the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

THE WAR IN ITALY (19 Sep to Oct 44)
An allied Group of Armies, consisting of the
Fifth U. S. Army on the
left
and the Eighth British Army on the right, at the beginning of the period
held the line
Viareggio (German)—Pte. Moriano (5th Army)—high ground north
of Pistoja—Barberino di Mugello (5th)—point 5 miles south of
Firenzuola (5th)—Galeata (G)—San Marino (neutral state between
the lines)—point on Adriatic coast 4 miles southeast of Rimini (8th
Army).
The Army
Group commander was Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G.
Alexander,
the Army commanders Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark and Lt. Gen.
Sir Oliver W. H. Leese. The strength of the Army Group has not yet
been released. It was a very mixed command: in addition to Americans
and British, there were sizable contingents from Canada, India, New
Zealand, Poland, Greece, South Africa, and Brazil. The former French
Corps has been withdrawn.
The enemy consisted of an estimated
27 divisions under Field Marshal
von
Kesselring. About 7 of his divisions were watching the right flank
along the seacoast from the French boundary to the battle line and the Alps
mountain line separating France from Italy, and guarding rear areas. About
4 divisions were in local reserve, leaving 16 divisions in line on a front
which extended over 130 miles. Except
for short sections, not exceeding 5
miles
along each on the two coasts, the remainder of the front was
mountainous. It was very rough, and contained many woods except at the
higher elevations, which were generally open grazing land at this season. A
fair number of roads traverse the mountains from south to north; these have
steep grades and run through long defiles.
As this account opens the Fifth U.
S. Army had just started a major
offensive
astride the road from Firenze (Florence) to Bologna. The Eighth
British Army had been engaged for some time in attacking the enemy's left,
in an effort to reach the line Bologna—Ferrara and from there cut the
enemy's line of communications into the province of Venetia, from where
it continued on through the Brenner Pass into Bavaria and northeast into
Austria. Both offensives were meeting very strong opposition on the
ground, which was favored by the terrain. The British attack had the
support of naval forces, which shelled with enfilade fire that part of the
enemy's lines near the Adriatic. Both offensives had overwhelming air
support. German air activity was slight, and usually confined to
reconnaissance missions.
Allied attacks used a great array of materiel. Tanks and armored cars
were in excess of any armor the enemy could bring into action. Allied
artillery was superior in number and in quantity of ammunition furnished;
this enabled excellent artillery support to be habitual.
Fighting continuously on 19, 20, and 21 Sep, the two offensives on the
latter day reached their respective immediate objectives of Firenzuola and
Rimini for gains of 5 and 4 miles in 3 days. The final attack on Rimini,
which lies in flat country, was led by armor. In general tank losses appear
to have been high throughout the campaign.
These successes did not stop the battle. Tired troops were replaced, and
the attack forward was continued without interruption. In the next four
days the two main offensives moved slowly forward. The Fifth Army (with
American, British, and Indian divisions in line from left to right) gained
about 5 miles; the Eighth Army (with British and Canadian divisions)
gained 6 and reached Bardonchio.
At this time the Allied line consisted of a narrow salient extending north
through Firenzuola and advanced right along the Adriatic. The remainder
of the front had not materially changed. Still advancing with the right along
the Adriatic, the Eighth Army on the 27th crossed the Rubicon River on a
10-mile front for a 2-mile advance beyond.
The weather, which had so far been good, now took an unfavorable
turn, limiting air activities to about 10% of normal. Taking advantage of
this situation, the Germans on the 28th counterattacked toward the Rubicon
and temporarily stopped the British advance. A similar attack, with same
result, developed in the Fifth Army's sector on the 29th. As the bad weather
continued major attacks came to a standstill. Only minor raids and attacks
occurred, with each side scoring one small success.
On 1 Oct the Allied attacks were renewed. By, 5 Oct the Fifth Army
in hard fighting had pushed the head of its salient forward to include
Loiano, being a 13-mile advance from Firenzuola in 14 days. The
Eighth Army was not making such good progress in its coast sector,
and started to shift its main effort more and more to the west among
the mountains. With better weather the allied offensives increased in
strength.
On 11 Oct both Allied attacks made gains. The Fifth Army extended its
offensive to the west coast, where an American Negro division (the 92nd)
and a Brazilian division advanced to a line through Gallicano—Barga in
the Serchio valley.
Increased resistance being encountered, no appreciable advance was
made during the next two days. On the night 12/13 Oct more than 500
bombers attacked about Bologna, with a view of facilitating the advance of
the Fifth Army by destroying enemy bases. This bombing was not
particularly successful.
The Fifth's advance was delayed in Livergnano, a stone village in a
narrow valley between sheer precipices nearly 100 feet high. It could not
easily be by-passed. It took four days of street and house battle to get by
this place and open the road, which was effected on the 16th. Next day,
despite a strong artillery preparation, the American advance was only about
half a mile.
Notwithstanding very strong attacks, only slight gains were made
during the next two days. On 18 Oct the line was approximately
Viareggio (G)— Gallicano (A)— Barga (A)—Montese (?)— Vergato
(G)—point 2 mile
s north of Loiano—Marradi (?)—Cesena (G)—
Cesenatico (G).
In the cen ter th e advance had been 19 miles in one month. On the
Adriatic the gain was about 13 miles.
T HE WAR ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT (19 Sep to Oct 44)
FINLAND
On 19 Sep
the German forces in Finland, estimated at 7 divisions, were
divided
into south and north groups. The south force was withdrawing
north from a line along the Oulung River (Oulungjoki), the north one was
holding a north-south line extending south from the east shore of the
Rybachi (Fisher) peninsula. A Finnish army was about to attack the south
force, and a Russian army had already commenced an attack against the
north one. The Germans had no intention of resisting; they were evacuating
Finland.
No serious fighting took place during September. By the end of the
month the
south force had withdrawn to north of Kemi, where it made a
stand
and repulsed the Finns who were following. It is not yet known
whether these Germans were seeking to embark on transports at the port of
Tornio, but this appears to have been the intention. This was stopped by a
Finn amphibious expedition, which unexpectedly landed in Tornio on the
night preceding 1 Oct. A series of sharp clashes then occurred in which the
832 FIELD ARTILLERY JOUR NAL—December,
1944
Germans sought to retake Tornio. The
German attack failed, the Finns
managing to hold on to the seized port. At
the same time they attacked
along the shore road northward from
Kemi.
The Germans thereupon gave up the attempt to take Tornio, but held on
to the surrounding country until after their troops from Kemi had cleared
the Tornio sector. Thereafter the Germans withdrew northward. They are
apparently headed for north Norway, the nearest German base being about
300 miles away, beyond a barren intervening country. Due to the early
winter the ground is generally frozen early in October, facilitating
movements of vehicles.
On 7 Oct the Russians launched an attack against the north German
front, previous operations having been restricted to exploratory raids. The
initial Russian attacks, although strongly pressed, failed to make
substantial progress. To speed the advance an amphibious expedition was
sent from Murmansk, which landed on 10 Oct on Rybachi peninsula in rear
of the German lines.
The Russians failed to encircle the Germans but th ey forced the