The Battle of Bologna was fought in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

from 9–21 April 1945 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, as part of the

Spring 1945 offensive in Italy The spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War. The attack into the Lombard Plain by the 15th Allied Army Group started on ...

. The Allied forces were victorious, with the

Polish II Corps The Polish II Corps ( pl, Drugi Korpus Wojska Polskiego), 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought wit ...

and supporting Allied units capturing the city on 21 April.

Background

In March 1945 the Allies were preparing a new offensive,

Operation Buckland Operation Buckland or the Battle of the Argenta Gap (12-19 April 1945) was the Eighth Army (United Kingdom), Eighth Army’s contribution to the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, Allied Spring Offensive in Italy, and saw them bypass the last series of ...

, in

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative region ...

.Zbigniew Wawer, ''Zdobycie Bolonii'', p.9 The capture of Bologna, an important regional communication hub, was set as a part of that offensive. The Allied forces tasked with this were composed of the

US 5th Army The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM.

(

II Corps 2nd Corps, Second Corps, or II Corps may refer to: France * 2nd Army Corps (France) * II Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * II Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French ...

South African 6th Armoured Division The 6th South African Armoured Division was the second armoured division of the South African Army and was formed during World War II. Established in early 1943, it was based on a nucleus of men from the former 1st South African Infantry Di ...

) and the

British 8th Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Force ...

(which for that part of the theatre, was composed of the

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army ...

and the

). The German units defending the area were composed of the

German 26th Panzer Division 23rd Infantry Division The German 23rd Infantry Division (''23. Infanterie-Division''), later the 26th Panzer Division, was a military unit operational during World War II. It was organized along standard lines for a German infantry division. ...

of the

XIV Panzer Corps XIV Panzer Corps (also: XIV Army Corps or XIV. ''Armeekorps'') was a corps-level formation of the German Army which fought on both the Eastern Front and in the Italian Campaign. History The XIV Panzer Corps was originally formed as the XIV Mot ...

, the 1st Parachute Division and the 4th Parachute Division of the I Parachute Corps. German defenses in that region were part of the

Army Group C Army Group C (in German, ''Heeresgruppe C'' or ''HGr C'') was an army group of the German Wehrmacht, that was formed twice during the Second World War. History Army Group C was formed from Army Group 2 in Frankfurt on 26 August 1939. It init ...

, defending the

Paula Line Paula Line refers to the German defense line in late World War II, around the Sillaro river in northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is ...

. The morale of the Polish forces was weakened by the outcome of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

which ended on 11 February, where the British and Americans, without consultation with the Poles, had decided to give a major part of the 1921–1939 Polish territories to the Soviet Union.Zbigniew Wawer, ''Zdobycie Bolonii'', p.8Anthony James Joes, ''Urban guerrilla warfare'', University Press of Kentucky, 2007,
Google Print, p.37
/ref> One of the three Polish divisions, the Polish 5th Kresowa Infantry Division, was named after the

Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the History of Poland (1918–1939), interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural ...

region, which was now given to the Soviets in its entirety. When the Polish commander of II Corps, General

Władysław Anders ) , birth_name = Władysław Albert Anders , birth_date = , birth_place = Krośniewice-Błonie, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = London, England, United Kingdom , serviceyears ...

, asked for his unit to be withdrawn from the front line,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

told him "you

he Poles He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

are no longer needed" but the American and British front line commanders—Generals

Richard McCreery General Sir Richard Loudon McCreery, (1 February 1898 – 18 October 1967) was a career soldier of the British Army, who was decorated for leading one of the last cavalry actions in the First World War. During the Second World War, he was chief ...

Mark Wayne Clark Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II. During World War I ...

and Field Marshal Harold Alexander—requested Anders that the Polish units remain in their positions, as they had no troops to replace them. Anders eventually decided to keep the Polish units engaged.

Order of battle

Allies

:::

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

62d Fighter Wing The 62d Fighter Wing (62 FW) is a disbanded unit of the United States Air Force, last stationed at Van Nuys Airport, Van Nuys, California. It was withdrawn from the California Air National Guard (CA ANG) and inactivated on 31 October 1950. Thi ...

::: Brazilian 1st Fighter Squadron :

Major-General

Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko Zygmunt Piotr Bohusz-Szyszko (1893 in Chełm – 1982 in London) was a Polish general. During World War I he served in the Imperial Russian army. In 1940, he was Commanding Officer Polish Independent Highland Brigade (''Samodzielna Brygada Strz ...

(acting commander) * Corps Troops ** Army Group Polish Artillery ** 54th Super Heavy Regiment

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

(one battery) ** British

7th Armoured Brigade 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

(under command) ** 43rd Gurkha Lorried Infantry Brigade (under command) **

14th/20th Hussars The 14th/20th King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was created by the amalgamation of the 14th King's Hussars and the 20th Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated with the Royal Hussa ...

( Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers) (under command) * Polish 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division (Major-General Bolesław Bronisław Duch) ** 1st Carpathian Rifle Brigade ** 2nd Carpathian Rifle Brigade ** 3rd Carpathian Rifle Brigade * Polish 5th Kresowa Infantry Division (Major-General Nikodem Sulik) ** 5th Wilenska Infantry Brigade ** 6th Lwowska Infantry Brigade ** 4th Wolwyn Infantry Brigade * Polish 2nd Armoured Brigade (Brigadier-General Bronislaw Rakowski)

Germans

:: German 65th Infantry Division : I Parachute Corps (

Richard Heidrich __NOTOC__ Richard Heidrich (27 July 1896 – 22 December 1947) was a German paratroop general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany. Heidrich was taken pri ...

commanding) :: 1st Parachute Division :: 4th Parachute Division

Battle

The offensive on Bologna started on 9 April at 4:00 am local time, with a major air and artillery bombardment of 400 guns firing on German positions, followed by an advance of ground forces the same evening. Friendly fire caused casualties as American bombers killed 38 advancing Polish troops on that day. The American and British units engaged the German flanks, while the Polish units broke through to the city. On 10 April, Polish forces pushed the Germans away from the Senio River. From 12–14 April Polish forces fought the Germans at the

Santerno River The Santerno is a river in Romagna in northern Italy. It is a major tributary of the river Reno. In Roman times, it was known as the ''Vatrenus'' (small ''Renus''), although, in the Tabula Peutingeriana, it was already identified as the ''Santernus ...

and captured Imola. From 15–16 April, the Poles fought at the

Sillaro River The Sillaro (Latin ''Silarus,'' Emilian ''Sàrrel,'' Romagnol ''Sélar'') is a long Italian stream, whose headwaters are by the village of Piancaldoli (Firenzuola, province of Florence), in Tuscany. It runs northeast through the city of Castel Sa ...

and the

Medicina Medicina ( Bolognese: ; Eastern Bolognese: ) is an Italian ''comune'' with c. 16,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, part of the region of Emilia-Romagna. Name The origins of its name (which in Italian means "medicine") are qui ...

Canal. On 17 April, the commander of the Eighth Army ordered the Polish forces to continue their push towards Bologna from the east. The town was to be taken initially by the American troops of the Fifth Army advancing from the south.Zbigniew Wawer, ''Zdobycie Bolonii'', p.13 On 21 April the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Brigade of the Polish 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division entered the city, where only isolated German units were still fighting. (Another source attributes the entrance to the Polish 5th Kresowa Division). By 6:15 am the Poles had secured the city, displaying Polish flags from the town hall and the Torre Asinelli tower, the highest tower in the city. The local Italian population welcomed the Poles as their liberators. At 8:00 am, American (South African) tanks arrived in the city, followed by

Italian partisans The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

and the "Friuli" division of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army.

Aftermath

The Battle of Bologna was the last battle of the Polish II Corps, which was taken out of the front line on 22 April. American and British troops completed their encirclement of the Germans forces north of the

Reno River The Reno () is a river of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is the tenth longest river in Italy (the sixth longest of those that flow directly into the sea) and the most important of the region apart from the Po. It has a drainage basin of abou ...

, the

8th Indian Division The 8th Mountain Division was raised as the 8th Indian Infantry division of the British Indian Army. It is now part of the Indian Army and specialises in mountain warfare. The 8th Indian Infantry Division was formed as an infantry division in M ...

crossed the

Po River The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. T ...

and the German forces in Italy capitulated on 29 April. The Polish II Corps, commanded by General Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko, suffered 234 dead and 1,228 wounded out of 55,780 front line personnel. German divisions were left in disarray, and as the end of the war neared, many splintered into small groups in order to retreat across the Po and try to reach the passes into Germany. The 65th Infantry Division lost its commander, Generalmajor Hellmuth Pfeifer in the last days of the war as he tried to make his way north with the remnants of divisional headquarters. Velten, Wilhelm ''Vom Kugelbaum zur Hangranate: Die Gesichte der 65. Infanterie Division''

Notes

References

* Zbigniew Wawer, ''Zdobycie Bolonii''

apture of Bologna Apture was a service that allowed publishers and bloggers to link and incorporate multimedia into a dynamic layer above their pages. Apture was used by several large organizations and publishers including '' The Washington Post'', '' The Economist ...

Chwała Oręża Polskiego 32 (53), Rzeczpospolita, 3 March 2007 (publication contains a map of the battle). {{Authority control 1945 in Italy 1945 in military history 20th century in Bologna April 1945 events

Battles of World War II involving Brazil