Battle of Faenza WW2

Background

The Battles of Faenza occured between the 6th November - 17th December 1944 as part of Operation Olive, the main Allied offensive on the Gothic Line in August and September 1944, part of the Italian Campaign in the Second World War.

The first battle made gains, the second battle was haulted by a German counter attack and heavy rains and the third battle ended with the capture of Faenza by the New Zealanders and further advances being checked North of Faenza by a German counter attack.

Faenza is located 50 kilometres (31 miles) southeast of Bologna. Bologna was immediate objective of the forces fighting in Italy on the 28th November when Field Marshal Alexander issued Operation Order 4 directing then to secure the general line Ravenna-Bologna-Spezia.

The capture of Bologna would bring the armies out of the Apennine Mountains and into the Po Valley. The harsh winter conditions of Northern Italy were expected to hault offensive operations by January 1945. Being in the Po Valley would not be so exacting on troops compared to the mountains.

After the capture of Foli on the 8th November the Allies which consited of the US 5th Army and British 8th Army would make preparations for this assault along the Gothic line which would contain Kesslrings armies in Italy.

Order of Battle

Allies

8th Army,

British V Corps

46 Division

128 Brigade,

56th Division

169 Brigade

2nd New Zealand Division

28 Maori Battalion

5 NZ Infantry Brigade

10 Indian Division

43 Gurkha Brigade

25 Indian Brigade

II Polish Corps

5th Kresowa Division

3rd Carpathian Division

1 Canadian Corps

Axis

Army Group C

LI Mountain Corps

48th Infantry Division

285th Infantry Regiment

286th Infantry Regiment

Alpine Training Battalion (Mittenwald) (a school battalion from the German mountain warfare school at Mittenwald)

4th Alpine Battalion.

26 German Division

577 Grenadier Regiment

LXXVI Panzer Corps

90 Panzer Grenadier Division (Lieutenant General Ernst-Günther Baade: Dec 1943 – Dec 1944)

200 Panzer Grenadier Regiment

305 Infantry Division

98th Infantry Division

The Three Battles of Faenza

Preliminaries

After the capture of Foli on the 9th November When the British attempted to exploit beyond the city, however, they were checked briefly by the Germans who, in the meantime, had established themselves behind the flooded Montone. Nevertheless, by the 12th the British managed to cross the river at Ladino, four miles southwest of Forli. Two days later they overran Villagrappa two miles northwest of the bridgehead. But by the 16th growing enemy resistance had brought the 5 Corps' advance to a halt seven miles southeast of Faenza, the corps' next objective. Faenza then leading to Bologna.

As they had during the operation against Forli, the 5 Corps' 4th and 46th Divisions would avoid a frontal assault on the city and attempt to invest it from the Apennines foothills to the south. On the corps' left flank this maneuver was extended as the 2 Polish Corps' 3d Carpathian Division sent patrols as far as Modigliana, ten miles southwest of Faenza where contact was made with the Fifth Army's 13 Corps. As before, the 4th and 46th Divisions were to make a converging attack, the former advancing south of Highway 9 and the latter astride the highway. On the 5 Corps' right a holding attack would be set in motion by the 10th Indian Division. For the present the British 56th Division remained in corps reserve.

By 21 November the 5 Corps had completed preparations for the assault on Faenza. On that day clear skies permitted 500 aircraft, including medium bombers, to roar into the air above the front to bomb and strafe enemy positions on the Faenza sector over the next two days. Shortly before the divisions began to move corps artillery opened fire across the front.

The First Battle of Faenza (14-26 November, 1944)

II Polish Corps

On the Polish corps' left a screening force entered Modigliana on the 15th. The Polish Corps conducted attacks to seize the Monte Fortino area, between 14-24 November. The tasks of V corps included taking the ridge M. Fortino-M. Piano-Oriolo-M. Ricci.

To 5 Corps' left, General Anders' Polish corps had made good progress on the 16th in the valley of the Marzeno southwest of Faenza. Capturing Montefortino, the high ground northeast of Modigliana, the 5th Kresowa Division lost it to a counterattack on the following night. It was evident that the Germans were to hold the ground at any cost and that greater forces would be required.

On the 18th the 3d Carpathian Division relieved the 5th Kresowa Division. The 3d Carpathian Division sent patrols as far as Modigliana, ten miles southwest of Faenza where contact was made with the Fifth Army's 13 Corps. They went on to recapture Montefortino on the 21st.

