Chapter 221 Volume VI, Chapter XXXI, The Victory of Alexander in Italy

Our offensive is postponed until the spring Allied air raids Hitler is not allowed to retreat Weaknesses of German positions Captured Bologna on 21 April Mussolini was killed in Italy's unconditional surrender. I congratulate all concerned on the victory of a beautiful battle. Our campaigns in the Mediterranean ended with brilliant victories.In December Alexander succeeded Wilson as Supreme Commander, while Mark Clark took over as Commander-in-Chief of Fifteenth Army Group.After the intense fighting of the autumn, our troops in Italy needed to suspend their offensive and rest to recover their attacking strength.

The persistent, obstinate, and unexpected resistance of the Germans on all fronts has left us and the Americans severely deprived of artillery ammunition with too much attrition, and our hard experience in the Italian winter campaign compelled us to postpone the general attack to spring.But Allied air forces, formerly under General Eck and later under General Cannon, took advantage of their thirty-to-one advantage to attack the supply lines that kept the Germans fed.The most important line was from Verona to the Brenner Pass, the point at zero sixteen where Hitler and Mussolini used to meet in their lucky days.Traffic was disrupted in many places along the line for nearly the entire month of March.The other passes were often blocked for weeks at a time, and the transfer of the two divisions to the Russian front was delayed by almost a month.

The enemy has enough ammunition and supplies, but lacks fuel.Despite Hitler's defeats on the Rhine and Oder, their troops were generally well-strength and morale high.In northern Italy they had twenty-seven divisions, four of which were Italian.We have the equivalent of twenty-three divisions drawn from the British Empire, the United States, Poland, Brazil and Italy.The German High Command, if it weren't for the overwhelming superiority of our air force (the fact is that we have the initiative and can go anywhere to attack the enemy at will), and our own mistaken choice of defense against the wide Po River, would have used Don't panic.It would have been better for them to withdraw from northern Italy, to the strong defenses of the Adige; place of oppression.Or a strong barrier could be erected south of the national fortress in the Tyrolean mountains.Hitler's plan may be to use it as the last line of defense.

[1] Four Italian combat regiments, each approximately equal to the strength of a division, were formed and actively engaged in the campaign. But the defeat south of the Po declared disaster to them.Kesselring must have understood this, and it was undoubtedly one of the reasons for the negotiations mentioned in the previous chapter [1].Hitler was of course a stumbling block to this matter, so when Kesselring's successor Fettinghoff suggested a tactical retreat, he was criticized: What the Fuehrer expects, now as before, is to maintain extreme Be determined to complete your present mission; you are to defend every inch of Northern Italy under your command.

[1] Chapter 26, "Soviet Suspicion" This makes our problem easy to solve.If we could break through the Adriatic flank and reach the Po quickly, all German forces would be cut off and forced to surrender.So when the final battle came, Alexander and Clark directed their efforts to this.The capture of Bologna, which had been important in our fall plans, is no longer a major objective.The plan now is for the Eighth Army, commanded by General McCleary, to open the road from Bastia to Argenta, a narrow and well-defended passage with floods on both sides, but it can pass To the more open area over there.When this had been done fairly well, General Truscott's Fifth Army struck out from the hilly center, passed west of Bologna and joined Eighth Army on the Po River, and pursued together. to the Adige River.Allied navies wanted to convince the enemy that amphibious landings on both coasts were imminent.

On the night of April 9, after a day of massive air raids and artillery bombardment, the Eighth Army, led by the Fifth Army and the Polish Army, crossed the Senio River.On the eleventh they reached the next river, the Santerno.The first brigade and commandos of the 56th Division landed unexpectedly at Menat, three miles behind the enemy, brought across by a new type of amphibious troop transport tank called the Buffalo (vehicles brought from Asia). shipped from a base in the Adriatic Sea).On the 14th the good news spread throughout the Eighth Army.The Poles took Imola.The New Zealand division crossed the Silaro River.In its northward attack, the 78th Division captured the bridge at Bastia, and then joined the 56th Division in attacking the Arlesta road.The Germans knew it was a matter of life and death for them, so they fought desperately.

On the same day, Fifth Army began its center attack west of the Pistoia-Bologna road.After a week of fierce fighting, with the full support of Allied air forces, they broke out of the mountains, crossed the road west of Bologna and attacked north.On the twentieth, Vietinghoff ordered his men to retreat in defiance of Hitler's orders.He tactfully reported that he had decided to abandon the policy of stasis and adopt a strategy of maneuver.But it was too late.Argenta is in my hands, and the British 6th Armored Division is sweeping towards Ferrara.Bologna was threatened by a tight siege, both from the Poles from the east and west, and from the south by the American 34th Division.It was captured on April 21, and it was here that the Poles annihilated the famous German 1st Parachute Division.The Fifth Army was advancing on the Po, with tactical air force sabotage along the road ahead.Its American Tenth Mountain Division crossed the river on the 23rd, and the right flank of this army, the Sixth South African Division, joined the left flank of the Eighth Army.Behind them thousands of Germans were caught, and cut off from retreat, they crowded into camps or were taken to the rear on foot.This offensive is a great example of Army and Air Force collaboration.The entire force of the strategic and tactical air forces is engaged in combat.Fighter-bombers blew up enemy artillery, tanks and troops;

