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(For the John Huston film about this battle, see The Battle of San Pietro.) The Battle of San Pietro is a 1945 documentary film directed by John Huston about the battle of San Pietro during World War II. The film is unflinching in its realism (showing people dying on the field) and was first banned by the United States Army. ...
The Battle of San Pietro Infine (commonly referred to as the "Battle of San Pietro") was a major engagement from 8-17 December, 1943, in the Italian Campaign of WWII involving Allied Forces attacking from the south up the Liri Valley against heavily fortified positions of the German "Winter Line" in and around the town of San Pietro Infine, just south of Monte Cassino about halfway between Naples and Rome. The eventual Allied victory in the battle was crucial in the ultimate drive to the north to liberate Rome. The original town of San Pietro Infine was destroyed in the battle; the modern, rebuilt town of the same name is located a few hundred meters away (41" 26' 40 N lat., 13" 57' 31 E long.). Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war. ...
December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...
December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...
Country Italy Region Campania Province Province of Caserta (CE) Mayor Elevation m Area 14. ...
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Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1282x802, 46 KB) // Summary English State Flag with Coat of Arms of the Republic of Poland (also a merchant ensign) Made by Kpalion on August 13, 2006, based on the specifications in and attachments no. ...
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Free French Forces under review during the Battle of Normandy. ...
The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis Powers during the Second World War. ...
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Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was an American general during World War II and the Korean War. ...
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Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (August 8, 1881 - July 16, 1960) was a German Generalfeldmarschall who commanded Army Group C during World War II. One of the most respected and skillful German generals, he was nicknamed Smiling Albert or smiling Kesselring. Biography Kesselring was born in Marktsteft, Germany, in 1881. ...
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war. ...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Germany Italy Commanders Harold Alexander Alfredo Guzzoni Strength 160,000 men 14,000 vehicles 600 tanks 1,800 guns 365,000 Italians 40,000Germans Casualties USA: 2,237 killed 6,544 wounded British: 2,721 killed 10,122 wounded Canada: 562 killed 1,848...
This article covers the invasion of mainland Italy by the World War II Allies in September 1943 during the Italian Campaign. ...
The Armistice with Italy is an armistice that occurred on September 8, 1943, during World War II. It was signed by Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were occupying the southern half of the country at the time. ...
The Winter Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt. ...
Combatants British Empire, United States Germany Commanders John P. Lucas Albert Kesselring Strength 50,000 soldiers 5,000 vehicles 100,000 soldiers Casualties 29,200 combat casualties (4,400 killed, 18,000 wounded, 6,800 prisoners or missing) 27,500 (5,500 killed, 17,500 wounded, and 4,500 prisoners...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Poland New Zealand India Free France Morocco Brazil and others Nazi Germany Commanders Harold Alexander Albert Kesselring Frido von Senger Strength 105,000 80,000 Casualties 54,000 20,000 The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle...
German defensive positions in Northern Italy 1944 370th Infantry Regiment walking toward the mountains at north of Prato - april 1945 The Gothic Line, also known as Linea Gotica, formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselrings last line of defence along the summits of the Apennines during the fighting retreat of Nazi...
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war. ...
German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...
The Winter Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt. ...
Country Italy Region Campania Province Province of Caserta (CE) Mayor Elevation m Area 14. ...
Background
The Allied invasion of Italy from the south was the outcome of the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign. That invasion started November 8, 1942 and was labeled Operation Torch. The Allies planned a three-pronged amphibious landing to seize the key ports and airports of Morocco and Algeria simultaneously, targeting Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. By May of 1943, the Axis forces in Africa had surrendered. The Germans retreated to the island of Sicily and on the night of 9-10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest combined operations of World War II— the invasion of Sicily. Over the next five weeks, half a million Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought German and Italian forces for control of the island. Although the Allied powers were victorious, the Axis managed to evacuate over 100,000 men and 10,000 vehicles from Sicily across the Straits of Messina during the first seventeen days in August. The failure of Allied air and naval forces to prevent that evacuation resulted in the Axis armies then being able to stage a careful and methodical withdrawal up the Italian mainland, proving costly for the invading Allied armies. The Allies then invaded the Italian mainland in September 1943 at Salerno with diversionary landings in Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick). This article covers the invasion of mainland Italy by the World War II Allies in September 1943 during the Italian Campaign. ...
In various forms, France had colonial possessions since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. ...
Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
During World War II, the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from September 13, 1940 to May 13, 1943. ...
November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ...
Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Free French Forces Germany Vichy France Commanders Dwight Eisenhower Andrew Cunningham Erwin Rommel François Darlan Strength 73,500 - Casualties 479+ dead 720 wounded 1346+ dead 1997 wounded Operation TORCH (initially called Operation GYMNAST) was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World...
