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60-583: The Liri's source is in the Monte Camiciola , elevation 1,701 metres (5,581 ft), in the Monti Simbruini of central Apennines ( Abruzzo , comune of Cappadocia ). It flows at first in a southeasterly direction through a long trough-like valley, parallel to the general direction of the Apennines, until it reaches the city of Sora . In the upper part of Isola del Liri it receives

120-476: A mountain range in central Italy, a part of Apennines mountain system. The 'Simbruini' name derives from Simbruvium , a lake formed by the river Anio , situated in the territory of the Aequi ; it may derive from Latin sub imbribus ("under the rain"). They are also popularly known as "Rome's Alps ". The Monti Simbruini mark a part of the border between Abruzzo and Lazio . The Monti Simbruini border with

180-452: A character which it well deserves in the lower part of its course, where it was described by a nineteenth century traveller as a wide and noble river, winding under the shadow of poplars through a lovely vale, and then gliding gently towards the sea. At the mouth of the Liris near Minturnae, was an extensive sacred grove consecrated to Marica , a nymph or local divinity, who was represented by

240-524: A final attack when better weather and ground conditions arrived in the spring. In late February-early March 1945, Operation Encore saw elements of the U.S. IV Corps ( 1st Brazilian Division and the newly arrived U.S. 10th Mountain Division ) battling forward across minefields in the Apennines to align their front with that of the U.S. II Corps on their right. They pushed the German defenders from

300-596: A hope that, with the surrender of the Italian government, the Germans would withdraw to the north, since at the time Adolf Hitler had been persuaded that Southern Italy was strategically unimportant. However, this was not to be; although, for a while, the Eighth Army was able to make relatively easy progress up the eastern coast, capturing the port of Bari and the important airfields around Foggia . Despite none of

360-702: A month-long battle , succeeded in capturing it on 18 July. During Operation Olive , which commenced on 25 August, the Gothic Line defences were penetrated on both the Fifth and Eighth Army fronts; but, there was no decisive breakthrough. Churchill, the British Prime Minister, had hoped that a major advance in late 1944 would open the way for the Allied armies to advance northeast through the "Ljubljana Gap" (the area between Venice and Vienna , which

420-647: A more direct method of fighting the main force of the German Army in northwestern Europe . The ability to launch such a campaign depended on first winning the Battle of the Atlantic . The strategic disagreement was fierce, with the U.S. service chiefs arguing for an invasion of France as early as possible, while their British counterparts advocated a policy centred on operations in the Mediterranean . There

480-484: A series of amphibious landings on the northern coast that propelled Patton's troops into Messina shortly before the first units of the Eighth Army. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but they succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, with the last leaving on 17 August 1943. The Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare, and large airborne drops. Forces of

540-502: A tradition, adopted by Virgil , as mother of Latinus , while others identified her with Circe . Her grove and temple were not only objects of great veneration to the people of the neighboring town of Minturnae, but appear to have enjoyed considerable celebrity with the Romans themselves. Immediately adjoining its mouth was an extensive marsh, formed probably by the stagnation of the river itself, and celebrated in history in connection with

600-621: Is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, 60,000–70,000 Allied and 38,805–50,660 German soldiers died in Italy. The number of Allied casualties was about 330,000 and the German figure (excluding those involved in the final surrender) was over 330,000. Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly prisoners-of-war taken in the invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing. Over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 35,828 anti-Nazi and anti-fascist partisans and some 35,000 troops of

660-494: Is today's Slovenia ) to Vienna and Hungary to forestall the Red Army from advancing into Eastern Europe . Churchill's proposal had been strongly opposed by the U.S. Chiefs of Staff, despite its importance to British postwar interests in the region, as they did not believe that it aligned with overall Allied war priorities. In October, Lieutenant General Sir Richard McCreery succeeded Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese as

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720-945: The Byzantine exclave of the duchy of Rome from the Lombard duchy of Benevento until 1860-61: the year of unification of Italy when the Papal states and the kingdom of the two Sicilies were the last sovereign countries to share this border. During the Italian Campaign of the Second World War , the German defenses of the Gustav Line followed the Liri valley. Monti Simbruini 41°47′28″N 13°38′45″E  /  41.79111°N 13.64583°E  / 41.79111; 13.64583 The Monti Simbruini are

