"which was only worsened by the chaotic rubble of the town and the many booby traps used by both sides. The battle took place in the small Adriatic Sea town of Ortona, with a peacetime population of 10,000. The British Eighth Army's offensive on the Winter Line defences east of the Apennine mountains had commenced on 23 November with the crossing of the river Sangro. By the end of the month, the main Gustav Line defences had been penetrated and the Allied troops were fighting their way forward to the next river, the Moro, north of the mouth of which"
"into the Pontine Marshes, which the Germans had flooded. Highway 6 ran through the Liri valley, dominated at its south entrance by the rugged mass of Monte Cassino above the town of Cassino. Excellent observation from the peaks of several hills allowed the German defenders to detect Allied movement and direct highly accurate artillery fire, preventing any northward advance. Running across the Allied line was the fast flowing Rapido River, which rose in the central Apennine Mountains, flowed through Cassino (joining to the Gari River, which was erroneously identified as the Rapido) and across the entrance to the Liri valley."
"Volturno Line The Volturno Line (also known as the Viktor Line; , ) was a German defensive position in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The line ran from Termoli in the east, along the Biferno River through the Apennine Mountains to the Volturno River in the west. Following the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943 the German forces set up a series of defensive lines across Italy, intended to delay the Allied advance. The Volturno Line was the southernmost of these. On the Adriatic coast, elements of the British 78th Infantry Division's 11th Brigade infantry"
"There the Liri river joined the Gari to form the Garigliano River, which continued on to the sea. With its heavily fortified mountain defences, difficult river crossings, and valley head flooded by the Germans, Cassino formed a linchpin of the Gustav Line, the most formidable line of the defensive positions making up the Winter Line. In spite of its potential excellence as an observation post, because of the fourteen-century-old Benedictine abbey's historical significance, the German C-in-C in Italy, ""Generalfeldmarschall"" Albert Kesselring, ordered German units not to include it in their defensive positions and informed the Vatican and the Allies accordingly"
"main Gustav Line, running over the massif of Monte Cassino, enclosing the peaks of Monte Cassino (Monastery Hill), Monte la Difensa, Monte la Remetanea and Monte Maggiore, in the territory of Rocca d'Evandro, and Monte Sambucaro (or Sammucro), which stands at the border of the three regions (Lazio, Molise and Campania). However, the defences of the Gustav Line on the Adriatic are sometimes referred to as the Bernhardt Line and the battles for this part of the line are included in this entry. The Bernhardt line was not as strong as the Gustav Line and was intended only to delay"
"the western side of the Apennines were two subsidiary lines, the Bernhardt Line in front of the main Gustav positions, and the Hitler Line some 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the rear. The Winter Line was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed-wire and minefields. It was the strongest of the German defensive lines south of Rome. About 15 German divisions were employed in the defence. It took the Allies from mid-November 1943 to June 1944 to fight through all the various elements of the Winter Line, including the well-known battles at Monte Cassino and Anzio. The"
"Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino) was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The intention was a breakthrough to Rome. At the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these features formed the Gustav Line. Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop"
"Volturno on the night of 12 October. The Germans using rearguard tactics skillfully using the terrain which was favourable for defence, retreated to the next line north (the Barbara Line) which the Allies reached by 2 November. Volturno Line The Volturno Line (also known as the Viktor Line; , ) was a German defensive position in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The line ran from Termoli in the east, along the Biferno River through the Apennine Mountains to the Volturno River in the west. Following the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943 the German forces"
