Editing Winter Line

{{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>

==Gustav Line==
The Gustav Line stretched across the Italian Peninsula and barred the way to Rome for the two Allied armies in Italy: the [[U.S. Fifth Army]] in the west and the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|British Eighth Army]]{{Efn|Neither army was homogenous; the US army included British and French troops, the British included troops from Commonwealth nations}} in the east. The Allies' grand strategy in the autumn of 1943 was for the Eighth Army to advance through the Sangro River defences, then hook south at [[Avezzano]] and enter Rome from the rear while the Fifth Army approached from the south.

The center of the Gustav Line crossed the main route north to Rome at strategically crucial Highway 6.  It followed the [[Liri]] valley and was anchored around the mountains behind the town of [[Cassino]]. Above it stood the ancient Benedictine sanctuary of [[Monte Cassino]], which dominated the valley entrance, and Monte Cassino, which gave the defenders clear observation of potential attackers advancing towards the valley mouth. The U.S. 5th Army was held up in front of these positions through the winter of 1943-44. They attempted to flank the position by the [[Battle of Anzio|landings at Anzio]] but bogged down quickly there. A bloody and protracted battle was waged over the monastery, known as the [[Battle of Monte Cassino]].

The eastern end of the line was held by the coastal town of [[Ortona]], captured by Canadian forces in the fierce [[Battle of Ortona]] in December 1943 which became known as "the little Stalingrad." Failure by the 8th Army to capture [[Orsogna]] however put an end to the Allied plans of a strong drive up the eastern coast. Rain, flooded rivers, and high casualties, as well as the departure of General Montgomery, all put a halt to Allied plans until the spring of 1944. The Gustav Line thus fulfilled the wishes of Field Marshal [[Albert Kesselring|Kesselring]], the commander of German forces in Italy, of keeping the Allies south of the so-called Winter Line.

==Bernhardt and Hitler Lines==
On the western side of the Apennines were two subsidiary lines, the [[Bernhardt Line]] in front of the main Gustav positions, and the [[Hitler Line]] some 8 kilometres (5&nbsp;mi) to the rear. The Winter Line was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed wire and minefields. It was the strongest of the German defensive lines south of Rome. About 15 German divisions were employed in the defence. It took the Allies from mid-November 1943 to June 1944 to fight through all the various elements of the Winter Line, including the well-known battles at [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]] and [[Battle of Anzio|Anzio]].

The offensive on the Bernhardt Line was launched on December 1, 1943, as part of [[Bernhardt Line#Fifth Army Bernhardt Line offensive|Operation Raincoat]]. British and American troops took the terrain around Monte Camino and the [[Mignano Gap]] within a week and a half of launching the assault but German operations persisted in the area for months.

Some authorities define the Bernhardt Line as crossing Italy from coast to coast following not just the western defensive positions described above but incorporating also the eastern defences of the Gustav Line. Other authorities use the Winter Line name interchangeably with the Gustav Line .

==See also==
* [[Brazilian Expeditionary Force]]
* [[European Theatre of World War II]]
* [[Italian Campaign (World War II)]]
* [[Battle of Ortona]]
* [[French Expeditionary Corps in Italy]]
* [[Garigliano]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
[[Image:Ortona 2006 -Moro River Canadian War Cemetery- by-Raboe 06.jpg|thumb|right|310px|[[Moro River Canadian War Cemetery]] near Ortona]]
* {{cite book| url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm| title=Fifth Army at the Winter Line 15 November 1943 - 15 January 1944| publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]| location=Washington| year=1945| id=CMH Pub 100-9| access-date=30 June 2010| archive-date=21 November 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121000001/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/winterline/winter-fm.htm| url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book| url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/volturno/volturno-fm.htm| title=From the Volturno to the Winter Line 6 October-15 November 1943| publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]| location=Washington| year=1944| id=CMH Pub 100-8| access-date=30 June 2010| archive-date=31 December 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231104726/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/volturno/volturno-fm.htm| url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book| first=Col. Kenneth V.| last=Smith| url=http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/naples/72-17.htm| title=WWII Campaigns, Naples-Foggia 9 September 1943-21 January 1944| publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]| location=Washington| year=1944| id=CMH Pub 72-17| access-date=30 June 2010| archive-date=6 September 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906075921/http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/naples/72-17.htm| url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |first=Gerhard|last= Muhm |title=German Tactics in the Italian Campaign |url=http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/gerhardmuhm2.htm}}
* {{cite book |first=Gerhard |last=Muhm |title= La Tattica tedesca nella Campagna d'Italia, in Linea Gotica avanposto dei Balcani, (Hrsg.) |publisher=Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas |location=Roma |year=1993 |language=it}}
* {{cite book | author=Field Marshal Lord Carver|author-link=Michael  Carver, Baron Carver | title=The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy 1943-1945| publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson|location=London | year=2001 | isbn=0-330-48230-0}}
*{{cite book |editor-last= McNab |editor-first= Chris   |title= Hitler's Fortresses: German Fortifications and Defences 1939-45 |year= 2014 |publisher= Osprey Publishing  |location= Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-1-78200-828-6 |pages= 218–269 (''Mountain Barriers- German Defensive Lines in Italy'') }}
*Rainaldi Mario (2019). ''Le Aquile sul Sangro.'' Edizioni del Faro, Trento 2019.

==External links==
{{commons|Ortona War Cemetery}}
*[http://winterlinestories.com Winter Line Stories]'' Original stories from the front lines of the Italian Campaign by US Army Liaison Officer Major Ralph R. Hotchkiss''
*[http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=worldwarii_europe_maps_map47.htm Map of German defensive lines] THIS LINK APPEARS TO BE DEAD
*[http://www.wwii.ca/page30.html The Liri Valley: Canada’s Breakthrough to Rome] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204195119/http://www.wwii.ca/page30.html |date=2012-02-04 }}
*[http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_photos.aspx?cemetery=2018200&mode=1.html Commonwealth War Graves Commission information on Moro River Cemetery]

===Multimedia===
*[http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/clip/9859/ CBC Archives] CBC Radio reports from the Winter Line on May 14, 1944.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:German World War II defensive lines]]
[[Category:Italian campaign (World War II)]]
[[Category:1943 in Italy]]
[[Category:1944 in Italy]]
[[Category:20th century in Abruzzo]]
[[Category:Rome in World War II]]