780-633: The Four days of Naples , holding out despite continuous German reprisals until the arrival of Allied forces. As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain: the Apennine Mountains form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east. In the most mountainous areas of Abruzzo , more than half the width of the peninsula comprises crests and peaks over 900 metres (3,000 feet) that are relatively easy to defend; and

840-620: The Liberation of Italy following the German occupation in September 1943, consisted of Allied and Axis operations in and around Italy , from 1943 to 1945. The joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre and it planned and led the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the invasion of

900-473: The Prime Minister , Winston Churchill , advocated their traditional naval-based peripheral strategy. Even with a large army, but greater naval power, the traditional British answer against a continental enemy was to fight as part of a coalition, blockading with their navy and mount small peripheral operations designed to gradually weaken the enemy. The United States, with the larger U.S. Army , favoured

960-631: The River Po on 22 April; the 8th Indian Infantry Division , on the Eighth Army front, reached the river on 23 April. By 25 April, the Italian Partisans' Committee of Liberation declared a general uprising, and on the same day, having crossed the Po on the right flank, forces of the Eighth Army advanced north-northeast towards Venice and Trieste . On the front of the U.S. Fifth Army, divisions drove north toward Austria and northwest to Milan . On

1020-573: The Allied invasion of Southern France . The sudden removal of these experienced units from the Italian front was only partially compensated for by the gradual arrival of three divisions, the Brazilian 1st Infantry Division , the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division , both in the second half of 1944, and the U.S. 10th Mountain Division in January 1945. In the period from June to August 1944, the Allies advanced beyond Rome, taking Florence and closing up on

1080-505: The Allies against German troops and the collaborationist National Republican Army ; an aspect of this period is the Italian civil war . In the summer of 1944, after the Axis defeats at Cassino and Anzio , central Italy, including Rome, was liberated. Northern Italy was liberated following the final spring offensive and the general insurrection of Italian partisans on 25 April 1945. Mussolini

1140-616: The American commander, Major General John P. Lucas , had with the battle plan, and his insistence that his forces were not large enough to accomplish their mission. Lucas entrenched his forces, during which time Kesselring assembled sufficient forces to form a ring around the beachhead . After a month of hard fighting against German and RSI forces, Lucas was replaced by Major General Lucian Truscott , who eventually broke out in May. It took four major offensives between January and May 1944 before

1200-469: The Axis. This was altered into a reduced number of landings but with more concentration of force. The Allied invasion of Sicily , Operation Husky, began on 9 July 1943 with both amphibious and airborne landings at the Gulf of Gela . The land forces involved were the U.S. Seventh Army , under Lieutenant General George S. Patton , the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade under

1260-592: The British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the 'toe' of Italy on 3 September 1943 in Operation Baytown , the day the Italian government agreed to an armistice with the Allies. The armistice was publicly announced on 8 September by two broadcasts, first by General Eisenhower and then by a proclamation by Marshal Badoglio . Although the German forces prepared to defend without Italian assistance, only two of their divisions opposite

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1320-614: The Eighth Army and one at Salerno were not tied up disarming the Royal Italian Army . On 9 September, forces of the U.S. Fifth Army , under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark , expecting little resistance, landed against heavy German resistance at Salerno in Operation Avalanche ; in addition, British forces landed at Taranto in Operation Slapstick , which was almost unopposed. There had been

1380-685: The FEB; the Brazilian soldiers captured about 15,000 German and RSI soldiers, the end of these battles marked the end of the conflicts in Italy and the end of the Italian fascist army. As April 1945 came to an end, the German Army Group C, retreating on all fronts and having lost most of its fighting strength, was left with little option but surrender. General Heinrich von Vietinghoff , who had taken command of Army Group C after Albert Kesselring had been transferred to become Commander-in-Chief of

1440-554: The Fifth Army by now-Lieutenant General Truscott. In the winter and spring of 1944–45, extensive partisan activity in Northern Italy took place. As there were two Italian governments during this period, (one on each side of the war), the struggle took on some characteristics of a civil war . The poor winter weather, which made armoured manoeuvre and the exploitation of overwhelming air superiority impossible, coupled with

1500-592: The Fifth Army's left flank, the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division (the " Buffalo Soldiers Division") went along the coast to Genoa . A rapid advance towards Turin by the Brazilian division on their right took the Italo-German Army Liguria by surprise, causing its collapse. Between 26 April and 1 May there were the Battles of Collecchio-Fornovo di Taro , which resulted in the surrender of the 148th German Infantry Division to Brazilian soldiers of