"ground to the north of the Moro river. The Moro River runs from the central mountain spine of Italy to the Adriatic coast south of Ortona. The German defences on the Moro were a centerpiece of the Winter Line, which guarded the eastern side of the Apennines along Route 5. Montgomery hoped to punch through the Winter Line, capture Ortona and Pescara and advance to Rome. The British 78th Infantry Division, which had been spearheading V Corps since the Volturno Line actions and had sustained over 7,000 casualties in less than six months, was relieved by the fresh 1st Canadian"
"on the high ground north of the Sangro River. The Allies were able to move forward without opposition and the Allied advance reached the Sangro on 9 November. Barbara Line During the Italian Campaign of World War II, the Barbara Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, some south of the Gustav Line, from Colli al Volturno to the Adriatic Coast in San Salvo and a similar distance north of the Volturno Line. Near the eastern coast, it ran along the line of the Trigno river. The line mostly consisted of fortified hilltop positions. ""Generalfeldmarschall"" (Field marshall)"
"Gothic Line The Gothic Line (; ) was a German defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains during the fighting retreat of the German forces in Italy against the Allied Armies in Italy, commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander. Adolf Hitler had concerns about the state of preparation of the Gothic Line: he feared the Allies would use amphibious landings to outflank its defences. To downgrade its importance in the eyes of both friend and"
"Allied forces that fought and died to capture the city. Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino) was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The intention was a breakthrough to Rome. At the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido-Gari, Liri and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these"
"Quadrilatero The Quadrilatero (, for greater specificity often called the ""Quadrilateral fortresses"") is the traditional name of a defensive system of the Austrian Empire in the Lombardy-Venetia region of Italy, which connected the fortresses of Peschiera, Mantua, Legnago and Verona between the Mincio, the Po and Adige Rivers. The name refers to the fact that on a map the fortresses appear to form the vertices of a quadrilateral. In the period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolutions of 1848, they were the only fully modernized and armed fortresses within the Empire. Starting from c. 1850, supplies"
"Volturno defensive line. By early November the Barbara Line on the Tyrrhenian Sea side of the Apennine Mountains had been breached by the U.S. Fifth Army, and the German Forces fell back to the Bernhardt Line. The Allied Armies in Italy under General Sir Harold Alexander were fighting their way northward in Italy against determined German opposition skillfully directed by Albert Kesselring whose forces had prepared a succession of defensive lines. On the Adriatic front east of the Apennine Mountain spine was the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery. In October Eighth Army had crossed the Bifurno river and"
"Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino) was a costly series of four battles. In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Gustav Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido, Liri and Garigliano valleys and certain surrounding peaks and ridges. The venerable abbey of Monte Cassino, founded in AD 524 by St. Benedict was not occupied, although the Germans manned defensive positions set into the steep slopes below the abbey walls. On 15 February the monastery, high on a peak overlooking the town of Cassino, was destroyed by American"
"Naples and took up a defensive position on the south bank of the Volturno, near S. Maria di Capua Vetere. The Piedmontese troops and those of Garibaldi inflicted on the Neapolitan forces at the battle of the Volturno, on 1 and 2 October, a defeat which led to the fall of Capua. The Volturno also gave its name to the Volturno Line, a German defensive position in Italy during World War II. Volturno The Volturno (ancient Latin name Volturnus, from ""volvere"", to roll) is a river in south-central Italy. It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel"
"Axis casualties. The Gustav Line stretched across the Italian peninsula and barred the way to Rome for the two Allied armies in Italy: the U.S. 5th Army in the west and the British 8th Army in the east. The Allies' grand strategy in the autumn of 1943 was for the 8th Army to advance through the Sangro River defences, then hook south at Arezzano and enter Rome from the rear while the 5th Army approached from the south. The center of the Gustav line crossed the main route north to Rome at strategically crucial Highway 6. It followed the Liri"