The battle for Monte Fortino compelled the Germans to retreat behind the River Lamone. The outflanking manuver allowed V corps to approach Faenza from the east. Similarily the 5th Army 13 Corps was able to make gains from the abandoned areas left by the retreating enemy.

By nightfall on the 23rd the left wing of 5 Corps thus was firmly established across the Cosina on a front of three miles south of Route 9, and the Polish Corps had made some progress on the higher ground in the foothills of the Apennines. These successes, and an improvement in the weather which gave better going for the tanks, left the German 26 Panzer Division with no choice but to pull back to the shelter of the Lamone River, which meant that 278 Division, on the banks of the Montone, had to protect its exposed right flank, three miles in length, between the two rivers.

The Second Battle of Faenza (26 November - 6 December 1944)

In the next battle the V corps was to advance south of Faenza with the object of occupying the Pideura hills. A deep flanking manuver was to be coordinated between the 2 Polish Corps and the 8 Indian Division of 13 Corps in an effort to lead to Imola.

The 1 Candian Corps attack to capture Russi crossing over the R. Lamone and cut Highway 16 south of Ravenna where the attack began at 900 hours on December 2. By 930 hours Russi was captured and the enemy had pulled behind the R. Lamone. V Corps started its offensie to force a bridgehead across the Lamone North and east of Quartolo on December 3. Four hours after the V Corps attack began the Polish Corps started its attack to capture the Monte San Rinaldo, a dominating feature in the area to force the withdraw of the enemy from the Monte di Rontana feature.

Counter attacks were expereinced in the Rinaldo sector which the Polish Corps repelled after fierce fighting on Dec 6. Heavy rain on the 6th prevented further assaults

The Third Battle of Faenza (7-17 December, 1944)

Although willing to authorize a withdrawal in the northeast, the German leader was adamant about holding in place on the Faenza sector. As Herr's panzer corps dug in along the west bank of the Lamone, Hitler personally intervened on 7 December to order Vietinghoff to stand fast at Faenza and to yield no ground there. To help Army Group C in this effort OKW promised to send 2,600 replacements to Italy. On 9 December, first the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division, then the 98th Infantry Division appeared on the LXXVI Panzer Corps' front to back up the Fuehrer's order. As the British widened and eventually joined their bridgeheads west of the Lamone on the 11th, Hitler modified his original order by authorizing Vietinghoff to fall back slightly, but cautioned against a temptation to withdraw into the illusive security of the so-called Genghis Khan switch position, which ran northeast from Bologna thirty miles to Lake Comacchio on the Adriatic coast.

Even before Hitler ordered his troops to defend Faenza at all costs, the British 5 Corps had encountered growing resistance as it attempted to turn the successive enemy defense lines by advancing northwestward through the Apennines foothills south of Highway 9. In addition to increasing resistance, broken country and a lack of roads made it hard for the 46th Division to maneuver in trying to clear the Pideura Ridge. And for a few days high water made the bridges over the Lamone impassable. Consequently, it was not until 7 December that the British finally cleared the enemy from Pideura village. The Germans, in the meantime, having received Hitler's order to hold in place, stubbornly defended high ground to the north of Pideura. Poor weather, which restricted tactical air support over the battle area, even enabled the Germans to launch several local counterattacks, thereby preventing the British from exploiting Pideura's capture.

There was another factor limiting the momentum of the British advance--the necessity to pull units out of line to be sent to Greece. Although all counterattacks were thrown back with considerable loss to the enemy, Major General C. F. Keightley, the 5 Corps commander, was forced to halt his attack to pull the Greece-bound 46th Division out of the line. This forced him to regroup his remaining divisions across the corps' sector. Regrouping was completed by 14 December, as two relatively fresh units, the 10th Indian and 2d New Zealand Divisions, moved into the bridgeheads across the Lamone. The Indian division assembled in the left half of the bridgehead and the New Zealand division in the right and along the line of the river east of Faenza. North of the city lay the 5 Corps reserve--the 56th Division, now committed to a quiet water-logged sector east of the Lamone.

While General Keightley regrouped his corps, the 2nd Polish Corps' 5th Kresowa Division advanced beyond Brisighella onto the high ground seven miles southwest of Faenza. When patrols reached the Sintria River, three miles northwest of Brisighella, they found that high water made the river unfordable.