1560-583: The German 10th Army retreating from the Gustav Line between them and the Canadians. But this opportunity was lost on the brink of success, when Clark disobeyed his orders and sent his U.S. forces to enter the vacant Rome instead. Rome had been declared an open city by the German Army so no resistance was encountered. The American forces took possession of Rome on 4 June 1944. The German 10th Army

1620-426: The German government found the number of victims of Nazi war crimes in Italy to be 22,000. The victims were primarily Italian civilians, sometimes in retaliation for partisan attacks, and Italian Jews . Approximately 14,000 Italian non-Jewish civilians, often women, children and elderly, have been documented to have died in over 5,300 individual instances of war crimes committed by Nazi Germany. The largest of those

1680-655: The German occupation and started the Italian resistance movement . Mussolini, who was rescued by German paratroopers, established a collaborationist puppet state , the Italian Social Republic (RSI), to administer the German-occupied territory. On 13 October 1943, the Allies recognized Italy as a co-belligerent in the war against Germany. Thereafter, the Italian Co-Belligerent Army and the Italian partisans fought alongside

1740-459: The Germans from the rugged terrain. The Americans had the important role of pushing Axis forces out of mainland Sicily on left flank. When the Eighth Army were held up by stubborn defences in the rugged hills south of Mount Etna , Patton amplified the American role with a wide advance northwest toward Palermo and then directly north to cut the northern coastal road. This was followed by an eastward advance north of Etna towards Messina, supported by

1800-569: The Germans would have to transfer troops from the Eastern Front to defend Italy and the entire southern coast of France, thus aiding the Soviet Union . The initial plan was for landings in the south-east, south and north-west areas of the island which would lead to the rapid capture of key Axis airfields and except for Messina , all the main ports on the island. This would allow a rapid Allied build-up, as well as denying their use to

1860-519: The Gothic Line. This last major defensive line ran from the coast some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Pisa , along the jagged Apennine Mountains chain between Florence and Bologna to the Adriatic coast , just south of Rimini . In order to shorten the Allied lines of communication for the advance into Northern Italy, the Polish II Corps advanced towards the port of Ancona and, after

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1920-741: The Italian Social Republic. On the Western Front of World War II , Italy was the most costly campaign in terms of casualties suffered by infantry forces of both sides, during bitter small-scale fighting around strongpoints at the Winter Line , the Anzio beachhead and the Gothic Line . Casualties among infantry in Italy were proportionally higher than they were on the Western Front of WWI . The British, especially

1980-653: The Italian mainland and the campaign in Italy until the surrender of the Axis forces in Italy in May 1945. The invasion of Sicily in July 1943 led to the collapse of the Fascist Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini , who was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III on 25 July. The new government signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943. However, German forces soon invaded northern and central Italy, committing several atrocities against Italian civilians and army units who opposed

2040-671: The Monti Cantari and the Carseolani Mountains. The range's highest peak is Monte Cotento , at 2,015 metres (6,611 ft) in elevation. The headwaters of the River Aniene are in the range. The Liri river, one of the main Italian rivers, also originates in the mountains ( Petrella Liri ). On the Lazio side of the mountain range, between the provinces of Rome and Frosinone, a natural park has been established,

2100-1353: The Monti Simbruini include: the Apennine deciduous montane forests ecoregion , in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome ; and the Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests ecoregion, in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Italian Campaign (World War II) Allied victory Sicily: 24,900 casualties Italian mainland: [REDACTED] 119,200 [REDACTED] 89,440 [REDACTED] 35,000 [REDACTED] 32,171 [REDACTED] 25,890 [REDACTED] 20,000 [REDACTED] 11,000 [REDACTED] 8,668 [REDACTED] 5,927 [REDACTED] 3,860 [REDACTED] 2,300 [REDACTED] 452 Total : 358,295–376,637 casualties Sicily: [REDACTED] 150,000 [REDACTED] 27,940 Italian mainland: [REDACTED] 336,650–580,630 [REDACTED] 35,000 (dead only) Surrender at Caserta : 1,000,000 captured Total : 1,549,590–1,793,570 casualties Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Invasion of Italy Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The Italian campaign of World War II , also called

2160-501: The Parco naturale regionale Monti Simbruini. The Regional Park of the Monti Simbruini , which also includes the Monti Cantari range, was established in 1983. It has an area of 300 square kilometres (120 sq mi). The regional park and mountains include the comuni (villages) of: Camerata Nuova , Cervara di Roma (Campaegli), Filettino , Jenne , Subiaco (Monte Livata), Trevi nel Lazio and Vallepietra . Habitats in

