Editing Winter Line (section)

{{Short description|Series of German military fortifications in Italy}}
{{About|the World War II defensive lines in Italy|the ''Westworld'' episode|The Winter Line|the meteorological phenomenon where a 'second horizon' is formed|Winterline}}

{{Campaignbox Italy}}
{{Campaignbox Winter Line}}
[[Image:ItalyDefenseLinesSouthofRome1943 4.jpg|thumb|right|310px|German-prepared defensive lines south of Rome.]]
The '''Winter Line''' was a series of [[Wehrmacht|German]] and [[Italian Social Republic|Italian]] [[military]] [[fortification]]s in [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], constructed during [[World War II]] by [[Organisation Todt]] and commanded by [[Albert Kesselring]]. The series of three lines was designed to defend a western section of Italy, focused around the town of [[Monte Cassino]], through which ran the important Highway 6 which led uninterrupted to [[Rome]]. The primary '''Gustav Line''' ran across Italy from just north of where the [[Garigliano River]] flows into the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] in the west, through the [[Apennine Mountains]] to the mouth of the [[Sangro|Sangro River]] on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic coast]] in the east. The two subsidiary lines, the [[Bernhardt Line]] and the [[Hitler Line]], ran much shorter distances from the Tyrrehnian Sea to just northeast of Cassino where they would merge into the Gustav Line. Relative to the Gustav Line, the Hitler Line stood to the northwest and the Bernhardt Line to the southeast of the primary defenses.

Before being ultimately broken, the Gustav Line effectively slowed the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] advance for months between December 1943 and June 1944. Major battles in the assault on the Winter Line at [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]] and [[Battle of Anzio|Anzio]] alone resulted in 98,000 Allied casualties and 60,000 [[Axis powers|Axis]] casualties.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Real History Of World War II: A New Look at the Past|last=Axelrod|first=Alan|publisher=New York: Sterling Publishing Co Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4027-4090-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/realhistoryofwor00axel/page/208 208]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/realhistoryofwor00axel/page/208}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome|last=d'Este|first=Carlo|publisher=New York: Harper|year=1991|isbn=0-06-015890-5|pages=490}}</ref>