On December 28, 1943, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

• 1943 – World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona.

Battle of Ortona

Coordinates: 42°21'11"N 14°24'13"E


Canadian Armour Passing Through Ortona, by Charles Comfort. Canadian War Museum (CN 12245).

Date: 20–28 December 1943
Location: Ortona, Italy
42°21'11"N 14°24'13"E
Result: Canadian victory

The Battle of Ortona (20–28 December 1943) was a battle fought between two battalions of elite German Fallschirmjäger (paratroops) from the German 1st Parachute Division under Generalleutnant 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," 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.

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Thu Dec 28, 2023: On this day, December 28, 1943, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona.

[BobTheSubgenius]

1. My mother's younger brother was killed in the Italian campaign,

while serving in the PPCLI. He was almost never talked about, for some reason. Taciturn Scots Presbyterians, I suppose.