The 2nd New Zealand Division in Emilia-Romagna, September-December 1944

La Seconda Divisione Neozelandese nell’Emilia-Romagna, settembre-dicembre 1944  

Una volta superati gli Appennini – e la più temibile linea di difesa del nemico, la Linea Gotica – gli Alleati credevano che il territorio ancora da conquistare non presentasse grossi problemi. Davanti c’era la vasta e tanto agognata pianura del fiume Po, un terreno piatto e apparentemente facile. Tanto era l’ottimismo che la prima operazione condotta dalla Seconda Divisione Neozelandese (che rientrò al fronte proprio a Rimini), fu chiamata ‘Operation CAVALCADE’ (Operazione Cavalcata). Non ci sarebbe stata alcuna cavalcata, né per loro né per gli altri soldati alleati (Indiani, Polacchi, Canadesi, Britannici) fra i primi ad entrare in terra romagnola. 

Trovarono un terreno basso e piano sì, ma intersecato da una moltitudine di fossi e canali, e densamente coltivato con strette file di vigne, mentre piccoli paesi e case isolate offrivano rifugi sicuri al nemico. Inoltre, il tempo atmosferico si stava deteriorando rapidamente, e presto si sarebbero trovati ad affrontare un autunno precoce seguito da un inverno impietoso, con freddo, piogge, e nevicate. Oltretutto, c’era ancora un nemico ostinato che cedeva il terreno a caro prezzo, arretrando da una linea di difesa ad un’altra (da fiume a fiume), rendendo l’avanzata delle truppe alleate lenta e laboriosa. 

La Seconda Divisione Neozelandese tornò in azione a Rimini il 21 settembre 1944, il giorno della liberazione della città. Nel mese successivo, conquistò appena una trentina di chilometri, arrivando al f. Savio, prima di essere ritirata Il 22 ottobre, e mandata in riserva nelle Marche. Quando rientrò in azione, un mese dopo, il fronte era avanzato fino al f. Lamone, e l’arteria della SS 9 era percorribile oltre Forlì. Fu in una Forlì disertata da civili ma brulicante di soldati che gli uomini della Divisione trovarono alloggio per l’inverno. Il loro primo obiettivo fu l’attraversamento del f. Lamone e la liberazione di Faenza. 

Passarono il mese seguente in gelide case a Forlì, dove il freddo era tale da gelare l’acqua e persino il cibo in scatola. Finalmente, il nemico si ritirò da Faenza. Il 16 dicembre una pattuglia attraversò il Lamone sui ruderi del ponte fatto saltare dai tedeschi. I Neozelandesi costruirono in poche ore un ponte Bailey vicino al vecchio ponte, così la Divisione poté entrare e liberare la città il 17 dicembre. Ma il nemico era trincerato dietro i grandi argini del f. Senio a pochi chilometri di distanza, posizione che avrebbe difesa fino alla primavera del 1945. Così la Seconda Divisione Neozelandese passò il suo secondo Natale bianco in Italia fra le città di Faenza e Forlì, e rimase bloccata sul Senio per altri due mesi. Fu un inverno da incubo. 

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The Roman bridge across the Marecchia at Rimini

For the soldiers of the 2^nd New Zealand Division, the first phase of the advance across the plain of Emilia-Romagna,  in the autumn of 1944, saw them slog their way up the coast north of Rimini and then on to the Savio River, before they were withdrawn for a month’s rest. In the second phase, they rejoined the front south of the Lamone River. Their task was to build an access road to the Lamone, bridge the river and liberate Faenza on its northern bank. Thanks to the severe winter conditions and an unyielding enemy, however, the entire front was stalled on the south bank of the next river, the Senio, until the offensive was called off in January 1945.

Entering Rimini on 21 September 1944, in the wake of the 3^rd Greek Mountain Brigade, the 2nd New Zealand Division found the town badly battered by a combination of Allied bombing and artillery, and enemy demolitions. Miraculously, the Roman bridge, Ponte di Tiberio (also known as the Ponte di Augusto) across the Marecchia River was intact and the Roman gate, the Arch of Augustus, marking the perimeter of the ancient Roman town, was still standing. It was a grim welcome to the Romagna. The following day, the Division crossed the Marecchia River, to head north up the Adriatic coast in the direction of Ravenna. This was the beginning of what was was optimistically called Operation Cavalcade, but it would be no easy ride.

The vast, flat and apparently featureless plain of Emilia-Romagna was not ideal country for fast movement, as the Division quickly discovered. The enemy had the advantage of excellent defense positions in the occupied villages, the sturdy stone farm buildings, and isolated houses. The low-lying land, where heavy rains quickly turned the roads into impassable mires, the vineyards, with their parallel lines of leafy vines strung along wires between fruit trees restricting visibility, and the hydrology of the land, ensured that progress was agonizingly slow. The Po valley was in fact it was essentially still a swamp whose major watercourses had been canalized between flood banks rising in places 40 feet above the plain, the low-lying intermediate land crisscrossed by an intricate network of ditches and canals.