Hassan II Mosque Satellite image of Casablanca Casablanca (Spanish for white house ; Standard Arabic: الدار البيضاء transliterated ; Moroccan Arabic: dar beïda) is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. ...
View of Oran Oran (population 700,000) (Arabic: , Wahran) is a city in northwest Algeria, situated on the Mediterranean Sea coast. ...
Nickname: al-Bahjah Location of Algiers within Algeria Algiers 944 A.D. Area - City 273 km² Population - City (2003) around 2. ...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Germany Italy Commanders Harold Alexander Alfredo Guzzoni Strength 160,000 men 14,000 vehicles 600 tanks 1,800 guns 365,000 Italians 40,000Germans Casualties USA: 2,237 killed 6,544 wounded British: 2,721 killed 10,122 wounded Canada: 562 killed 1,848...
Satellite photo of the Strait of Messina, taken June 2002. ...
Operation Avalanche was the codename for the landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy. ...
Calabria (Latin: Bruttium or Brutium), is a region in southern Italy which occupies the toe of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. ...
Founded 706 BC as Taras () Region Apulia Mayor Rossana Di Bello Area - City Proper 217 km² Population - City (2001) - Density (city proper) 201,349 973/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 40°28 N 17°14 E www. ...
Operation Slapstick was a part of the Allied invasion of Italy during World War II on 9 September 1943. ...
On September 8, before the main invasion, the surrender of Italy to the Allies was announced. Italian units ceased combat, and the Navy sailed to Allied ports to surrender. This changed the German defensive strategy greatly, and the Germans now regarded their former allies as enemies and moved to disarm Italian units and occupy important defensive positions. The invasion at Salerno was ultimately successful and Allied forces took nearby Naples on October 1. German forces then withdrew to the north towards Rome and dug in along a series of well-fortified lines near Monte Cassino and San Pietro Infine. This was to be their "Winter Line". The Armistice with Italy is an armistice that occurred on September 8, 1943, during World War II. It was signed by Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were occupying the southern half of the country at the time. ...
The restored Abbey Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles (130 km) south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft (520 m) altitude. ...
The battle  Allied assault on and through the first segment of the German Winter Line at San Pietro Infine, at center of map.  The bombed-out center of the town of San Pietro Infine.
The battle for San Pietro was prepatory to the well-known Battle of Monte Cassino, which started on Jan. 17, 1944. German commander, General Albert Kesselring had marked out the "Winter Line" as three parallel defensive systems to the south of Rome, all centered on Monte Cassino. The defensives lines were called the Reinhard Line, Gustav Line and Hitler Line, placed 18 kilometres one from the other, taking advantage of the point at which the Italian Peninsula is narrowest; they served as a formidable series of obstacles in the path of the Allied march towards Rome. The Reinhard was the southernmost and first defensive system. (It was also called the Bernhardt Line.) It went from the Sangro River, to the Adriatic Sea, up to the mouth of the Garigliano River, passing directly through the hillside town of San Pietro Infine, blocking Allied entrance into the Liri valley along Highway 6, the main road up the center of Italy from Naples to Rome. Combatants United States United Kingdom Poland New Zealand India Free France Morocco Brazil and others Nazi Germany Commanders Harold Alexander Albert Kesselring Frido von Senger Strength 105,000 80,000 Casualties 54,000 20,000 The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle...
Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (August 8, 1881 - July 16, 1960) was a German Generalfeldmarschall who commanded Army Group C during World War II. One of the most respected and skillful German generals, he was nicknamed Smiling Albert or smiling Kesselring. Kesselring was born in Marktsteft, Germany, in 1881. ...
The Bernhardt Line (or Reinhard Line) was a German defensive line in Italy during World War II. Unlike most of the other defensive lines it did not run all the way across Italy, but was merely a bulge in the Gustav Line in the region of Monte Cassino, enclosing the...
The Winter Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt. ...
The Adolf Hitler Line was a German defensive line in central Italy during the Second World War. ...
The Bernhardt Line (or Reinhard Line) was a German defensive line in Italy during World War II. Unlike most of the other defensive lines it did not run all the way across Italy, but was merely a bulge in the Gustav Line in the region of Monte Cassino, enclosing the...
The Germans occupied San Pietro and set up a defensive apparatus in the whole territory, in particular on Monte Sambúcaro [1], Monte Lungo and in the small adjacent valley. These were strategically important positions because they allowed the control of long stretches of roads important for the advance of the Allies. The Fifth Army began to attack the Reinhard/Bernhardt Line on 5 November 1943, and the attacks continued into December. A number of nations have had a Fifth Army: British Fifth Army German Fifth Army Soviet Fifth Army Turkish Fifth Army US Fifth Army This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
The Bernhardt Line (or Reinhard Line) was a German defensive line in Italy during World War II. Unlike most of the other defensive lines it did not run all the way across Italy, but was merely a bulge in the Gustav Line in the region of Monte Cassino, enclosing the...
