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|casualties2 = 867 killed, wounded & POW. |casualties3 = 1,300 civilians dead〔 |notes = |campaignbox = }} The Battle of Ortona (20–28 December 1943)〔(Canada at War website: Battle of Ortona )〕 was a battle fought between a battalion of German ''Fallschirmjäger'' (paratroops) from the German 1st Parachute Division under ''Generalleutnant'' Richard Heidrich, and assaulting Canadian forces from the Canadian 1st Infantry Division under Major General Chris Vokes. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during "Bloody December". The battle, known to those who fought it as the "( Italian Stalingrad )"〔Zuehlke (1999), 〕 for the deadliness of its close-quarters combat, took place in the small Adriatic Sea town of Ortona, with its peacetime population of 10,000. ==Background== The Eighth Army's offensive on the Winter Line defences east of the Apennine mountains had commenced on 23 November with the crossing of the river Sangro. By the end of the month, the main Gustav Line defences had been penetrated and the Allied troops were fighting their way forward to the next river, the Moro, north of the mouth of which lay Ortona. For the Moro crossing in early December the exhausted British 78th Infantry Division on the Allied right flank on the Adriatic coast had been relieved by Canadian 1st Infantry Division.〔Zuehlke (1999), p. 14〕 By mid-December, after fierce fighting in the cold and mud, the Division's 1st Infantry Brigade had fought its way to within of Ortona and was relieved by 2nd Infantry Brigade for the advance on the town. Ortona was of high strategic importance, as it was one of Italy's few usable deep water ports on the east coast, and was needed for docking allied ships and so shorten Eighth Army's lines of supply which at the time stretched back to Bari and Taranto. Allied forces were ordered to maintain the offensive, and going through the built up areas in and around Ortona was the only feasible option. Ortona was part of the Winter Line defence system and the Germans had constructed a series of skilfully designed interlocking defensive positions in the town. This—together with the fact that the Germans had been ordered to "fight for every last house and tree"—〔Farley Mowat, ''And No Birds Sang''.〕〔Zuehlke (1999), p. 160〕 made the town a formidable obstacle to any attacking force. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Ortona」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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