$Unique_ID{USH00936}
$Pretitle{85}
$Title{The War Against Germany and Italy
Section V     Italy (5 June 1944-2 May 1945)}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Greenfield, Kent Roberts, General Editor}
$Affiliation{US Army}
$Subject{line
arno
army
enemy
river
gothic
troops

}
$Volume{CMH Pub 12-2}
$Date{1988}
$Log{Volkswagen Jeep*0093601.scf
Troops in Pisa*0093602.scf
Crossing the Arno*0093603.scf
Highway 12*0093604.scf
Roman Forum*0093605.scf
Howitzer Firing*0093606.scf
}
Book:        The War Against Germany and Italy
Author:      Greenfield, Kent Roberts, General Editor
Affiliation: US Army
Volume:      CMH Pub 12-2
Date:        1988

Section V     Italy (5 June 1944-2 May 1945)

     The Allies did not halt after taking Rome, but their northward progress
was soon slowed by skillful delaying tactics of the retreating enemy and by
the fact that all the French and some of the American divisions were being
withdrawn from the U. S. Fifth Army for the operation in southern France.  The
Germans speeded construction of the Gothic Line in the north Apennines, and
early in August 1944 the Allies paused for reorganization on a line running
approximately from ten miles north of Ancona on the east through Pisa to the
west coast.  The Fifth Army held the territory south of the Arno River from
the sea to a few miles east of Florence; the British Eighth Army was north of
Ancona on the Adriatic.

     During August preparations were made by the Allied armies in northern
Italy to penetrate the heavily fortified Gothic Line.  This defensive system
of the enemy extended in general from southeast of La Spezia through the
mountains to Rimini.  After regrouping and building up supplies, the Allied
armies started their offensive on 26 August.  They succeeded in breaching the
Gothic Line in the center and along the coast, but fierce enemy resistance,
bad weather, and a shortage of ammunition and replacements halted the off
ensive south of the Po River plain by the late fall of 1944.  The winter of
1944-45 was spent in the mountains overlooking the Po Valley.

     The spring drive by the Allied armies started on 9 April 1945.  Bologna
fell on 20 April, and armor and infantry overran the plain and divided the
German forces.  On 2 May 1945 the enemy in Italy surrendered unconditionally.

[See Volkswagen Jeep: German amphibian jeep, a version of the light Army car,
Volkswagen. Both versions were inferior in every respect to the U.S. jeep
except in the comfort of the seating accommodations.]

[See Troops in Pisa: Troops in Pisa. The southern outskirts of this town on
the Arno River were entered on 23 July 1944. The enemy had destroyed all
bridges across the river and when the infantry entered the town they were met
by heavy fire from across the river. The southern half of the city was found
heavily mined and booby-trapped. During the approach to the Arno River plans
were being completed for introduction of antiaircraft units into the lines as
infantry since enemy air activity had decreased to the extent that many AA
units could be more profitably used as infantry.]

[See Crossing the Arno: NEGRO TROOPS CROSSING THE ARNO near Pontedera on 1
September, during the drive toward the Gothic Line. The attack on this line
was started by the Eighth Army along the east coast on the night of 25-26
August. On 1 September the line had been breached in that sector but by the
6th the advance had been stopped a few miles below Rimini on the Adriatic
coast. This advance by the British caused the German High Command to shift
three divisions opposing the Americans to the British sector. The forces
directly opposite the Arno drew back into the Gothic Line, a distance of about
twenty miles.]

[See Highway 12: Negro troops advancing on Highway 12 along the Torrente Lima.
Jeeps with trailers were used and in danger areas the windshields were folded
forward and covered with canvas to prevent light reflection. The sort of road
demolition shown was common during the fighting in the northern Apennines.
Valley roads were subject to natural landslides, and large-scale destruction
was easy to accomplish.]

[See Roman Forum: Soldiers at the Roman Forum during a rest and recreation
period away from the front. The rest-center idea, which had proved highly
successful during the winter fighting of 1943-44, was carried out on a much
larger scale in Rome and in the cities of the Arno Valley in the fall and
winter of 1944-45. Hundreds of thousands of troops were rotated through the
rest and leave centers set up under military supervision to provide a place of
relaxation where men could forget the rigors and dangers of the front line,
sleep in beds, take baths, visit places of historic interest, and generally
indulge in the pleasures and entertainment of civilization, if only for a
brief period.]

[See Howitzer Firing: Negro soldiers firing Howitzers in support of the Nisei
who were making an attack northward along the mountain ridges toward the towns
of Massa and Carrara. The attack started on 5 April 1945. The Nisei were
American soldiers of Japanese ancestry. (75-mm. howitzers.)]