The Second Front Italy

Alone to Defend After the collapse of France, the British Army was in shambles. Until it could be reformed, the main defence of the island was left to the 25,000 Canadians who had arrived too late to be sent to France. Between 1940 and 1942 the British regrouped and the Canadians waited and trained. In this time period the British suffered more set backs in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya) and the Mediterranean (Greece, Crete, Africa). In this period the only good news was that the Germans had in 1941 decided to focus their energies on the Soviet Union.

By 1943, the Allies (Russia, United States, Great Britain) were ready to go on the offensive. After North Africa was recaptured the Americans wanted to invade France. The British convinced them that Italy was the more realistic option. Among the forces that attacked Sicily in May 1943 was the 1st Canadian Division. By the end of the month the Allies attacked the Italian mainland. At the same time the Fascist regime was overthrown. In retaliation, the Germans occupied all of Italy and fought tough defensive operations to slow the Allies down.

The 1st Canadian Division was soon joined by other divisions and they gradually earned a reputation for toughness under difficult circumstance. The weather was often as much of a force to battle as were the Germans. The Germans were skilled in tactics and used the natural terrain of Italy to their advantage creating lethal killing zones. The rain and mud sapped the Allies morale as much as the most ferocious bombardment. Despite these impediments, the Canadians performed well: but they suffered heavily for it.

The first major success for the Canadian was the capture of Ortona. The town had some strategic value, but was given more propaganda value when the Germans promised it to make it a “Stalingrad” of Italy. The Canadians fought the Germans house to house and eventually captured it by Christmas of 1943.

They were then moved West to crack the Gustav Line defences centred on the monastery of Monte Cassino. The Americans and British had fought unsuccessfully to get past, but they expected the Canadians to succeed. The Canadians fought their way past the monastery and opened a path for the Allies to exploit. In doing so the Canadian divisions lived up to the reputation of the CEF and earned the grudging respect of the Germans.

Good Bye to Sunny Italy Despite their successes in cracking the Gustav Line the Germans continued to be successful in slowing the Allies down. It was not until the spring of 1945, when the Germans were too far weakened that the Allies were able drive the Germans back in full disorder. By that time however (February 1945), the Canadian Divisions, now formed into the First Canadian Corps, were packing up to join the Second Canadian Corps in North West Europe. The First Canadian Corps (91,000 troops) had spent 20 months in Italy and had suffered 25,264 casualties (5799 deaths) More alarming was the slow replacement rate. As soldiers were killed and wounded, they were often not replaced creating a push for conscription. The situation deteriorated so badly that the Minister of Defence, J.L. Ralston came to Italy to look into the need to rethink the policy of conscription