Talk:Gothic Line

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Contents 1 The Battle for Rimini 1.1 Greek participation 2 Battle in the Garfagnana (North Tuscany). 3 MANY ARMIES BROKE THROUGH THE GOTHIC LINE 4 Rewrite 5 Nisei / Mount Fogarito 6 Inconclusive?

[edit] The Battle for Rimini

I made many changes to this article tonight to reflect the contributions of Canadian I Corps which had gone conspicuously unremarked previously. I also removed the following paragraph as it didn't seem factually consistent (Germany itself surrendered in the "Spring of 1945"):

The Allies finally broke through the Gothic line in the spring of 1945, thanks to fresh reinforcements from India, France, the United States and Poland; British landings in Greece, and Yugoslav partisan activity.

I reprinted it here in the event that it does indeed have relevance or perhaps could be modified to be suitable (is that dating really accurate?). --216.240.7.149 02:20, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Greek participation

Greek troops liberated Rimini. They were the first to enter the city. 324 Greek soldiers were KIA to capture it from the Nazis and there is no mention of Greek participation in the article.Cretanpride 06:34, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Battle in the Garfagnana (North Tuscany).

On December 26, 1944 and in the following days a bloody battle took place in the Garfagnana: US-troops against Germans and Italian soldiers of the RSI. The name of oeration was "Wintergewitter" or "temporale d`inverno" (= "wintershower" in English).

[edit] MANY ARMIES BROKE THROUGH THE GOTHIC LINE

Soldiers of several armies broke the Gothic Line. Among them also 4 Italian "combat groups" of the new anti-fascist Government of Rome (established in June/July 1944), after the (forced) retirement of king Victor Emmanuel III. The leaders of the partisans recognized this government on Dec. 26 1944. The forces of the RSI did surrender on May 1, 1945.

[edit] Rewrite

This article is very thin (considering it was a series of major actions fought by two allied armies resulting in a combined casualty toll on both sides of some 200,000) and lopsided with much missing in terms of the battle plans and actual actions. I've made a start but expect to be adding a lot more over the next month or so. However, I'm away for the next couple of weeks and will be off the air for a while. Stephen Kirrage 21:52, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nisei / Mount Fogarito

I've taken this piece out of the main article because it no longer fits and I have yet to work out where to put it so I'm parking it here in the Talk page until I've done some more research. It seems to take place in April 1945 and should therefore I suspect go in a piece covering the Allied spring offensive in 1945 (as yet unwritten) - which technically is not part of the Gothic Line battle.

One of the Allied breakthroughs occurred at Mount Fogarito, where the U.S. 5th Army had positioned 3 infantry divisions, (at that time, the equivalent of 12 regiments) to hammer the Germans entrenched on the mountain. The mountain guarded the Po Valley and access to Austria. As of April 1945, the Americans had been unable to breach the line for six months. The Germans had dug in quite well and resisted all attempts at frontal assault, at which time the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was sent to attempt a breach. Commanders of the all-nisei force claimed they could do it in 24 hours; striking from the rear. Soldiers of the 442nd scaled up the rear of the mountain, a near-vertical 4,000 foot precipice deemed inaccessible. However, the plan worked. After 8 hours of climbing (men who fell during the climb did not utter sounds that would give away the unit), the unit assaulted German positions. The U.S. Army reported the 442nd breached the Gothic Line in 34 minutes. [1]

Stephen Kirrage ^{talk - contribs} 00:42, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Inconclusive?

Tactically it may have been, but this campaign was a German strategic victory in which Kesselring accomplished all of his objectives. He wanted to:
1. Halt the Allied advance along the short Italian front;
2. Immobilize the Allied armies in the Appenines until the coming of winter; and
3. Keep the Po Valley and the Italian industrial regions of the north under Axis control.
Kesselring's success in holding the line with a relatively small portion of the German army freed several divisions for the French and Russian fronts and prevented the Allies from launching an attack on Germany from the south. Politically, the successful defense also kept Mussolini in power until the very last days of the war.
Given the circumstances, Kesselring didn't have to "win" the battle in order to win, he had to merely not lose. And he did that. Jsc1973 (talk) 16:06, 12 March 2008 (UTC)