A typical 'casa' along the Gatteo-Gambettola road

It would take the Division four whole days to reach the south bank of the next river, the Uso, while behind them, the Marecchia was rising rapidly, making supply and reinforcement difficult. The Division battled its way north up the coast in mud and rain through Viserba, Torre Pedrera, Igea Marina and Bellaria towards Cesenatico, crossing the Fiumicino River on 11 October and the Piscitello River on 16 October.

Every man lends a hand to extricate a vehicle from the gluey, clinging mud of the Romagna, near Gambettola (Ref. WH2-2ItaP029b)

On 19 October, the Division began the thrust towards the Savio River, moving inland on all viable roads in the wedge between the two embanked roads, Route 16 (north through Ravenna) and Route 9 west towards Bologna), with the engineers ahead of them frantically clearing the roads and building bridges and accesses to the countless crossing points, including a 100-foot Bailey bridge over the Rubicon on the San Mauro-Gatteo road.

Numerous small, unheard-of villages such as San Mauro ai Pascoli, between the Uso River and the Rubicon, Sant’Angelo in Salute, Gambettola, and Savignano sul Rubicone on Route 9, and on the legendary Rubicon River (the historic frontier between the ancient provinces of Gallia/Gaul and Rome, fell into the hands of the Kiwi liberators. 

The battlefields of the Division up to the Senio

In the 5^th Brigade sector, while 23 Battalion was liberating Gambettola (near Cesena), before moving north to Ruffio, 28 (Maori) Battalion made a successful attack on the nearby village of Sant’Angelo in Salute. Meanwhile, 26 Battalion had crossed the Piscitello River and secured the village of Bagnarolo (where they received an embarrassingly warm welcome for ‘liberation’ achieved without firing a shot) and crossed the Savio River on 20 October 1944.  Two days later, on October 22, the Division began moving back into reserve. In seven weeks, the Division had advanced less than twenty miles. All illusions of a quick and easy victory had been dispelled. From a military point of view, it had been a frustrating period for the New Zealanders.

In their month’s absence, in the autumn of 1944, the front had advanced some 35 km. The Allies had captured the first stretch of Route 9, the Roman Via Emilia, a vital transport artery, and the two major towns of Cesena and Forli.

The countryside south of the Lamone River towards Faenza

The men of the 2^nd New Zealand Division moved into freezing billets in a cheerless Forli, almost entirely emptied of civilians. On 25 November 1944 the Division relieved the 4^th British Division along the muddy banks of the slow-flowing Lamone River. The Lamone was less than a metre deep, but the river was bounded by high stopbanks (4-7.5 m high x 3 m wide).  Across the river lay the town of Faenza where the Germans were ensconced and had the advantage of cover and the town’s high towers for observation.  The Division’s sector extended some 5.5 km along the eastern bank, roughly from Borgo Durbecco, on Route 9 (separated from Faenza by the river) to Scaldino. The Lamone bridges had been demolished. Any attempt to harass the enemy brought a barrage of response from the opposite stopbank.

The Division had an arduous job in their approach to the Lamone, as this section Route 9 was still in enemy hands. New Zealand engineers built two Bailey bridges (the 30 m ‘Brickworks Bridge’ over the Marzeno, just 2 km south of Faenza, and the 33 m ‘Hunter’s bridge’ in Cardinetta village about 5 km from Faenza). The ‘Lamone Road’, to supply the troops on the far side of the river, was hacked out of cattle tracks, fields and swamps, using truckloads of rubble from Forli. The road conditions were appalling, with heavy losses of vehicles and mules, and their respective loads.  On 1 December, Shermans attacked the towers of Faenza, and air attacks north of the river followed on 2 December.  The Division continued to carry out diversionary attacks and feints to draw off the enemy from the main attacks, but until the enemy was dislodged from Faenza, Route 9 remained in enemy hands and supplying troops on the far side of the Lamone was difficult.

View across the Lamone bridge to the centre of Faenza

On 14 December, the New Zealanders with the support of 10^th Indian Division, launched a full-scale attack on the Pergola-Pidura ridge southwest of the town and on 16 December 21 Battalion captured the village of Celle. The Indians were already on the banks of the Senio. The next day day, the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry crossed the Lamone and entered a near empty Faenza, without opposition: the Germans had looted and left, withdrawing across the Senio. The following day, General Freyberg moved Divisional HQ from Forli to Faenza. The Division was to advance quickly to the Senio. They would go no further until the following spring. After four months of frustration and misery, the offensive was abandoned in January 1945.

Taking medical supplies across the blown bridge in Faenza, Dec. 1944
(New Zealand Archives)