Light and medium bombers raided the supply lines, and our heavy bombers raided the enemy's rear all day and night. We crossed the Po on a wide front, following the enemy. All permanent bridges have been destroyed by our Air Force, as have ferries and temporary pontoons, which have thrown the enemy into confusion.As for the remnants who struggled to cross the river, all the heavy equipment was left behind, and it was impossible to regroup on the other side.Allied forces pursued them to the Adige River.The Italian partisans had long been harassing the mountains and the enemy behind them.On April 25th a signal for a general attack was given, and so they carried out widespread raids.Many cities, such as the famous Milan and Venice, were captured and controlled by them.The surrenders in the northwestern part of Italy became batch by batch.Genoa's four thousand defenders surrendered to a British liaison officer and partisans.On the twenty-seventh the Eighth Army crossed the Adige and advanced towards Padua, Trevizzo and Venice, while the Fifth Army was already in Verona, advancing towards Vicenza and Trento, its left flank extended to Briscia and Alexandria.

The naval campaign, though on a much smaller scale, went equally well.In January, the ports of Split and Zadar were taken by guerrillas, and coastal defenses on these bases disturbed the Dalmatian coast and helped Tito's steady advance, in April alone. , there were at least ten naval engagements in which the enemy was crippled and crippled without loss of British ships. The Navy fought on both sides in the final battle.On the west coast the British, American, and French navies were in constant motion, bombarding and harassing the enemy, repelling the enemy's constant attacks with light ships and mosquito submarines, and clearing the liberated ports of mines.These activities led to the last real destroyer operations in the Mediterranean.The destroyer Premuda, formerly of Yugoslavia, was captured by the Italians early in the war, and two other Italian destroyers, now manned by Germans, left Genoa on the night of March 17 to intercept the attack from Malta. A British convoy to Livorno.The British destroyers Observatory and Meteor, patrolling the northern tip of Corsica, were warned to attack.Both Italian ships were sunk with no loss or trauma to the British side.By the time our army reached Adige the war at sea was practically over.

Meanwhile, word of the armistice negotiations in March may have reached Himmler's ears. He did call General Wolf, the chief envoy in Italy and a senior SS official, for detailed questioning.Some time, of course, would pass before the facts forced the Germans to give up their lingering attitude.But on April 24, Wolf reappeared in Switzerland as Plenipotentiary of Vietinghof.I promptly informed the Russians. Prime Minister to Marshal Stalin April 26, 1945 Here's the news about crossword puzzles.German envoys, whom we had cut off all contact with a few days ago, are now at Lake Lucerne again.They claimed to have taken full power to order the surrender of the troops in Italy.Accordingly, notice has been sent to Field Marshal Alexander authorizing him to send these emissaries to the Allied headquarters (Mediterranean theater) in Italy.It is very convenient for them to go to France first, and then our plane will take them to Italy.Please send Russian representatives to the headquarters of Field Marshal Alexander immediately.

