Eighth Army in Italy 1943 – 45: The Long Hard Slog

352 Pages·2007·6.62 MB·English

by  Doherty

EIGHTH ARMY
IN ITALY
By the same author
Wall of Steel: The History of 9th (Londonderry) HAA Regiment, RA (SR), North-
West Books, 1988
The Sons of Ulster: Ulstermen at War from the Somme to Korea, Appletree
Press, 1992
Clear The Way! A History of the 38th (Irish) Brigade, 1941–47, Irish Academic
Press, 1993
Irish Generals: Irish Generals in the British Army in the Second World War,
Appletree Press, 1993
Only the Enemy in Front: The Recce Corps at War, 1940–46, Spellmount
Publishers, 1994
Key to Victory: The Maiden City in the Second World War, Greystone Books,
1995
The Williamite War in Ireland, 1688–1691, Four Courts Press, 1998
A Noble Crusade: The History of Eighth Army, 1941–1945, Spellmount
Publishers, 1999
Irish Men and Women in the Second World War, Four Courts Press, 1999
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (with David Truesdale), Four Courts Press,
2000
Irish Volunteers in the Second World War, Four Courts Press, 2001
The Sound of History: El Alamein 1942, Spellmount Publishers, 2002
The North Irish Horse: A Hundred Years of Service, Spellmount Publishers,
2002
Normandy 1944: The Road to Victory, Spellmount Publishers, 2004
Ireland’s Generals in the Second World War, Four Courts Press, 2004
The Thin Green Line: A History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC, 1922–
2001, Pen & Sword Books, 2004
None Bolder: The History of the 51st Highland Division in the Second World
War, Spellmount Publishers, 2006
The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II, Osprey Publishing, 2007
EIGHTH ARMY
IN ITALY
The Long Hard Slog
by
Richard Doherty
First published in Great Britain in 2007 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Richard Doherty, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-84415-637-5
The right of Richard Doherty to be identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
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To the memory of
Joe Radcliffe,
Royal Corps of Signals
1920–2005
and with thanks to
Lucia, Marina and Danilo
Contents
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Chapter One Into Calabria: The Campaign Begins
Chapter Two To the Winter Line
Chapter Three Mountains and Floods
Chapter Four Prelude to Cassino
Chapter Five Operation HONKER: The Battle for Monte Cassino
Chapter Six Pursuit to the Gothic Line
Chapter Seven Forcing the Gothic Line
Chapter Eight Another Winter: More Mountains and Floods
Chapter Nine Final Days
Chapter Ten Peace at Last
Chapter Eleven Reflections
Bibliography
Index
Maps
Map 1 Italy: Advance of Eighth Army
Map 2 Foggia to the Sangro
Map 3 The Sangro Battle: V Corps’ plan of attack
Map 4 The Advance of Eighth Army, November 1943 to January 1944:
Enemy dispositions 27th November 1943
Map 5 Final Battle of M. Cassino and Advance to Rome 11 May–5 June
Map 6 The Advance to Lake Trasimeno
Map 7 Battle of Lake Trasimeno: XIII Corps in action 20–28 June 1944
Map 8 The Gothic Line, showing Allied Front, Corps boundaries and main
enemy dispositions at start of Operation OLIVE
Map 9 Second Battle of Coriano Ridge and advance to Rimini: September
1944
Map 10 Eighth Army in November and December 1944
Map 11 Eighth Army Operation BUCKLAND: II (Polish) and V Corps’
plans
Map 12 15th Army Group encircles German forces south of the Po, April
1945
Acknowledgements
It has become a tradition for authors to include in their acknowledgements the
comment that any errors are attributable solely to the author, thereby excusing
from blame all those who have assisted. I do so willingly with this book since it
would be invidious to try to blame any of my errors on those many individuals
and organizations who have helped with the research and production of the
book. Owing many debts of gratitude, I acknowledge them readily.
As always, I made considerable use of the facilities of the National Archives
at Kew where the staff of the Reading Room, the Search Room and the Library
provide an excellent service that is friendly, professional and capable of dealing
with even the most obscure enquiries. At the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, I
used the Departments of Documents and Printed Books as well as the
Photograph Archive. Once again the staff members of each department were
always keen to help and demonstrated knowledge of their resources that showed
the high level of their own commitment and professionalism. No one could ask
for better cooperation than that to be found at Kew and Lambeth, and I am most
grateful to all who assisted me at both institutions.
For much of the Italian campaign, Eighth Army included a very large
proportion of Canadian soldiers and the National Archives of Canada hold an
invaluable collection of photographs from Italy, some of which are reproduced
in this book. Thanks are due to the Archives for their excellent service. Polish
soldiers also played a major role in Eighth Army and I thank the Polish Museum
and Sikorski Institute, especially Mr K. Barbarski, for their invaluable help.
David Fletcher, Librarian of the Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset, was
patience personified when it came to dealing with my several enquiries about
armoured warfare in Italy. The library of the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum in
Armagh was able to provide a long-term loan of important volumes and my
thanks go to the curator, Amanda Moreno, while the Linenhall Library in Belfast
tracked down several obscure titles that were also of great help in my research.
Closer to home, the Central Library, Foyle Street, Londonderry provided a
similar service. To each of them I offer my sincere thanks.
The reader who perseveres to the end of this book will realize that its gestation
was lengthy with chapter notes indicating that information came my way over a
period of some twenty years. I have always been interested in the Italian
campaign and several of my earlier books have featured either the campaign or