By the summer of 1944, the Allied forces, including the I Canadian Corps, had pushed the Germans back to one of their last defensive positions in Italy, the Gothic Line. The Gothic Line was a large stretch in northern Italy and the Canadian troops that participated were instrumental in contributing to the main effort of breaking the German positions. The cracking of the Gothic Line was one of Canada’s major contributions to the war effort.
The initial strategy primarily implemented was one of misdirection and secrecy. Beginning August 8, the I Canadian Corps moved eastward from Florence, stripping off all Canadian insignia to help mask their movements from the Germans. The Germans had been tracking Canadian movement in the hopes that it would signal the next major Allied Eighth Army offensive. The section of mountains that was heavily occupied by German forces, called the Gothic Line, was determined to be too strong and the initial plan out of Florence was abandoned. Instead, the Eighth Army’s Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese decided to attack the coastal section of the Gothic Line. The Canadians were placed in the center of the attack.
On August 25, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, including the 48th Highlanders, led the attack, which also included Polish and British Corps. They crossed the Metauro River and fought for five hard, slogging days through wet terrain until finally pushing the Germans further back into the Gothic Line. The I Canadian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General E.L.M. “Tommy” Burns, planned a two-division operation in an attempt to crack the German held Gothic Line. Burns had planned to advance through one German defensive layer at a time by using the normal Eighth Army’s heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, with infantry supported by tanks closely following the barrage. Both would gradually advance toward their goal of the city of Rimini.
As plans were underway, it was discovered on August 29 by 5th Canadian Armoured Division’s commander, Major-General Bert Hoffmeister, that many of the strong German fortifications were currently unoccupied as the Germans had not fully reorganized. Hoffmeister quickly informed Burns, and both agreed to mount an immediate infantry attack to “gatecrash” the Gothic Line and create a hole where tanks could funnel through. The attack commenced on August 30 with regiments from the 1st and 5th Canadian divisions. After breaching the line, the fighting that followed was chaotic and confusing as the terrain included a maze of ridges, hills and deep narrow valleys. Forces became lost and separated. Nearly every enemy position had to be taken by frontal assault, which resulted in heavy losses for both sides.
The plan was initially to be victorious by mid-September, but the last German defensive position west of Rimini, San Fortunato Ridge, finally fell on September 21. The Canadian victories allowed the planned armoured advance to potentially continue and with the goal to fully drive out the Germans from Italy entirely. Breaking the Gothic Line led to 4,511 casualties, with 1,016 soldiers killed, but marked one of the most significant victories won by the Canadians in the Second World War. The Canadian advance through the Gothic Line also marked the last major Allied gains in Italy as significant rain and a terrible winter followed, halting the Allied plans and creating a stalemate on the Italian front, with the I Canadian Corps withdrawing the following February to join the First Canadian Army in the final campaigns across northwest Europe.
by Joseph Quan