November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ...
1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...
The Battle of San Pietro was preceded by Allied attacks on the Camino hill mass at the entrance into the Liri Valley through the Mignano Gap (named for the small town on the road at that point). The entire hill mass is about six miles long and four miles wide. After that, the main Allied effort was against the German defenses on Mount Sambùcaro and Mount Lungo, which dominated the narrow valley on the east and west, respectively. As a point of historical interest, the assault on Mount Lungo was aided by the 1st Italian Motorized Group[2], part of the recently reconstituted Italian army, now fighting on the side of the Allies. The direct attack on the German positions in and around San Pietro began on Dec. 8 by II Corps of the Fifth Army. The positions were defended by two battalions of the XIV Panzer Corps, part of the German Tenth Army. A number of nations have had a Fifth Army: British Fifth Army German Fifth Army Soviet Fifth Army Turkish Fifth Army US Fifth Army This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
The German Tenth Army (German: ) was a World War II field army. ...
After a week of intense attacks and counter-attacks the Allies commanded the heights of the Sambùcaro mass. The US 36th Division then planned a further effort to capture Mount Lungo and San Pietro by 15 December. The main attack of the 36th Division started at 1200 on 15 December, with San Pietro as the objective. After four successive Allied attacks and German counter-attacks, the Germans pulled back from San Pietro since the dominating ground on both flanks, Mount Lungo and the Sambùcaro peaks, was now in II Corps' possession. The Germans launched a counter-attack on December 27 to cover their withdrawal as they retreated to positions farther north at Cedro Hill, Mount Porchia, San Vittore, and the western spurs of Sambúcaro. [3] Several armies have had a 36th Division. ...
The Battle of San Pietro was part of the overall campaign to breach the Bernhardt/Reinhard Line, some ten kilometers (six miles) deep at that point. It took six weeks of heavy fighting--from early November to late December--to overcome the German defenses. During that time, the Fifth Army sustained 16,000 casualties[4]. The highway through the Liri Valley from the Mignano Gap just before Mount Lungo and leading to San Pietro Infine was nicknamed "Death Valley" by members of the attacking force. The battle destroyed the town of San Pietro Infine completely. Destruction was wrought by a combination of close combat, both Allied and German mortar and artillery, and German "scorched earth" policy. Both the battle and the plight of the civilian population have inspired numerous accounts, most famous of which is the John Huston film The Battle of San Pietro. The Battle of San Pietro is a 1945 documentary film directed by John Huston about the battle of San Pietro during World War II. The film is unflinching in its realism (showing people dying on the field) and was first banned by the United States Army. ...
See also The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war. ...
This article covers the invasion of mainland Italy by the World War II Allies in September 1943 during the Italian Campaign. ...
The Winter Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt. ...
The US Fifth Army was one of the principal formations of the US Army in the Mediterranean during World War II. It was activated on 4 January 1943 and made responsible for the defence of Algeria and Morocco. ...
During World War II, the Barbara Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, some ten to twenty miles south of the Gustav Line, and a similar distance north of the Volturno Line. ...
Shoulder sleeve patch of the United States National Guard 36th Infantry Division, the Texas Division. ...
The European Theatre was an area of heavy fighting across Europe, during World War II, from 1 September 1939 to 8 May 1945. ...
References and Bibliography - D'Este, Carlo, Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome. 1991 ISBN 0-06-092148-X
- Fifth Army at the Winter Line (15 November 1943-15 January 1944). Center of Military History, United States Army. (1990) . First printed in 1945 by the Historical Division, War Department, for the American Forces in Action series, 1945. CMH Pub 100-9.
- Grigg, John, 1943: The Victory that Never Was. ISBN 0-8217-1596-8
- Majdalany, Fred (1957). Cassino: Portrait of a Battle. Longman, Green & Co Ltd., London.
- Muhm, Gerhard : La Tattica tedesca nella Campagna d'Italia, in Linea Gotica avanposto dei Balcani, (Hrsg.) Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993.
- Zambardi, Maurizio (2006). War Memories; The ordeal of the civilians of San Pietro Infine during the Second World War. CDSC publications. Cassino.
Notes - ^ This name usually appears as "Sammucro" on Allied military maps of the period.
- ^ Fifth Army at the Winter Line, p.47
- ^ Fifth Army at the Winter Line, p. 65.
- ^ Majdalany. p.30
external links Complete text of Fifth Army at the Winter Line, the US War Department account of relevant operations.
36th Division in WWII, San Pietro, site of the Texas military forces museum.
Oral history account of battles of San Pietro and Cassino.
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