Battle Of Ortona
The Battle of Ortona (20–28 December 1943) was fought between two battalions of elite German ( paratroops) from the German 1st Parachute Division under Richard Heidrich, and assaulting Canadian troops from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division under Major General Christopher Vokes. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during "Bloody December". The battle was known to those who fought it as the "Italian Stalingrad,"Zuehlke (1999) and as "Little Stalingrad", for the brutality of its close-quarters combat, which was only worsened by the chaotic rubble of the town and the many booby traps used by both sides. The battle took place in the small Adriatic Sea town of Ortona (Abruzzo), with a peacetime population of 10,000. Background By late 1943, the Allies did not intend the entire Italian campaign to win the war but only to remove Italian troops from other areas of Europe, divert German forces from France and reduce the strength of the German a ...
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