The 2nd New Zealand Division in action in Abruzzo

La 2^ Divisione neozelandese in azione in Abruzzo

Nell’inverno del 1943-44, la 2^ Divisione neozelandese combatté le sue prime battaglie in Italia in Abruzzo, sul fiume Sangro. L’obiettivo era di sfondare la Linea Gustav passando per Casoli, Chieti, Manoppello e Popoli per raggiungere Avezzano. Invece fu bloccata ad Orsogna da un nemico abile e ben preparato, complici un terreno di battaglia estremamente difficile e le paurose condizioni climatiche. 

La Divisione entrò in azione ad Atessa il 14 novembre 1943.  Pochi giorni dopo, attraversarono il Sangro e il 2 dicembre truppe neozelandesi entrarono a Castelfrentano. Oltre questo punto, lo scenario cambiò. La vera Linea Gustav era più avanti, a cavallo della strada di collegamento fra Orsogna e Ortona, che era anche la linea di rifornimento del nemico. Le truppe avanzavano in un metro di neve. Tentarono più volte di catturare Orsogna, ma furono sempre respinte.  Con l’inizio del nuovo anno, le operazioni stagnarono e a metà gennaio del ’45 la Divisione fu ritirata e trasferita ad ovest nel settore americano per partecipare alle battaglie di Cassino. Sul Sangro, fra morti, feriti e prigionieri di guerra, la Divisione perse 500 uomini. Quelli morti in battaglia sono sepolti a Torino di Sangro (355) e Ortona (42). Fu una lezione amara.

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The New Zealanders joined the Allied effort to breach the Gustav Line in the attack on its eastern margins. Traversing the Sangro River they hoped to initiate an advance to Rome from the east. The plan was for the New Zealanders to advance via Casoli-Chieti and Manoppello, then turn westward through Popoli to Avezzano. This was not to be: they would not reach Avezzano until the following summer, by a different route, after the battle of Cassino. 

This objective would be thwarted by a skilled and well-prepared enemy, the appalling winter conditions, and the extremely difficult terrain. The Sangro battlefield was “a land of tumbled hills, steep ridges, and deep river valleys, gentler near the coast but rising in ripples and folds to the dominating heights of the Maiella Massif, and 8000-foot mountain block, part of the Apennines.” (Army Board Publication, Roads to Rome). 

    Transports in heavy snow on the Castelfrentano-Guardiagrele turnoff 1-1-44   (New Zealand Archives -WH2-1ItaP021b)

Ahead of the New Zealanders lay two ridges, separated by deep gullies, which were the core of the Winter Line (the fortified German defence lines). Roads wound along the top of each ridge out to the coast from Guardiagrele, one through Castelfrentano and Lanciano, and the other through Orsogna to Ortona.

The first New Zealand action was on 14 November 1943, when Divisional Artillery shelled the small village of Atessa, forcing the Germans to vacate it the next day. Atessa became a Main Dressing Station (MDS) for the successive attacks.

On 18 November, the Division reached Perano, just below the Sangro River. The weather was wet and cold, the Sangro was in flood and the whole valley a bog. The early onset of winter, with heavy rains, caused the river to rise rapidly and the narrow, unpaved roads became a sea of mud. These increasingly dismal conditions, added to the geographic challenges, made advance arduous.

The braided Sangro River in spring

While the Canadians moved up the coast towards Ortona, the 2^nd New Zealand Division advanced northward on their western flank. The valley had been flooded and mined. All bridges had been blown up, as well as the railway and the roads. Infantry could move with difficulty and at great risk across this terrain; no armoured vehicles or wheeled transport of any kind could follow until the army engineers had made roads and bridges viable.

“Drivers ran the gauntlet of the Mad Mile, a long stretch of road climbing steeply past broken brickworks near Castelfrentano and looked to their luck at Hellfire Corner on the road across the Moro River. Other names sprang up: Suicide Lane, Mortar Ridge, Angel's Leap.

To the clink and click and spin of chains and the swish of creamy mud, the three-tonners helped bring up ammunition, petrol, and rations all through a half-drowned December… At times a man seemed to carry half Italy on his boots. As for his clothes, he never seemed to have time enough to scrape off one lot of mud before the next lot arrived. The cold nagged constantly. Odd bits of skin soon came off when semi-numb hands and fingers fumbled round sluggish engines.” (Jim Henderson, 4th & 5th Reserve Mechanical Transport Companies).  

