Info on Italian campaign

[Walt's Daughter]

This was what was going on in Italy during Oct 1944. I will try and find more specifics for the city indicated...

 

 

Americans advanced out of the Apennines and entered the Po Valley before winter, Axis forces in Italy would be doomed.

 

The third and final phase of the II Corps' assault began on 10 October against the ten-mile-long Livergnano Escarpment, a steep eastwest line of solitary mountain peaks constituting the enemy's strongest

 

natural position in the northern Apennines. The 85th Division led the primary attack against Monte delle Formiche in the center of the escarpment, while the 91st and 88th Divisions maintained pressure on the enemy's flanks. For the first time in a week the weather cleared sufficiently to allow the Fifth Army to effectively use fighter-bombers and medium and heavy bombers of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical and Strategic Air Forces (MATAF and MASAF) against the defending 4th Parachute, 94th, 362d, and 65th Infantry Divisions in a series of air strikes named Operation PANCAKE. In the subsequent heavy ground actions the 85th Division succeeded in taking Monte delle Formiche on 10 October, while the 91st Division outflanked the Livergnano Escarpment from the west, forcing the Axis units in the area to withdraw on 13 October. Here, as elsewhere, however, sustained Axis resistance, American troop exhaustion, rugged terrain, and poor weather halted the II Corps' advance ten miles south of Bologna.

 

Field Marshal Alexander now decided to make another attempt at capturing Ravenna and Bologna using the Fifth and Eighth Armies in concert. Under his plan, Clark's Fifth Army would break out of the Apennines and encircle the Tenth Army from the northwest, while Leese's Eighth Army continued the "battle of the rivers" to the east along the Adriatic. Success appeared problematic, considering the high casualties suffered during prior operations that were similar and the difficulties encountered with supply lines that stretched over rugged terrain, which was adversely affected by wintry weather.

 

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Meanwhile, across the lines, Kesselring's staff pressed their commander to fall back to the more easily defended Alps. Hitler, however, facing Red Army gains on the Eastern Front and mounting pressures in northwest Europe, was loath to cede any territory voluntarily and ordered Kesselring to hold his current line. The field marshal, fearing to oppose Hitler, complied and placed two units from his reserve, the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier and 94th Infantry Divisions, in front of II Corps, giving the defenders six understrength divisions against four larger, but tired, American ones.

 

The U.S. 34th Division launched the American phase of Alexander's plan by continuing attempts to break through to Bologna on 16 October 1944. The attack was quickly stopped by a combination of rugged terrain and stiff enemy opposition. Then, while the British 13 Corps tied down the 334th, 715th, and 305th Infantry Divisions, U.S. 91st Division units moved forward on II Corps' left flank, supported by the U.S. 1st Armored Division. But again the intensity of the enemy's resistance halted both units. Elsewhere, however, the 85th Division moved ahead, giving the Americans brief cause for optimism, but the II Corps had no reserves to exploit its gains or to reinforce the other stalled units. All hope of effecting a quick breakthrough finally ended when Kesselring began shifting the 29th and 90th Panzer Grenadier Divisions to the threatened front.

 

Undaunted, General Clark ordered another attempt to break the Axis line on 19 October. The German defenses just south of Bologna were anchored, east to west, on Monte Adone, Monte Belmonte, and Monte Grande. The plan called for the II Corps' 85th and 88th Divisions to launch an attack toward Monte Grande with the IV Corps and British 13 Corps providing pressure on the flanks. Simultaneously, the U.S. 91st and 34th Divisions would renew their advance in secondary assaults on Monte Belmonte and Savenna Creek. The attack opened on the night of 19 October in a driving rain after an intense artillery bombardment. The 88th Division captured Monte Grande, but the 34th Division failed to seize Monte Belmonte. Clark, sensing an enemy buildup on II Corps' left flank, decided to attack on the right flank where he believed the German resistance would be weaker. On the night of 22 October, both the 85th and 88th Divisions attacked from Monte Grande, but they were stopped by heavily reinforced German units. On 26 October torrential rains washed out bridges, cutting Fifth Army's already strained and overburdened supply lines. The severed supply lines and high casualty rate prompted General Keyes, the II Corps commander, to order his units to fall back to more easily sustainable positions between Monte Grande and the Monterumici hill mass in the west.