and to more than 754 armoured vehicles destroyed or damaged only in the Adriatic sector. In the whole battle, casualties were around 100 000.27 There were approximately 30.000 allied casualties and
42.000 German casualties) The battle climaxed in the last days of September 1944.
28Without
the Canadians as a distraction, and spearhead, the offensive surely would have
failed months before they reached the second line of defence.
Canadian casualties in the Italian Campaign reached more than 26,000, nearly 6,000 of which were fatal. The majority of Canadians who died fighting in Italy are buried in the many Commonwealth war cemeteries there, or are commemorated on the Cassino
Memorial, located in the Cassino War Cemetery south of Rome. The courageous
Canadians who fought in Italy were among the more than one million Canadians who served valiantly during the Second World War. Coming from all different backgrounds and jobs, these Canadians accomplished so much and made a sacrifice for the rights and freedoms of others. Because of the effort Canadian troops put into battles in Sicily,
Southern and North mainland Italy, they played a vital role in the success of the Italian campaign. For many, war is something that happens somewhere else, far away, and most of us have had no personal experiences of war. Today, however, the belief in freedom and fundamental human rights for all people is a part of our everyday life.
27
28
Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy (Douglas & McIntyre 2006), 15
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-Italy-1943to-1945#rimini~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13, 2014
Bibliography
1. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canadaItaly-1943-to-1945~ “Canada - Italy 1943-1945”, Veterans Affairs Canada, May 13,
2014
This is a government funded website, so the authors, although I couldn’t find their names, they would have a wide range of government archives.
I found this source to be very useful, it had many helpful facts and focuses on the Canadian involvement in the war.
2. Mark Zuehlke, The Gothic Line: Canada 's Month of Hell in World War II Italy
(Douglas & McIntyre 2006)
Mark Zuehlke does a wonderful job of explaining in great detail the Canadian troop struggle in trying to break through the gothic line. In this 550 page book he talks of the many battles along the gothic line. The author has written many books based on Canadian involvement in WW2 and is very credible.
3. http://www.gothicline.org/inglese/offensiva/offensiva.htm ~ “Gothic Line - Linea
Gothica”, May 13th, 2014
In this website, an organization dedicated to examining the battle of the gothic line. It is extremely credible due to the author, an italian historian, who has dedicated most of his life to studying the gothic line. It has many facts and isn 't byast.
4. http://www.canadaatwar.ca/page30.html~ “WWII: The Liri Valley - Canada at War”,
Canada at War, May 13th, 2014
Canada at War is a website created to honor the memory and history of the Canadian military contribution in all armed conflicts since the First World War. Since it 's creation
in
2005, this website has grown into one of the most visited resources devoted to Canada 's military history on the internet with over a million people visiting every year.
5. Eric McGeer and Matt Symes, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Ortona and the Liri
Valley, (Laurier Center for military strategic disarmament studies press, 1995)
The Canadian battlefields in Italy are portrayed in revolutionary, new, three-dimensional satellite maps that show the terrain and towns as they have never been seen before. The
detailed narrative takes the reader through some of the toughest fighting of the Second
World War. It has alot of useful content and describes in detail the canadian involvement.
6. Don Quinlan, Doug Baldwin, Rick Mahoney and Kevin Reed, The Canadian
Challenge, (Oxford University Press, 2008)
A school textbook, The Canadian Challenge had some useful information on the battle of
Ortana. It is credible due to the fact that the information in the textbook is taught at schools. 7. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland “Allies invade Italian mainland.” 2014. The History Channel website. May 14 2014, 11:09
On this website, there were many clear summaries and important dates of the many battles of the Italian Campaign. It was very useful and had many pictures of the war.
8. http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931italian_e.shtml ~ “THE
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN”, WarMuseum.com, May 13, 2014
The website gave some valuable information of the casualties and some information on the gothic line. As well there were some links to newspapers at the time. This gave me a very good idea of what the people at home thought of the war.