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Winter Line
The Winter Line was a series of German and Italian military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt and commanded by Albert Kesselring. The series of three lines was designed to defend a western section of Italy, focused around the town of Monte Cassino, through which ran the important Highway 6 which led uninterrupted to Rome. The primary Gustav Line ran across Italy from just north of where the Garigliano River flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, through the Apennine Mountains to the mouth of the Sangro River on the Adriatic coast in the east. The two subsidiary lines, the Bernhardt Line and the Hitler Line, ran much shorter distances from the Tyrrehnian Sea to just northeast of Cassino where they would merge into the Gustav Line. Relative to the Gustav Line, the Hitler Line stood to the northwest and the Bernhardt Line to the southeast of the primary defenses. Before being ultimately broken, the Gustav Line effectively slo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hitler Line
The Hitler Line was a German Army defensive line in central Italy during the Second World War. The strong points of the line were at Piedimonte, Pontecorvo, and Aquino. In May 1944, the line was renamed the Senger Line, after General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, one of the generals commanding Axis forces in the area. That was done at Adolf Hitler's insistence to minimise any propaganda significance if the line was penetrated. The line was a so-called " switch line", joined the Gustav Line at Monte Cairo and provided a fall-back position behind the Gustav Line. The line was breached on 24 May 1944 on the British Eighth Army's front by the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 5th Canadian Armoured Division, which attacked with II Polish Corps on their right. The first to breach the line, at Pontecorvo were the 1st Canadian Division's 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. The Polish Corps captured Piedimonte on 25 May, and the line collapsed. The next German line was the Cae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazilian Expeditionary Force
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (, FEB), nicknamed (literally "the Smoking Snakes"), was a military division of the Brazilian Army and Air Force that fought as part of Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II. It numbered around 25,900 men, including a full infantry division, liaison flight, and fighter squadron.Ibidem Maximiano, Bonalume, Ricardo N. & Bujeiro, 2011. Placed under United States command, Brazilian troops fought primarily in the liberation of Italy from September 1944 to May 1945, while the Brazilian Navy and Air Force took part in the Battle of the Atlantic from mid-1942 until the end of the war. The FEB operated mostly at the platoon level, seeing heavy combat at the arduous Gothic Line and during the 1945 final offensive. By the end of the war, it took 20,573 Axis prisoners, including two generals and close to 900 officers. The division lost 948 men killed in action across all three services. Vargas era Brazil was the only i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mignano Gap
The Mignano Gap is a geographic feature in Italy, in the vicinity of Mignano Monte Lungo. During World War II, this was the location of the German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ... Bernhardt Line. ReferencesFifth Army At The Winter Line Mountain passes of Italy {{Lazio-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orsogna
Orsogna ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''comune'' (municipality) and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b .... References Cities and towns in Abruzzo {{Abruzzo-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Ortona
The Battle of Ortona (20–28 December 1943) was fought between two battalions of elite German ( paratroops) from the German 1st Parachute Division under Richard Heidrich, and assaulting Canadian troops from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division under Major General Christopher Vokes. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during "Bloody December". The battle was known to those who fought it as the "Italian Stalingrad,"Zuehlke (1999) and as "Little Stalingrad", for the brutality of its close-quarters combat, 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 (Abruzzo), with a peacetime population of 10,000. Background By late 1943, the Allies did not intend the entire Italian campaign to win the war but only to remove Italian troops from other areas of Europe, divert German forces from France and reduce the strength of the German a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ortona
Ortona ( Abruzzese: '; ) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants. In 1943 Ortona was the site of the bloody Battle of Ortona, known as "Western Stalingrad". A patron saint of Ortona is Saint Thomas the Apostle (Tommaso), whose relics were brought to Ortona in the 13th century by a sailor and are kept in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas. History The origins of Ortona are uncertain. Presumably, it was first inhabited by the Frentani, an Italic population. In 2005, during works near the Castle, a Bronze Age settlement was discovered, and the Roman town largely coincided with this first settlement. Some sections of paved roads and urban walls, as well as some archaeological findings are the only remains of this period. Ortona remained a part of the Eastern Roman Empire (later Byzantine Empire) for several centuries, before it was annexed by the Kingdom of the Lombards. In 803 the Franks incor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassino
Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone at the southern end of the region of Lazio. It's the last city of the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. It is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari (river), Gari and Liri rivers and on the via Casilina between Rome and Naples. The city is best known as the site of the Monte Cassino, Abbey of Montecassino and the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II, which resulted in huge Allied and German casualties as well as the near total destruction of the town itself. It is also home to the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. Cassino has a population of 35,969 as of July 2017, making it the second largest town in the province. History Ancient Cassino's roots lie in the settlement of Casinum, the last city of the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins, of Umbri, UmbrianTacitus, Annales or Venetic or Oscan origin, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liri
The Liri (Latin Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis; Greek: ) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea a little below Minturno under the name Garigliano. Source and route The Liri's source is in the Monte Camiciola, elevation , in the Monti Simbruini of central Apennines (Abruzzo, ''comune'' of Cappadocia). It flows at first in a southeasterly direction through a long trough-like valley, parallel to the general direction of the Apennines, until it reaches the city of Sora. In the upper part of Isola del Liri it receives the waters of Fibreno and then it divides into two branches which then rejoin, surrounding the lower part of the town (''Isola del Liri'' stands for ''Liri Island''). One branch makes a high waterfall situated in the centre, a unique case in Europe. A dam is built on the river after the confluence with the Sacco at Ceprano. The last important Liri's tributary is the Melfa, with which it joins near Aquino. Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avezzano
Avezzano ( ; ) is a city and comune in the Abruzzo region, province of L'Aquila, Italy. It is the second most populous municipality in the province and the sixth in the region. It is the main commercial, industrial and agricultural centre of the Marsica area, with important high-tech industries and the Fucino Space Centre. The city was destroyed by the 1915 Avezzano earthquake, earthquake of 1915. It was rebuilt after the 1944 Allied bombing. The city was decorated with the silver medal for civil merit, an award granted by the Italian Republic. History Toponymy There are different common etymologies for the name of the city: from "Avidianum" or "fundus Avidianus" which is derived from the noble Avidius ("Avidia gens") domiciled in the nearby ancient town of Alba Fucens; from "Ad Vettianum" which means a "to the Vettia family" ("List of Roman gentes, Vettia gens") or for an unlikely hypothesis from "Ave Jane", an invocation to the Roman god Janus (mythology), Janus. Earliest his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile and then the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was created to better control the growing Allied force based in Egypt and to direct its efforts to lift the siege of Tobruk via Operation Crusader. It later directed Allied forces through the remaining engagements of the Western Desert campaign, oversaw part of the Allied effort during the Tunisian campaign and finally led troops throughout the Italian campaign. During 1943, it made up part of the 18th Army Group before being assigned to the 15th Army Group (later, the Allied Armies in Italy). Throughout its campaigns, it was a multi-national force and its units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Cyprus, the Free French Forces, Greece, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa, Mauritius, as well a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan. The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion. The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the Italo-German protocol of 23 October 1936, protocol signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, after which Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The following November saw the ratification of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