Taking advantage of concealment offered by darkness, the 5 Corps, in the meantime, launched its assault on Faenza during the night of 14 December. To support the assault General Keightley had massed more than 400 guns to cover the advance of the New Zealanders from the southwest and the Indians from the east of the city. On the 5 Corps' left the Polish troops crossed the flooded Sintria and closed up to the Senio River, two miles to the west. Faced now with the prospect of being trapped in Faenza, the German garrison withdrew to the northwest, where they re-established themselves along the Senio, three miles away. On the heels of the retreating Germans the 43d Motorized Indian Infantry Brigade (10 Indian Division) rolled into the city. By dawn on the following day the Indians had established two small bridgeheads across the Senio at a point west of Faenza.

Before the line of the Senio could be forced in any strength, a bridge carrying Highway 9 across the Lamone at Faenza had first to be rebuilt. But north of the city opposite the 56th Division, the Germans still held positions where flooded fields enabled them to take their time about withdrawing in the sector. From these positions enemy fire made completion of the bridge impossible until the Germans finally withdrew on the 22d. While the engineers worked on the bridge, the 5 Corps tried consolidating its positions in and around Faenza. Meanwhile the Eighth Army's advance along Highway 9 had come virtually to a halt.

On Eighth Army's coastal flank, the 1st Canadian Corps encountered less trouble reaching the Senio in its sector. After having consolidated its positions beyond Ravenna and along the east bank of the Lamone River, the Canadians patrolled northward toward the Comacchio Lagoon, a large coastal body of water nine miles north of Ravenna. On 11 December the Canadians established two large bridgeheads over the Lamone, following on the 12th with a third, six miles northwest of Ravenna near Mezzano on Highway 16. After linking all three bridgeheads, the Canadians advanced against relatively little opposition toward Bagnacavallo, six miles southwest of Mezzano, as the Germans, with the Canadians following closely, fell back to the next river line, the Senio, five miles west of the Lamone river.

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. United States Army in World War II.: Cassino to the Alps, Ernest Fisher, To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.

14 December 1944 captured Faenza

Further Actions

A German Counterattack occured on the 26 December, a limited objective attack under the code Operation WINTERGEWITTER. The primary purpose of this operation was to relieve pressure on the Italian Alpine division, Monte Rosa, which had been engaged earlier by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in the Serchio valley. The mission of this force was to initiate a limited objective operation against the U.S. 92d Division with the intent of destroying its effectiveness for further offensive operations.

Legacy

The war cemetery at Faenza was formed during these months for the burial of those who were killed in the static fighting before the Allied advance was renewed in April 1945.

Faenza War Cemetery contains 1,152 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 13 of which are unidentified.

Total Burials: 1,152. These men died in area battles during the winter of 1944-1945, when Allied soldiers were waiting to begin their attack on German lines around Bologna.

Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 874, New Zealand 224, Canada 25, South Africa 7, India 5, Australia 4. Total 1,139.

Unidentified Casualties: 13. Total 13.

References

• Fisher, Ernest F. Jr (1989). United States Army in World War II.: Cassino to the Alps. Office of the Chief of Military History
• Kay, Robin. Italy Volume II : From Cassino to Trieste
• Madeja, Witold (1984). The Polish 2nd Corps and the Italian Campaign 1943-1945. Game Publishing. ISBN 0941052346 Search this book on ..
• Saunders, Anne. (****). Travel Guide to World War II Sites in Italy.
• ww2cemeteries https://www.ww2cemeteries.com/faenza-war-cemetery.html. Retrieved 22 June 2020.

External Links

• New Zealands Italian Campaign - http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2Ita.html

• Diary Entry - https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/user/12/u1539712.shtml

• News Bulleten - New Zealanders Take Faenza - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mooRKzHSEcc / https://www.britishpathe.com/video/new-zealanders-take-faenza

• New Zealand Forces in Italy - http://www.newzealandersatwar.com/Timeline.html

• Capture of Faenza Article - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26032215

• 28th Maori Battalion - https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/story-of-the-28th/italian-campaign

• Masters Thesis - Battle weariness and the 2nd New Zealand Division during the Italian Campaign, 1943-45. - https://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/9869/02_whole.pdf

• Breaching the Gothic Line - https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/26/breaching-the-gothic-line/

• United States Army in World War II Mediterranean Theater of Operations Cassino To the Alps - https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-Cassino/USA-MTO-Cassino-23.html

Notes

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