The Sangro battlefield 

On 2 December 1943, 6 Brigade entered the small town of Castelfrentano. The capture of the town and the ridge to the east of it marked the first successful assault across the Sangro. It had been an easy success which fostered the belief that the enemy was on the run. They would soon learn otherwise: it would be four whole weeks before the Germans finally gave up Ortona, and six months before they left the area altogether. The real Winter Line defence positions lay ahead on the line passing from Ortona, through Orsogna and Arielli to Guardiagrele, and these would prove to be more difficult objectives. The main road joining these towns was the German supply line, which would be breached briefly by the Division, but could not be held.

On the eve of 2 December, 24 Battalion reached Brecciarola on a spur just east of Orsogna (which at the time, unbeknown to them, was not yet occupied by the Germans), while 4 Armoured made for Guardiagrele but was halted by a massive crater at the Melone crossroads on 3 December. 18 Armoured also failed in its attempt to breach the line south of Melone, its tanks foundering in the mud of the flooded Moro valley.

Building a corduroy road on the Sangro (New Zealand Archives - WH2-1ItaP015b)

On the night of 2-3 December 25 Battalion moved in to attack the town of Orsogna taking the garrison by surprise, but the enemy quickly organized a counterattack bringing in armoured support. The tanks of 18 Armoured were called in for support too late, and the infantry, after heavy street fighting and with no artillery support, were repulsed by the defenders. During the day-long fight, streams of wounded were ferried out to the Main Dressing Station (MDS) at Atessa. It had been a costly lesson.

The second attack on Orsogna, Operation TORSO, though better planned was likewise doomed to failure. On 7 December 1943, while 25 Battalion attacked the town, 28 Maori Battalion was to cut the German supply line, the Orsogna-Ortona road, on Pascuccio Ridge. While the infantry fought street by street and house by house in the town, craters in the road and enemy harassment slowed the arrival of tank support. Moreover, there was no way of getting tracked and wheeled vehicles up on the Pascuccio Ridge. Once again, the situation was entirely in the hands of the infantry: no armour could enter Orsogna until the town was taken, and 28 Battalion’s position on the ridge became untenable, forcing them to withdraw, though 23 Battalion was still holding the Sfasciata Ridge. This second failure cost 280 casualties in 48 hours. 

War scars in Orsogna

The remains of the church opposite the cemetery

On the night of 9-10 December, the third attack, Operation FLORENCE, was launched. This time, 5 Brigade was to encircle Orsogna from the north-east, supported by 18 and 20 Armoured Regiments, but things again went wrong: 28 Battalion was pinned down by the enemy so that 20 Armoured entered Orsogna alone, causing panic amongst the defenders. Without infantry, though, they could take no prisoners and finally had to withdraw. Then, on 15 and 16 December, the Germans counter-attacked against all the New Zealand positions.

On December 20, just when the Canadians reached Ortona on the coast, the Division attacked on the Fontegrande Ridge, then the Magliano (‘Jittery’) Ridge. Operation ULYSSES was quickly stunted by the weather and unyielding German defence. On 25 December, 6 Brigade relieved 5 Brigade on the Orsogna front, undoubtedly the nastiest part of the line, in a campaign which was the worst experienced by the Division. The New Year began wet and cold, with a metre of snow on the ground, and when the next changeover was made, on the night of 2-3 January 1944, there were already rumours of the withdrawal of the New Zealanders from Eighth Army front. In mid-January, the Division began transferring to the American sector on the other side of the Appenines.

Orsogna, defined by the Division’s historians as a town fit more for military manuals than tourist guidebooks, had been turned by the enemy into a nearly impregnable fortress, and in fact remained untaken. The town would not be liberated until after the fall of Rome the following June.

On the Sangro, in the words of Division historian Robin Kay, the Division was an old dog learning new tricks. The experience and expertise gained in the desert served little in the rugged topography and winter conditions of Italy. The Division’s losses during the 2 months on the Sangro were heavy (1634 casualties) and the men left the area defeated. Those who died on the Sangro are buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery (355) at Torino di Sangro, while others (42) lie in the Canadian Moro River War Cemetery just south of Ortona.