Field Marshal Alexander had the right to accept the unconditional surrender of large numbers of enemy troops on his front, but all political problems should be left to the three governments. 2. You will notice that the surrender of Italy was not mentioned in the telegram I sent you a few hours ago in response to Himmler's request for surrender in the West and North. [1] We have shed a great deal of blood in Italy, and the capture of a large number of German troops south of the Alps is a prized prize in the hearts of the British nation, and America has shared our troubles in this matter. [1] See Chapter 32, "The Surrender of Germany". 3. Everything that has been said above is personal news for you.Our staff has telegraphed the American staff so that the Anglo-American Joint Chiefs of Staff will issue equivalent instructions to Field Marshal Alexander, instructing him to communicate the full details to your Supreme Command through the Anglo-American military delegation in Moscow. Two plenipotentiaries were brought to headquarters in Alexandria, and on April 29 they signed an instrument of unconditional surrender in the presence of senior British, American, and Soviet military officers. I notified Moscow in good time. Prime Minister to Marshal Stalin April 29, 1945 I have just received a telegram from Field Marshal Alexander saying that representatives of Germany, after attending a conference including your officers, have accepted the terms of our unconditional surrender and are forwarding the important provisions of the instrument of surrender to General Vietinghof, please specify the date and hour for the armistice.It seemed that the entire German army south of the Alps would surrender at once. On May 2 nearly a million Germans surrendered as prisoners, and the war in Italy came to an end. As for Mussolini, his end also came.Like Hitler, he also seems to have kept the fantasy almost to the last moment.At the end of March, he visited his German partner for the last time.When he returned to his headquarters on the shores of Lake Garda, he was still confident that he could still win with that secret weapon.But the rapid Allied advance from the Apennines dashed these hopes.Rumors abounded that the enemy would make a final stand in the mountains on the border between Italy and Switzerland, but in the Italian Socialist Republic there was no longer the will to fight. On April 25 Mussolini decided to disband his remnants of the armed forces. He asked the Cardinal of Milan to arrange a meeting with the local military council of the Italian National Liberation Movement.Negotiations began that afternoon in the archbishop's palace, but Mussolini finally walked out of the meeting in a huff and self-confidence.That night, his car drove to Como's county seat.Followed by a convoy of thirty cars, most of the surviving Italian fascist leaders were in it.Mussolini could not come up with a complete plan at all.Since the discussion is useless, only people have their own schemes.Together with a small group of supporters he set off for the Swiss border in a small German convoy.The commander of this convoy did not want trouble with the Italian partisans.The leader was thus persuaded to put on a German overcoat and helmet.But the squad was stopped by partisan patrols; Mussolini was recognized and arrested immediately.Others, including his mistress, Ms Betasi, were also arrested.According to the instructions of the Communist Party, the leader and his mistress were taken out in a car the next day and shot. The bodies of the two of them and others were taken to Milan, where they were hung upside down from meat hooks at a gas station in Piazza Loreto.It was in this same square not long ago that a group of Italian partisans had been shot in public. This is what happened to Italian dictators. I was sent a photo of this last scene and couldn't help but be taken aback. Prime Minister to Marshal Alexander (Italy) May 10, 1945 I've seen that picture. The man who killed Mussolini once had a confession, published in the "Daily Express", in which he explained with satisfaction the insidious and cowardly methods he employed.Especially when he said that Mussolini's mistress was also shot by him.Is she also on the list of war criminals?Had he been ordered by someone to shoot this woman?It seems to me that the disciplined authorities in the British Army should investigate these matters. But at least the world can save an Italian Nuremberg. I congratulate the victorious commanders and their soldiers. Prime Minister to Field Marshal Alexander April 29, 1945 The brilliant campaign of Fifteenth Army Group's brilliant planning was ending with the total annihilation or capture of the enemy south of the Alps.I am delighted that you and General Mark Clark, after contributing several armies to the support of the Western Front, were able to achieve such a huge and decisive victory with outnumbered enemies.It is indeed yet another testament to your combat genius, and to the brotherly bond between the British and Commonwealth armies and the American army.Never, I think, have so many nations advanced and deployed their forces so successfully on one front.A mighty force of Britons, Americans, New Zealanders, South Africans, British|Indians, Poles, Jews, Brazilians and liberated Italians, all in the spirit of what a fighter for liberty and the salvation of humanity should be Unity and lofty friendship, march forward.This great final battle in Italy will go down in history as one of the most famous battles of World War II.Please convey my heartfelt congratulations to all the commanders and principal officers of the various services to which you belong, and especially to the brave and passionate soldiers whom they lead with such skill. prime minister to general clark May 3, 1945 Please allow me to express my sincere thanks for all the efforts you and your brave men have put into this great victory. My telegram to President Truman reads as follows: Prime Minister to President Truman May 3, 1945 Mr. President, I heard from your call that I would like to commend Marshal Alexander and the allied forces under his leadership. I have forwarded the message to Marshal as instructed and asked him to thank you. I am sure that he, along with all the nations of the Commonwealth of Nations who participated in the various campaigns, will deeply value your warm sentiments.Let me now also express my gratitude, on behalf of the British people, to General Mark Clark of the United States Army for his supreme service in the patronage of strategy and command of battle.This general led the elite divisions of the United States to fight, and the fighting friendship formed between himself and Field Marshal Alexander, which benefited this multi-national and multi-ethnic army, will surely remain in the hearts of our two peoples and become famous in the annals of history. I also sent a telegram to Mr. Bonomi. Prime Minister to Mr. Bonomi May 3, 1945 On this occasion of the surrender of the German armed forces in Italy, on behalf of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, I extend to Your Excellency warm congratulations on the complete liberation of the Italian territories from the occupation of our common enemy, and especially on the role played by the regular Italian Army and the Patriotic Army in the rear . 2. I believe that the Italian people, knowing that they have contributed to this unprecedented victory, and indeed hastened the recovery of their land, will turn this understanding into a source of strength for them in the days of similar tension in the future 3. On behalf of the British government, I would like to extend my best wishes to Your Excellency for the great cause of construction that the Italian government and people are now facing. 4. Now that Italy has brought her own army together with that of the United Nations in wartime, I hope that in the near future she will also work with the United Nations in the more fruitful labor of building peace. Thus ended our twenty months campaign in Italy.Our losses were severe, but the enemy's losses were far greater than ours, even before the final surrender.The main task of our army in the past was to contain the largest number of German troops possible and lure them away from the main battlefield.This task has been accomplished admirably.Except for a brief period in the summer of 1944, the enemy always outnumbered us.In August of that year, at their critical juncture, no fewer than fifty-five German divisions were deployed on various lines in the Mediterranean.Not only that, our army was originally ordered only to contain the relatively large number of enemy troops there, but in the end it achieved the great feat of swallowing them.A battle that is even more outstanding than this peak is rarely seen in history.