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The decision during the Italian Campaign to withdraw the Canadian Corps from the battle south of Rome and from the pursuit of the German forces retreating to Florence allowed for a lengthy rest and training period in the Volturno Valley. According to the historical officer attached to 1st Cdn. Division, leave arrangements in June and July 1944 were “extensive and generous” with rest areas in Bari, Salerno and Amalfi.

Of course it was not all rest and relaxation. The lessons of combat in the Liri Valley were studied with special attention given to better methods of controlling artillery fire, and […]

The 5th Canadian Armoured Division’s first major opera- tion—the breakout from the Hitler Line and the establishment of a bridgehead across the Melfa River—was by any measure a great success. Unfortunately, the next stage of the advance through Italy—the crossing of the Liri River and the advance to Ceprano and Frosinone—was marred by a series of incidents that resulted in slow and uncertain progress. Was this the result of the normal friction of war or were failures in command responsible for the difficulties of the last days of May 1944?

General Oliver Leese, the commander of 8th Army, insisted […]

Military historians often distinguish between the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war though they frequently disagree on their exact meanings. The term grand strategy is usually reserved for decisions made by Allied leaders like Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The grand strategy behind the World War II Italian Campaign in the spring of 1944 was to continue an offensive as a means of diverting enemy resources away from the D-Day beaches and Normandy.

To further this plan General Harold Alexander, the overall Allied commander in Italy, developed a strategy calling for a broad advance towards Rome that would […]

When Lieutenant-General E.L.M. “Tommy” Burns took command of 1st Canadian Corps in March 1944 he was briefed on plans for the forthcoming offensive in Italy’s Liri Valley by the commander of 8th Army, General Oliver Leese. Two options were considered. If British 13 Corps broke the Gustav and Hitler Lines, the Canadians would pass through using Highway 6, the main road to Rome. If 13 Corps was stopped short, Burns would be responsible for the Hitler Line and the subsequent breakout across the Melfa River to Ceprano and Frosinone. Major-General Chris Vokes’ 1st Infantry Division would attack […]

When General Harold Alexander issued orders for the spring offensive in Italy he instructed Gen. Mark Clark’s 5th Army to attack in the mountainous coastal sector, employing 2nd U.S. Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps.

These forces were to advance north to the Anzio bridgehead–south […]

This is the first in a series of articles focusing on the Canadian role in the battle for Rome, May 11 to June 5, 1944. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, veterans of Sicily, the Moro River and Ortona, were […]

Italy, Normandy’s ‘Long Right Flank’, was the theme of University of New Brunswick historian Lee Windsor’s keynote address to the 18th Annual Military History Conference at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. Dr. Windsor, a passionate and […]

General Bernard Montgomery’s “colossal crack” of December 1943, an advance by 8th Army to Pescara and the lateral road to Rome, was intended to outflank the enemy positions at Cassino. By late December it was evident that these operations had stalled. […]

Most Canadians know very little about the role their country men played in the liberation of Italy, but mention Ortona and many can recall something about the World War II battle for this small Adriatic port. The most powerful visual image is […]

When Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar–a veteran of World War I–arrived in Italy to take command of 1st Canadian Corps, he was introduced to the battlefields of the Moro River and The Gully (Clearing The Gully, January/February).

Strome Galloway, who was in temporary command of the Royal […]