Spring 1945 offensive in Italy
Field Marshal Sir John Dill died on the 5th of November, triggering a cascade of leadership changes that reshaped the Allied high command. Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson replaced Dill as head of the British Mission in Washington, D.C. General Harold Alexander took over as Allied Supreme Commander Mediterranean on the 12th of December after being promoted to Field Marshal. Lieutenant General Mark Clark succeeded Alexander as commander of the Allied forces in Italy without receiving a promotion. The U.S. Fifth Army passed from Clark's control to Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott, who had previously commanded the VI Corps during the Battle of Anzio and the capture of Rome. Truscott returned from Operation Dragoon in the South of France to assume this new role.
Axis leadership underwent similar turbulence. Albert Kesselring was appointed Commander-in-Chief West on the 23rd of March, replacing General-Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Heinrich von Vietinghoff returned from the Baltic to take over from Kesselring. Traugott Herr, the experienced commander of the LXXVI Panzer Corps, assumed command of the 10th Army. Joachim Lemelsen, who had temporarily commanded the 10th Army, returned to lead the 14th Army instead.
Allied manpower shortages continued into October 1944 when the 4th Indian Infantry Division moved to Greece. The British 4th Infantry Division followed them in November along with the 139th Brigade of the British 46th Infantry Division. In early January 1945, the British 1st Infantry Division departed for Palestine while the I Canadian Corps and the British 5th Infantry Division were ordered to the North West Europe Campaign. This reduced the Eighth Army, now commanded by Lieutenant-General Richard McCreery, to just seven divisions. Alexander kept two other British divisions in Italy despite orders sending them elsewhere.
The U.S. Fifth Army received reinforcements between September and November 1944 with the 1st Brazilian Division. Specialist units like the U.S. 10th Mountain Division joined in January 1945. Allied strength amounted to 17 divisions and eight independent brigades. Four Italian groups of volunteers from the Italian Co-Belligerent Army were equipped and trained by the British. The Jewish Brigade, a formation of the British Army composed of Jews from Mandatory Palestine led by British-Jewish officers, deployed to take part in the offensive. Total Allied strength was equivalent to just under 20 divisions. The 15th Army Group ration strength reached 1,334,000 men.
Clark set out his battle plan on the 18th of March with the objective to destroy the maximum number of enemy forces south of the Po. The plan required forcing crossings of the Po and capturing Verona. Phase I tasked the Eighth Army with crossing the Senio and Santerno rivers before making a dual thrust. One thrust moved towards Budrio parallel to Route 9 while another went northwest along Route 16 towards Bastia and the Argenta Gap. An amphibious operation across Lake Comacchio would bring pressure to bear on the flank.
Phase II directed the Eighth Army to drive northwest to capture Ferrara and Bondeno, blocking routes of potential retreat across the Po. The U.S. Fifth Army pushed past Bologna north to link with the Eighth Army in the Bondeno region. This maneuver completed an encirclement of German forces south of the Po. The Fifth Army made a secondary thrust further west towards Ostiglia, the crossing point on the Po of the main route to Verona. Phase III involved establishing bridgeheads across the Po and exploitation northward into the Lombardy Plain.
Heavy artillery bombardment of the Senio defenses began on the 6th of April as part of the build-up to the main assault. Early in the afternoon on the 9th of April, 825 heavy bombers dropped fragmentation bombs on the support zone behind the Senio. Medium and fighter bombers followed immediately after. Five heavy artillery barrages fired from 15:20 to 19:10, each lasting 30 minutes, interspersed with fighter bomber attacks. Twenty-eight Churchill Crocodiles and 127 Wasp flamethrower vehicles deployed along the front for support operations.
The 8th Indian Infantry Division, 2nd New Zealand Division, and 3rd Carpathian Division attacked at dusk during the fight there were two Victoria Crosses won by the 8th Indian Infantry Division. They reached the Santerno beyond by dawn on the 11th of April. The New Zealanders had reached the Santerno at nightfall on the 10th of April and succeeded in making a crossing at dawn on the 11th of April. The Poles closed on the Santerno by the night of the 11th of April. By late morning of the 12th of April, the 8th Indian Infantry Division was established on the far side of the Santerno while the 78th Infantry Division started their pass through to make the assault on Argenta.
The Fifth Army began its assault on the 14th of April after a bombardment by 2,000 heavy bombers and 2,000 guns. IV Corps attacked on the left with the 1st Brazilian, 10th Mountain and 1st Armored Divisions. II Corps followed on the night of the 15th of April with the 6th South African Armoured Division and the 88th Infantry Division advancing towards Bologna between Highway 64 and 65. Elements of the 10th Mountain Division broke out of the mountains on the 20th of April.
A mobile force under Brigadier General Robinson Duff made a thunder run to the Po, bypassing increasingly disorganized German units. They reached the river on the 22nd of April. On the Eighth Army front, the Argenta Gap had been forced by the 19th of April. The 6th Armoured Division swung left to race northwest along the line of the river Reno to Bondeno. This linked up with the Fifth Army to complete the encirclement of the German armies defending Bologna. The 6th Armoured Division linked with the 10th Mountain Division the next day at Finale some upstream along the river Panaro from Bondeno.
On the 23rd of April, the Italian National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy ordered a general insurrection. Fighting between Italian partisan forces and German troops broke out in Turin and Genoa while German forces prepared to withdraw from Milan. Parma and Reggio Emilia were liberated by partisans on the 24th of April. IV Corps continued its northwards advance and reached the Po river at San Benedetto on the 22nd of April. The river was crossed the next day as they advanced north to Verona which they entered on the 26th of April.
The Brazilian Division, 34th Infantry Division, and 1st Armored Division pushed west and northwest towards Piacenza. On the 27th of April, the 1st Armored Division entered Milan which had been liberated by partisans on the 25th of April. General Günther Meinhold surrendered his 14,000 troops to partisans in Genoa on the 27th of April. At Collecchio-Fornovo, the Brazilian Division bottled up remaining German units taking 13,500 prisoners on the 28th of April. V Corps met lessened resistance and traversed the Venetian Line entering Padua in the early hours of the 29th of April.
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Common questions
Who replaced Field Marshal Sir John Dill as head of the British Mission in Washington, D.C.?
Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson replaced Field Marshal Sir John Dill as head of the British Mission in Washington, D.C. after Dill died on the 5th of November.
When did the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy begin with heavy artillery bombardment?
Heavy artillery bombardment of the Senio defenses began on the 6th of April as part of the build-up to the main assault. The main assault started early in the afternoon on the 9th of April when 825 heavy bombers dropped fragmentation bombs on the support zone behind the Senio.
Which divisions attacked at dusk during the fight for the Senio and Santerno rivers?
The 8th Indian Infantry Division, 2nd New Zealand Division, and 3rd Carpathian Division attacked at dusk during the fight there were two Victoria Crosses won by the 8th Indian Infantry Division. They reached the Santerno beyond by dawn on the 11th of April.
What was the objective of Clark's battle plan set out on the 18th of March?
Clark set out his battle plan on the 18th of March with the objective to destroy the maximum number of enemy forces south of the Po. The plan required forcing crossings of the Po and capturing Verona.
On what date did the Brazilian Division enter Milan during the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy?
On the 27th of April, the 1st Armored Division entered Milan which had been liberated by partisans on the 25th of April. The Brazilian Division bottled up remaining German units taking 13,500 prisoners on the 28th of April at Collecchio-Fornovo.