"breakout from Anzio, the road to Rome was finally opened. The Germans retreated to their next line of defence, the Trasimene Line where the 14th Army re-aligned with the German 10th Army before withdrawing to the formidable defences of the Gothic Line. Caesar C line The Caesar Line was the last German line of defence in Italy before Rome during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. It extended from the west coast near Ostia, over the Alban Hills south of Rome, from Valmontone to Avezzano and then to Pescara on the Adriatic coast. Behind the western half of"
"Alpine Wall The Alpine Wall (""Vallo Alpino"") was an Italian system of fortifications along the 1851 km of Italy's northern frontier. Built in the years leading up to World War II at the direction of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the defensive line faced France, Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia. It was defended by the ""Guardia alla Frontiera"" (GaF), Italian special troops. The Alpine line was similar in concept to other fortifications of the same era, including the Maginot Line of France, the Siegfried Line of Germany, and the National Redoubt of Switzerland. Italy's land frontiers were in most places mountainous and"
"the pass through which Route 6, the main road up the center of Italy from Naples to Rome, ran toward Cassino and the entrance to the Liri valley. The Germans occupied San Pietro in September 1943 to prepare the defenses. They evacuated all non-essential Italians from the town, meaning women, children and old men; they conscripted able-bodied men to help set up the defenses and requisitioned available vehicles and beasts of burden. They set up a defensive apparatus in the whole territory, in particular on Mount Sambúcaro and Mount Lungo, which overlooked the Mignano Gap. These were strategically important positions"
"in the east. The two subsidiary lines, the Bernhardt Line and the Hitler Line ran much shorter distances from the Tyrrehnian sea to just North East of Cassino where they would merge into the Gustav Line. Relative to the Gustav Line, the Hitler Line stood to the North-West and the Bernhardt Line to the South-East of the primary defenses. The Gustav Line, though ultimately broken, effectively slowed the Allied advance for months between December 1943 and June 1944. Major battles in the assault on the Winter Line at Monte Cassino and Anzio alone resulted in 98,000 Allied casualties and 60,000"
"Valley and was anchored around the mountains behind the town of Cassino. Above it stood the ancient Benedictine sanctuary of Monte Cassino, which dominated the valley entrance, and Monte Cassino, which gave the defenders clear observation of potential attackers advancing towards the valley mouth. The U.S. 5th Army was held up in front of these positions through the winter of 1943-44. They attempted to flank the position by the landings at Anzio, but bogged down quickly there. A bloody and protracted battle was waged over the monastery, known as the Battle of Monte Cassino. The eastern end of the line"
"surrendering at Gaeta. During the Italian Campaign of World War II, the Liri-Gari-Garigliano rivers stood at the centre of a system of German defensive lines (the most famous of which is the Gustav Line) around which the battle of Monte Cassino took place in 1943-1944. Rumours tell that the waters of the river ran red in the Cassino area during the famous battle, because of the blood of the many corpses of soldiers. From 1959 until 1982 there was a BWR nuclear power plant named ""Garigliano"" near the town Sessa Aurunca. Garigliano The Garigliano is a river in central Italy."
"result, most of ""Generalfeldmarschall"" Albert Kesselring's forces slipped the noose and fell back north fighting delaying actions, notably in late June on the Trasimene Line (running from just south of Ancona on the east coast, past the southern shores of Lake Trasimeno near Perugia and on to the west coast south of Grosseto) and in July on the Arno Line (running from the west coast along the line of the Arno River and into the Apennine Mountains north of Arezzo). This gave time to consolidate the Gothic Line, a deep belt of fortifications extending from south of La Spezia (on"
"was the boundary between Latium (Land of the Latins) and Campania. This river is now called Garigliano and it is the boundary between the modern regions of Lazio and Campania. In those days the name Campania referred to the plain between the coast and the Apennine Mountains which stretched from the River Liris down to the bays of Naples and Salerno. The northern part of this area was inhabited by the Sidicini, the Aurunci and the Ausoni (a subgroup of the Aurunci). The central and southern part was inhabited by the Campanians, who were people who had migrated from Samnium"