2220-459: The Senger Line by 23 May 1944). The Winter Line proved a major obstacle to the Allies at the end of 1943, halting the Fifth Army's advance on the western side of Italy. Although the Gustav Line was penetrated on the Eighth Army's Adriatic front, and Ortona was liberated with heavy casualties to Canadian troops, the blizzards, drifting snow and zero visibility at the end of December caused

2280-457: The U.S. and British political leadership reached a compromise in which both would commit most of their forces to an invasion of France in early 1944, but also launch a relatively small-scale Italian campaign. A contributing factor was Franklin D. Roosevelt 's desire to keep U.S. troops active in the European theatre during 1943 and his attraction to the idea of eliminating Italy from the war. It

2340-601: The Western Front ( OB West ) in March 1945, signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of the German and RSI forces in Italy on 29 April, formally bringing hostilities to an end on 2 May 1945. On 1 May, a day before the Axis forces in Italy capitulated, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani , the Minister of Defense of the Italian Social Republic, ordered all Italian RSI units to surrender to the Allies. Research in 2016 funded by

2400-575: The advance to grind to a halt. The Allies' focus then turned to the western front, where an attack through the Liri valley was considered to have the best chance of a breakthrough towards the Italian capital. Landings behind the line at Anzio during Operation Shingle, advocated by Churchill, were intended to destabilise the German Gustav line defences, but the early thrust inland to cut off the German defences did not occur because of disagreements that

2460-416: The adventures of Gaius Marius . About 70 miles (110 km) upstream from its mouth, the river passes what used to be Lake Fucino , separated from the lake basin by the mountain ridge of Monte Salviano . The Roman emperor Claudius had a tunnel dug through the ridge in an attempt to drain the lake, which had no natural outlet, to the Liri. The later emperor Hadrian tried to improve the tunnel but, after

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2520-633: The command of Major-General Guy Simonds and the British Eighth Army , under General Bernard Montgomery . The original plan required a strong advance by the British northwards along the east coast to Messina. The Canadians took the central position, with the British on their right and the Americans on the left. The Canadian War Cemetery in Agira is testament to the sacrifice made driving

2580-659: The commander of the Eighth Army. In December, Lieutenant General Mark Clark, the Fifth Army commander, was appointed to command the 15th Army Group , thereby succeeding the British General Sir Harold Alexander as commander of all Allied ground troops in Italy; Alexander succeeded Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson as the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theatre. Clark was succeeded in command of

2640-879: The commanding high point of Monte Castello and the adjacent Monte Belvedere and Castelnuovo, depriving them of artillery positions that had been commanding the approaches to Bologna since the narrowly failed Allied attempt to take the city in the autumn. Meanwhile, damage to other transport infrastructure forced Axis forces to use sea, canal and river routes for re-supply, leading to Operation Bowler against shipping in Venice harbour on 21 March 1945. The Allies' final offensive commenced with massive aerial and artillery bombardments on 9 April 1945. The Allies had 1,500,000 men and women deployed in Italy in April 1945. The Axis on 7 April had 599,404 troops of which 439,224 were Germans and 160,180 were Italians. By 18 April, Eighth Army forces in

2700-510: The country of the Vestini ; an opinion which is adopted also by Lucan . The surrounding area was devastated by Hannibal during his invasion in response to the locals' having burnt the bridges over the river. In 238 BC, the adjacent city of Fregella was the site of a crushed rebellion against Roman rule. The Liris is noticed by several of the Roman poets, as a very gentle and tranquil stream,

2760-470: The east had broken through the Argenta Gap and sent armour racing forward in an encircling move to meet the U.S. IV Corps advancing from the Apennines in Central Italy and to trap the remaining defenders of Bologna. On 21 April, Bologna was entered by the 3rd Carpathian Division , the Italian Friuli Group (both from the Eighth Army) and the U.S. 34th Infantry Division (from the Fifth Army). The U.S. 10th Mountain Division, which had bypassed Bologna, reached

2820-406: The fall of the empire, tunnel maintenance was not maintained and it was blocked by silt and debris, allowing the lake to refill. A new tunnel was completed in the 1860s, and the basin of the former lake still drains to the Liri via that tunnel, through the ridge near the town of Avezzano . The river, in most tracts, matched the longest lived border in Europe from the 6th century a.d when it separated

