Kozure Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Described with a little dose of drama as "Little Stalingrad" by the media covering the battle at the time, the Battle of Ortona in Italy was nonetheless a terribly vicious and bloody battle for a small Adriatic coastal town where retreating German forces decided to make a stand in December, 1943. This article has more than its share of inaccuracies and exaggerations, but it's nice to see that someone remembers, once in a while. For the memories of all the Canadians, Americans, South Africans, New Zealanders, Indians, Brazilians, Italians and Germans who fought and died in the often-overlooked Italian campaign, as well as those who live on: Globe and Mail. Thursday, October 28, 2004. Page A1, A14. Italians thank Canadian liberators By Doug Sanders [Globe and Mail], Ortona, Italy More than 60 years ago, a few thousand Canadians arrived in Ortona and spent seven days destroying the Italian seaside town, demolishing most of its buildings and taking hundreds of lives in what many consider the most hellish week of violence in the Second World War. Yesterday, the people of Ortona came out to thank the Canadians. Hundreds of Italians came to the town square to cheer the octogenarian veterans visiting Italy to mark the 60th anniversary of its liberation. Canadian flags flew in every shop, and people thronged to greet Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson and to tell stories of their rescue by Canadians. They all had terrible memories of the seven-day battle of Ortona in December of 1943, when inexperienced Canadian regiments took on Hitler’s elite paratroopers, who had turned the town into a heavily fortified stronghold in a final effort to maintain control of Italy. For the townspeople and the Canadians, it was unimaginably bloody. Heavy ammunition filled the air day and night for a week. The result was a wasteland of collapsed stone buildings and smoking craters. In the end, 1,314 Ortona residents were killed, as were 1,475 young Canadian soldiers, in Canada’s most deadly battle. “It was just terrible to see. There were just hundreds of heavy guns firing throughout the day and night, people lying dead and injured all around you, snipers everywhere and mountains of rubble,” said Willaim (Skull) Worton, 85, a sergeant who fought his way building to building with the Vancouver-based Seaforth Highlanders regiment. In Ortona today, the destruction and death are still overshadowed by the deep sense of relief provided by the arrival of the Canadians. “Our lives were ugly,” said Silvana San Vitale, who was a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Ortona at the time. “Before the Canadians came, it was horrible – no work, no food, no life. We lost our nona [grandmother]. We were moving out of town to get away from the bombs, and since she was old, the Nazis made her get off the truck and they shot her in the road. Right in front of us.” “Then the Canadians came,” said her brother Giannetto, who was 13 at the time. “We were starving and they fed us. We are in eternal gratitude for that.” “On Dec. 13, the battle came to our little house,” said Tomaso Dimascio, 75. “We were surrounded by Germans and everything was destroyed – our house and everything around us. The explosions were everywhere. So we ran out of our house, to the Canadias – our whole family. I hadn’t had any food for days, so I asked for bread.” Mr. Dimascio wept as he recalled his encounter with the Edmontonians who fed him. “My face was very skinny from not having eaten. They told me I was very brave, and they let me stay there, giving food to people. I am so grateful.” Hundreds of Ortona residents flocked to the town’s Canadian military graveyard, which contains more dead Canadian soldiers than any other spot in the world, to give thanks to the men whom they had last seen when they were young. For the Canadians, it was a rare moment of recognition for an event that is often compared to the Battle of Stalingrad for its carnage and ferocity. The Canadians are often credited with having developed some key techniques of urban warfare, including “mouseholing”, in which holes are blown through upper floor walls so soldiers can move from one building to the next. Mostly, the Italian campaign is forgotten. It has been overshadowed by D-Day and the ensuing Normandy campaign, perhaps because they were key events for U.S. soldiers. But the far more difficult and bloody campaign to liberate Italy was a larger event for Canadians, and is considered important in having drawn Hitler’s forces away from the West. “People talk about it as if it was a sideshow, but this was bloody tough fighting. It was Hitler’s best regiments and tanks, and it was terrible mud and hilly terrain, and we had a terrible time just moving around, but we did it,” said Ivan Gunter, 84, a private who was an intelligence scout with the Ontario-based Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. “Those days in ’43 lasted as long as years,” Ortona Mayor Niccola Fritini told the soldiers as they visited their hundreds of dead friends in the graveyard yesterday.For more information about “Little Stalingrad” see: Zuehlke, Mark. Ortona: Canada's Epic World War II Battle Douglas & McIntyre: 2004. ISBN: 1550545574 For more information on the Italian campaign from the Canadian perspective: Dancocks, Dan. D-Day Dodgers: Canadians in Italy McClelland & Stewart: 1992. ASIN: 0771025432 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozure Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 As an afternote, I believe that our very own Grog Dorosh was working on a CMAK version of this battle. Any progress, Michael? [ October 28, 2004, 08:28 AM: Message edited by: Kozure ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I suggest d/l Michael Dorosh's "Little Stalingrad". Excellent Op. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Thanks for the kind words, Kingfish. The latest version is at the Scenario Depot. If you want an opponent PBEM Kozure, I'd be intersted. I'm not satisfied it has been playtested all that well, but we can give it a go if you like. If you can't find it at the depot let me know and I'll email it to you. I had an older version at the Proving Grounds which I should probably replace also. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozure Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 I've never been very good at PBEM games, Michael, but I'll give it a shot. I'll try downloading it tonight. I'll play either side that you'd like to playtest, Michael, just let me know. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Kozure: I've never been very good at PBEM games, Michael, but I'll give it a shot. I'll try downloading it tonight. I'll play either side that you'd like to playtest, Michael, just let me know. Well, you'll thoroughly enjoy our runthrough, then, cause I totally suck. I'll let you look at the scenario file first - yuo may decide it is unplayable. The op is 20 games long(!). Your choice of sides, I'm easy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozure Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 Holy frijoles, Michael - 20 battles? You took them seriously when they called it an epic battle, eh? OK - I guess I didn't need to see my wife all that much the next month or so... Alright, I'll bite. I'll play as the Canucks - I imagine it's the side that needs more playtesting. Is it the entire 1st Division action, or only the 1st and 2nd Brigades? (or only the 2nd?) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent Pollock Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I demand you two create a During/After Action Report thread in the Scenario Discussion area. Two-Hundred Quatloos on Dorosh to win! Maybe one of these days I'll get around to playing it...perhaps, quite fittingly, during X-mas break. [ October 28, 2004, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: Brent Pollock ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Kozure: Holy frijoles, Michael - 20 battles? You took them seriously when they called it an epic battle, eh? OK - I guess I didn't need to see my wife all that much the next month or so... Alright, I'll bite. I'll play as the Canucks - I imagine it's the side that needs more playtesting. Is it the entire 1st Division action, or only the 1st and 2nd Brigades? (or only the 2nd?) Two battalions only, in the city itself - Seaforths and Edmontons. Some PPCLI reinforcements, and tank support from the Three Rivers Regiment. Basically an understrength brigade. Don't download it from the depot, I will send you a setup. Email me at madorosh@shaw.ca and remind me of the addie you want to use - I think you posted at CANUCK today anyway, but just verify. I'll make sure we have the correct version, I think I needed to tweak the reinforcements after testing it with GJK. I didn't realize TRPs didn't carry over from one battle to the next so will need to readjust that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Brent Pollock: I demand you two create a During/After Action Report thread in the Scenario Discussion area. Two-Hundred Quatloos on Dorosh to win! Maybe one of these days I'll get around to playing it...perhaps, quite fittingly during X-mas break. I'll take that bet. Double or nothing that Dorosh loses big. I emailed Jim McLeod and never got a reply. Maybe I'll convert the map for VASL to spite him... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent Pollock Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Odd...Jim's usually pretty gabby. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFawlty Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Just went over to the Depot they had it there. Haven't played it yet. Thanks BF 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Axe_ Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Double or nothing that Dorosh loses big. Stop bolding your own name you freak! :mad: :mad: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Axe_ Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Axe2121: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Double or nothing that Dorosh loses big. Stop bolding your own name you freak! :mad: :mad: </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PseudoSimonds Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Originally posted by Axe2121: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Axe2121: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Double or nothing that Dorosh loses big. Stop bolding your own name you freak! :mad: :mad: </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Axe_ Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 AGRGARGRA GARGR AGARGRAGRAGR!!! I'm surrounded by dunderpates!! :mad: :mad: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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