"was also convinced that yielding southern Italy would provide the Allies with a springboard for an invasion of the Balkans with its vital resources of oil, bauxite and copper. Kesselring was given command of the whole of Italy and immediately ordered the preparation of a series of defensive lines across Italy, south of Rome. Two lines, the Volturno and the Barbara, were used to delay the Allied advance so as to buy time to prepare the most formidable defensive positions, which formed the ""Winter Line"" – the collective name for the Gustav Line and two associated defensive lines on the"
"the German defences on the rivers Senio and Santerno and then drive through the Argenta Gap, a strip of land between Lake Comacchio and flooded land south of the river Reno, to form a pincer with U.S. Fifth Army attacking through the central Apennines to surround and destroy the German armies south of the River Po. On 14 April, the 1st Surreys and the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, as part of 78 Division's 11th Infantry Brigade, moved up to a concentration area in readiness for an assault on the Argenta Gap. The Lancashire Fusiliers had suffered heavy casualties and Saunders"
"the main Italian army failed to break through the Austrian Quadrilatero fortress system south of Lake Garda in the Battle of Custoza, the corps marched six divisions over the Apennine mountains, joined up with General Enrico Cialdinis eight divisions of the IV Army Corps in the Romagna and crossed the lower Po and Adige rivers in force on 11 July 1866. Bypassing the Austrian fortresses and main army on his left flank Cialdini marched his army all through the Veneto, dispatching one division under Giacomo Medici to invade Trentino and cut the Austrian line of retreat and three divisions under"
"a district of the Samnites before it was the capital town of the Carecini tribe during their first settlement near the high Saro, the ancient name of today’s Sangro river. Alfedena was then conquered by the Romans in 298 BC, and by the Lombards during the 11th century. Many works of art, such as the Ponte Achille (Achille’s bridge), dating back to the Roman age, were destroyed by the German armed forces during the defence of the Gustav Line, in World War II. The Germans took away, as spoils, many ruins of the Italic necropolis of Campo Consolino located below"
"few days after the breakthrough of the Gustav Line by the Allied forces which obliged Germans to retreat about further north on that Hitler Line which proved to be vulnerable and was subsequently named Senger Line. This only allowed Wehrmacht to slow down the by now inevitable advance of Allied armed forces. In the days when German troops went up the State Route 82 of the Liri Valley, one of the main connection routes between Cassino, Marsica and Rome, they carried out a series of arrests and shootings of partisans as well as reprisals against the population of the towns"
"with Switzerland and 420 km with Austria) and ""Vallo Alpino Orientale"" (220 km with Jugoslavia). Alpine Wall The Alpine Wall (""Vallo Alpino"") was an Italian system of fortifications along the 1851 km of Italy's northern frontier. Built in the years leading up to World War II at the direction of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the defensive line faced France, Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia. It was defended by the ""Guardia alla Frontiera"" (GaF), Italian special troops. The Alpine line was similar in concept to other fortifications of the same era, including the Maginot Line of France, the Siegfried Line of Germany,"
"Alexander were fighting their way northward in Italy against determined German opposition, commanded by ""Generalfeldmarschall"" Albert Kesselring, whose forces had prepared a succession of defensive lines. East of the Apennine Mountain spine was the British Eighth Army, under General Sir Bernard Montgomery. In October, the Eighth Army had crossed the Bifurno river and pushed the German defenders from the Volturno-Viktor Line defences. Delayed by logistical problems, they were not able to attack the next line of defences (the Barbara Line) behind the Trigno river until 2 November. However, by 9 November forward elements of the Eighth Army were in contact"
"from counterattack. Meanwhile, on the Adriatic coast, the British 8th Army had advanced to a line from Campobasso to Larino and Termoli on the Biferno river. Thus, by early October, the whole of southern Italy was in Allied hands, and the Allied armies now stood facing the Volturno Line, the first of a series of prepared defensive lines running across Italy from which the Germans chose to fight delaying actions, giving ground slowly and buying time to complete their preparation of the Winter Line, their strongest defensive line south of Rome. The next stage of the Italian Campaign became for"