Newspaper Article

Battle For Ortona
With a brilliant victory behind them, .
the First Division of the Canadian Army
is . now winning the heights of the seacoast
' fawn of Ortona . The Moro river .
has been crossed and the summits around
the Italian town are . falling to Canadian
hands. Fresh ,honours were won by the
"Red' ,patch devils," as the enemy names
our heroes, . when they forced the passage
~of th'e Moro, leading the-8th'Army to the
further bank, where a new and still dangerous
task awaited them.
'The Germans are masters of trick and
treachery. It, is a commonplace ;with I
!them to feign defeat and then, when -a
generous ~ foe advances, to shoot him
down. ~ In this way a Canadian platoon
vvas wiped out. Every pass through the
¢nountains is .mined and, worse, by mines `
tivhieh are . non-metallic and cannot be .
detected' Every vantage point conceals a
triaehzne-gun nest or- a sniper. Cautiously
and courageously the Canadians have to
mnake their way through defiles and scale
;the steeps, dealing with each hidden
enemy .in turn. But more and more of -
~ae anrntntain fps axe coming into 'their. _
hands. They look down upon Ortona
and debouch upon the road to Guardia
grele, where, on more level surface, enemy
tanks strive in vain to drive them from
the bitterly won positions. The opposition
the First Division faces is said to be
the sternest yet encountered. .
The - determination of the Germans
testifies to the importance given by the
- enemy to the- holding of the Italian line.
The advantages are with the Hitlerites,
but the Allies continue their steady
pressure, slow - defeat to the enemy as
slow paralysis creeps over the cities of
the Reich. The thing of evil is dying. by
inches, and in its destruction Canadians
have a noble part, in the air aver Europe,
and among the mountains, and rivers of
Italy.
The success of th.e 8th Army's
present ;thrust depends upon the capture
~of Ortona, and the Canadians will not
fail. Dominion regiments are adding
lustre to names already bright with
triumphs won in the, face, of death. Well
may General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery,
commander of the British 8th Army,
say, "There - is no need to ask how the
Canadians are fighting, because they
always fight well." Hamiltonians will'be
proud that soldiers fxom their city are
taking part in the present glorious engagement

Poem

 The Battle of Ortona was one of the most critical battles in the Italian campaign, The Germans had made Ortona a strong point in their defensive line and after 9 days of intense fighting the Canadian army captured it from them. For the Canadian army it was one of the most fiercely fought battles of the war, and they inflicted more casualties on the German army at Ortona than in any other single battle..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDav0jlrE2w

Causes of the Battle of Ortona

The battle of Ortona, dubbed “Little Stalingrad” for its brutal up close combat, was a vicious battle. It was short, and contained, but a bloodbath all the same. It was fought between Italian and Canadian forces, and both suffered heavily losses. The Canadians were offensive in this attack. 
There are several occurrences that led to the battle of Ortona. One of them being that Ortona was one of Italy’s only deep-water ports. The Allies thought they would be able to use this port to shorten the journey their supplies would have to make. This, and the fact that Ortona was in the path of Pescara, which was the next target of the Allies, made it a very good city to try to take. Since the goal of this battle was to obtain the city as a port, and thus an administrative office, the Canadians were willing to fight very hard for it. The troops stationed in Ortona, however, had orders to “Fight for every house and every tree,” and that’s what they did. Ortona’s troops also had another motivation: there were still civilians in the city. Hitler thought they would fight harder if they were defending a “living city.” However, that backfired, because it made the Canadians fight harder as well.

What happened during the battle of Ortona?

What happened during the battle of Ortona?

The ancient city of Ortona is located in the province of Chieti on the central coast of the Adriatic Sea in Italy. In the second world war, Ortona was of importance to Germany and the allies as it was one of Italy’s few deep-water ports on the east coast. This location allowed easy transportation of necessary machines and supplies to troops. 

The battle of Ortona took place between December 20th -28th 1943. This battle came near the end of what became known as “Bloody December”, a series of brutal fights on the Adriatic coast of Italy. 

In early December 1943 near the city of Ortona, the exhausted British 78th Infantry division was relieved by the Canadian 1st Infantry Division who continued to fight the Germans and push closer to the city. The fighting was intense and the conditions miserable and shortly, the 1st Infantry Brigade was replaced by the Canadian 2nd Infantry Divison so they could continue to advance on Ortona.

The German soldiers were very experienced and had been ordered by Adlolf Hitler to defend and keep Ortona secure at any cost. They hid machine guns and weapons all around the town which made moving around very difficult for the Canadian troops.

Whenever Canadian forces tried to move through the narrow streets of Ortona, they were riddled with violent gunfire from well hidden Germans. A Canadian captain named Bill Longhurst of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment invented a practice called “mouse-holing”. Instead of moving throughout the streets, soldiers would move through the houses with a charge of plastic explosives. When the men huddled safely on the first floor of a building, one person would go to the top floor and place the explosives against a wall. After the explosion ran up the stairs and scurried through the “ mouse-hole” tossing grenades and firing their guns at the enemy. As news of this “mouse-holing” tactic spread, it became a well-known practice. Germans had their own fighting practice. The fighting in the city didn’t just include the use of mouse holing, but the Germans would use tunnels to get around. 

One major event that occurred during this battle was the execution of 24 Canadian troops after they took shelter in a building that had been rigged with explosives by the Germans. Seeking revenge, the Canadians lured a few dozen Germans into a building, detonated it, killing all of them.

The fighting in Ortona was mainly between groups of men and from building to building. On December 27th naval gunfire was used for the first time in support of the troops fighting in Ortona as allied warships began to approach off the coast. 

On December 28th the Germans withdrew from the city of Ortona. They lacked reinforcements and could no longer continue to fight. After 8 days more than 1375 Canadians had been killed. This was reported to be one third of all Canadians killed during the Italian Campaign. 

The battle of Ortona was one of the bloodiest battles Canadians fought in, in World War II giving it the name “ Little Stalingrad”.

Outcome and effect

On December 28th 1943 the battle of Ortona was won by the British. The battle was small yet extremely fierce lasting only 8 days. Without reinforcements the Germans had to withdraw. But victory came at a price for the British; the Loyal Edmonton Regiment had 172 casualties, and 63 of them died; the Seaforth Highlanders had 103, and 41 of them died. Also some support units were lost. The total number of Allied casualties reached 650 officers and men of all ranks. Although the battle didn’t last long it took many lives and had many casualties. But Canadians and Americans tried to protect their soldiers at all costs and would rather lose a historical monument then a life. Therefore many structures with heritage value were greatly damaged or even destroyed during the battle. Some of these structures included churches, and bridges. Ortona would never be the same place it once was after the war was over. Many people living in Ortona at this time continued with their daily lives after the battle even though so much had been lost and destroyed.
After 90 percent of Ortona was in Canada’s hands there was little choice for Ortona. Ortona had to be captured for Canadian troops to move forward and for Britain to advance. So the soldiers pushed on. Both sides fought hard from house to house. But in the end Canadian troops won over Ortona using their new fighting tactic where they would use artillery to pierce through walls instead of fighting in the streets. Ortona’s tactic of bombing buildings to destroy them and block the streets did not work to stop the British and Canadian troops. Ortona was a victory for not just the Canadian troops but all Canadians. Ordinary men left civilian life because they were need and in the end it was a huge accomplishment for most. The battle of Ortona also marked the final public battle for Canadians on the Italian front.