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The Moro River Campaign was an important battle of the Italian Campaign during the Second World War fought between units of the British Eighth Army and the LXXVI Panzer Corps (''LXXVI Panzerkorps'') of the German Tenth Army (''10. Armee''). Lasting from 4–26 December 1943, the campaign occurred primarily in the vicinity of the Moro River in eastern Italy. The campaign was designed as part of an offensive launched by British General Harold Alexander with the intention of breaching the German Winter Line defensive system and advancing to Pescara — and eventually Rome. Beginning on 4 December, four infantry divisions—one British, one Canadian, one Indian and one New Zealand (which included an armoured brigade)—and two armoured brigades (one British and one Canadian) of the V and XIII Corps attacked heavily defended German positions along the Moro River, achieving several exploitable bridgeheads by 8 December. Throughout the next week, nearly continuous combat operations by both sides—designed to keep one another pinned down—created stagnated defensive positions near Orsogna and a narrow pit known as "The Gully". After being held at the Gully for 10 days, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division succeeded in outflanking German defences, and forcing a withdrawal to the Ortona–Orsogna Line. On 20 December, the line was attacked by both corps. By 26 December, strong German defences had stalled Canadian forces in Ortona and British and New Zealand forces in Orsogna. Although both Ortona and Villa Grande were captured by the end of December, general exhaustion among the Allied forces prevented the capture of Orsogna and an advance to Pescara. When harsh winter weather set in, it became clear to the Allied generals that no further progress would be made and Alexander called off the offensive. ==Background== In late 1943, the Allied Armies in Italy under General Harold Alexander were fighting their way northward in Italy against determined German opposition commanded by Field Marshal (''Generalfeldmarschall'') Albert Kesselring, whose forces had prepared a succession of defensive lines.〔Bercuson, p. 172〕 East of the Apennine Mountain spine was the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery. In October, Eighth Army had crossed the Bifurno river and pushed the German defenders from the Volturno-Viktor Line defences. Delayed by logistical problems, they were not able to attack the next line of defences (the Barbara Line) behind the Trigno river until 2 November. However, by 9 November forward elements of 8th Army were in contact with the forward defences of the German Winter Line, which had been set on the high ground north of the Sangro River.〔 The main attack across the Sangro by V Corps (Lieutenant-General Charles Allfrey),comprising the British 78th Infantry Division (Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh) and 8th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General Dudley Russell) with supporting and diversionary attacks further inland by 2nd New Zealand Division (Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg) and XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey)—was delayed by bad weather until late November. After several days of hard fighting, the Germans withdrew to the defences they had prepared on the high ground to the north of the Moro river.〔Hoyt (2007), pp. 112–114〕 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「Moro River Campaign」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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