Map of Allied offensive in Po Valley

The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War.[1] The attack into the Lombard Plain by the Allied 15th Army Group started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of German forces in Italy.

Allied Forces Headquarters Mediterranean

Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander
Mark Wayne Clark as a lieutenant general

Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander

Deputy: Lieutenant General Joseph T. McNarney
Chief of Staff: Lieutenant-General William Morgan[2]
Air Commander-in Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces: Lieutenant General John K. Cannon

Allied 15th Army Group

General Mark Wayne Clark

Chief of Staff: Major General Alfred M. Gruenther

US Fifth Army

Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott

Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott

Army troops
85th Infantry "Custer" Division
Major General John B. Coulter
Infantry: 337th, 338th, 339th Infantry Regiments
Artillery–105mm: 328th, 329th, 910th Field Artillery Battalions
Artillery–155mm: 403rd Field Artillery Battalion
92nd Infantry "Buffalo Soldiers" Division (Colored)[lower-alpha 1]
Major General Edward M. Almond
Infantry: 370th (Colored), 442nd (Nisei),[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] 473rd[lower-alpha 4] Infantry Regiments
Artillery–105mm: 597th, 598th, 599th, 600th Field Artillery Battalions (all Colored)
Armor–Tank: 758th Light Tank Battalion, 760th Tank Battalion (less two companies)
Armor–TD: 679th, 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion (less two companies)

Corps deployed west to east:

British Eighth Army

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery

Lt-Gen Sir Richard McCreery
Army troops
7th Hussars (amphibious tanks)
12th Lancers (armoured cars)
16th Army Group Royal Engineers
20th Army Group Royal Engineers
22nd Army Group Royal Engineers
Army Reserve
6th Armoured Division
Major-General Horatius Murray
26th Armoured Brigade
1st Guards Brigade
61st Infantry Brigade
25th Armoured Engineer Brigade (less detachments with assault divisions)
2nd Parachute Brigade

Axis forces in Italy

Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Marshal Rodolfo Graziani

Army Group C

Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (to 29 April)
General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz (from 29 April to 2 May)
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (from 2 May)

West: Army Group Liguria

Marshal Rodolfo Graziani

Corps Lombardia
Lieutenant-General Kurt Jahn
3rd Marine Infantry Division "San Marco" (Major-General Amilcare Farina)
Battle Group Meinhold
Fortress Brigade 135
Elements of the 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa"
LXXV Corps
General der Gebirgstruppe Hans Schlemmer
2nd Grenadier Division "Littorio" (Major-General Tito Agosti)
4th Alpine Division "Monterosa" (bulk of) (Colonel Giorgio Milazzo)
5th Mountain Division (Generalmajor Hans Steets)
34th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Theobald Lieb)

Center: Fourteenth Army

GnlLt Joachim Lemelsen

Generalleutnant Joachim Lemelsen

XIV Panzer Corps
Generalleutnant Frido von Senger und Etterlin
8th Mountain Division (Major-General Paul Schricker)
65th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Pfeifer)
94th Infantry Division (Major-General Bernhard Steinmetz)
LI Mountain Corps
Generalleutnant Valentin Feurstein until March 1945 and then Lieutenant-General Friedrich-Wilhelm Hauck
1st Bersaglieri Division "Italia" (Major-General Mario Carloni)
114th Jäger Division (Brigadier-General Hans-Joachim Ehlert to 15 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Martin Strahammer)
148th Reserve Division (Major-General Otto Fretter-Pico)
232nd Infantry Division (Major-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz)
334th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Böhlke)

East: Tenth Army

GnlLt Traugott Herr

Generalleutnant Traugott Herr

LXXVI Panzer Corps
Lieutenant-General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin (to 25 April 1945)
Major-General Karl von Graffen (from 25 April 1945)
42nd Jäger Division (Major-General Walter Jost)
98th Infantry Division (Major-General Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt to 11 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Otto Schiel)
162nd Turkoman Division (Major-General Ralph von Heygendorff)
362nd Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Alois Weber)
I Parachute Corps
Lieutenant-General Richard Heidrich
1st Parachute Division (Brigadier-General Karl-Lothar Schulz)
4th Parachute Division (Major-General Heinrich Trettner)
26th Panzer Division (Brigadier-General Alfred Kuhnert to 19 April 1945 then Major-General Viktor Linnarz)
278th Infantry Division (Major-General Harry Hoppe)
including the 1st Italian Assault Company "Forlì" (Pier Vittorio Riccardi)
305th Infantry Division (Major-General Friedrich von Schellwitz)
LXXIII Corps
Lieutenant-General Anton Dostler[lower-alpha 7]
Minor units watching the coast between the Po and Venice
LXXXXVII Corps (transferred to Army Group E in Yugoslavia on 10 April)
General of the Mountain Troops Ludwig Kübler[lower-alpha 8]
188th Mountain Division (Major-General Hans von Hößlin)
237th Infantry Division (Major-General Hans von Grävenitz until late April then Colonel Karl Falkner)
Army Reserve
29th Panzergrenadier Division (Major-General Fritz Polack)
155th Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Georg Zwade)

Army Group Reserve

90th Panzergrenadier Division (Brigadier-General Heinrich Baron von Behr)

Notes

  1. ↑ I.e., all black
  2. ↑ Japanese-American
  3. ↑ Attached 30 Mar 1945
  4. ↑ Attached 24 Feb 1945
  5. ↑ Detached from 92nd Infantry Division
  6. ↑ Detached from 92nd Infantry Division
  7. ↑ Executed by US for war crimes
  8. ↑ Executed by Yugoslavia for war crimes

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, p. 253
  2. ↑ Jackson (1988), p. 196.

Sources

Print

  • Blaxland, Gregory (1979). Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945). London: William Kimber & Co. ISBN 0-7183-0386-5.
  • Carver, Field Marshal Lord (2001). The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy 1943-1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-330-48230-0.
  • Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1987]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 2 - June to October 1944. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-071-8.
  • Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1988]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 3 - November 1944 to May 1945. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-072-6.
  • Kay, Robin (1967). "Appendix VII — Fifteenth Army Group — Order of Battle as at 9 April 1945". Italy Volume II : From Cassino to Trieste. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington, New Zealand: Historical Publications Branch.

Web

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.