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A TASTE OF ORTONA
A Seaside Resort Becomes A Grim Battlefield
From December 21 to 27, 1943, troops from Canada fought a vicious battle to drive crack German paratroops from the town of Ortona on Italy's Adriatic coast.
Nothing about the place suggested Ortona would become one of Canada's greatest battles. It was a quiet port of about 10,000 inhabitants, and before the Second World War had been a popular seaside vacation spot for Italians.
The Canadian soldiers who fought at Ortona had their first taste of combat six months earlier, in July, as part of the Allied invasion force which landed in Sicily. As they drove the German and Italian forces from the island they suffered casualties, but the fighting was not too costly. The going got even easier in early September after they crossed the Straits of Messina and invaded the Italian mainland. As they moved up the toe of Italy and then up the boot itself their only opposition came from German troops fighting tough delaying actions but not seriously trying to stop the advance.
Members of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division - called "The Red Patch" from the divisional badge soldiers wore on their upper arms - rested for a month around the town of Campobasso, then resumed moving north along Italy's eastern coastline in late November.
A short way up the coast from them was Ortona. If Canadians had heard of the town at all it was probably a couple of months earlier, when Italy's royal family boarded a navy destroyer there and fled their country for refuge, leaving most of their countrymen in the hands of Tedeschi - the Germans.
Soon Ortona would become a familiar name to Canadians. Their soldiers were about to meet the Germans there. And the Fallschirmjäger had come to fight.
___________________________________________________________ This pack includes both Day and Night Fighting In Ortona and comes with it's own installer. All maps designed by Foxhound. Enjoy the Maps. If you have time please drop by http://www.modsonline.com for more maps/mods and PodCasts for your favorite games. We're more then just a Mod/Map Site |