2880-408: The line was eventually broken by a combined assault of the Fifth and Eighth Armies (including British, American, French, Polish, and Canadian corps) concentrated along a 30-kilometre (20-mile) front between Monte Cassino and the western seaboard. In a concurrent action, Clark was ordered to break out of the stagnant position at Anzio and cash in on the opportunity to cut off and destroy a large part of

2940-401: The massive losses suffered to its ranks during the autumn fighting, the need to transfer some British troops to Greece (as well as the need to withdraw the British 5th Infantry Division and I Canadian Corps to northwestern Europe ) made it impractical for the Allies to continue their offensive in early 1945. Instead, the Allies adopted a strategy of "offensive defence" while preparing for

3000-438: The most of the natural defensive geography of Central Italy , whilst denying the Allies the easy capture of a succession of airfields, each one being ever closer to Germany. Hitler was also convinced that yielding southern Italy would provide the Allies with a springboard for an invasion of the Balkans, with its vital resources of oil, bauxite, and copper. Kesselring was given command of the whole of Italy and immediately ordered

3060-417: The northern reserves having been made available to the German 10th Army , it nevertheless came close to repelling the Salerno landing. The main Allied effort in the west initially centred on the port of Naples : that city was selected because it was the northernmost port that could receive air cover by fighter planes flying from Sicily. In the city itself, anti-Fascist Forces began an uprising, later known as

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3120-443: The preparation of a series of defensive lines across Italy, south of Rome . Two lines, the Volturno and the Barbara , were used to delay the Allied advance so as to buy time to prepare the most formidable defensive positions, which formed the Winter Line – the collective name for the Gustav Line and two associated defensive lines on the west of the Apennine Mountains, the Bernhardt and Hitler lines (the latter had been renamed

3180-483: The spurs and re-entrants to the spine confronted the Allies with a succession of ridges and rivers across their line of advance. The rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which had the potential to thwart the Allied commanders' plans. In early October 1943, Hitler was persuaded by his Army Group Commander in Southern Italy, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring , that the defence of Italy should be conducted as far away from Germany as possible. This would make

3240-466: The waters of Fibreno and then it divides into two branches which then rejoin, surrounding the lower part of the town ( Isola del Liri stands for Liri Island ). One branch makes a 28-metre (92 ft) high waterfall situated in the centre, a unique case in Europe. A dam is built on the river after the confluence with the Sacco at Ceprano . The last important Liri's tributary is the Melfa , with which it joins near Aquino . After Cassino it receives

3300-410: The waters of the Gari , and afterwards it is known as Garigliano . The Liri-Garigliano system has a total water drainage basin of 5,020 square kilometres (1,940 sq mi). Both Strabo and Pliny tell us that it was originally called Clanis , a name which appears to have been common to many Italian rivers (see for ex. Clanio and Lagni); the former writer erroneously assigns its sources to

3360-423: Was allowed to get away and, in the next few weeks, may have been responsible for doubling the Allied casualties in the next few months. After the capture of Rome, and the Allied invasion of Normandy in June, the U.S. VI Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps (CEF), which together amounted to seven divisions, were pulled out of Italy during the summer of 1944 to participate in Operation Dragoon , codename for

3420-411: Was captured by the Italian resistance and summarily executed by firing squad. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on 2 May 1945, one week before the formal German Instrument of Surrender . Both sides committed war crimes during the conflict, and the independent states of San Marino and Vatican City surrounded by Italian territory also suffered damage. It

3480-413: Was even pressure from some Latin American countries to stage an invasion of Spain, which, under Francisco Franco , was friendly to the Axis nations, although not a participant in the war. The American staff believed that a full-scale invasion of France at the earliest possible time was required to end the war in Europe, and that no operations should be undertaken that might delay that effort. Eventually

3540-443: Was hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the conflict, or at least increase the pressure on it and weaken it. The elimination of Italy would enable Allied naval forces , principally the Royal Navy , to dominate the Mediterranean Sea, securing the lines of communications with Egypt and thus Asia. Italian divisions on occupation and coastal defence duties in the Balkans and France would be withdrawn to defend Italy, while

3600-411: Was the Marzabotto massacre , where in excess of 770 civilians were murdered. The Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre saw 560 civilians killed while the Ardeatine massacre saw 335 randomly selected people executed, among them 75 Italian Jews. In the Padule di Fucecchio massacre up to 184 civilians were executed. Allied war crimes during the conflict were reported, including killing of civilians (such as

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