After The Battle #183 – THE BATTLE OF ORTONA

THE BATTLE OF ORTONA — In December 1943, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade fought a bitter three-week battle for possession of the town of Ortona on the Adriatic coast of Italy. So fierce and costly was the combat in the built-up area that Ortona soon came to be dubbed ‘little Stalingrad’. Lieutenant Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson tells the story. The Final Disposition of US World War II Dead — Although Americans killed in Germany were initially buried in temporary military cemeteries, at a conference in May 1945, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, insisted on three general policies: (1) removal of American dead from German soil; (2) concentration of American dead in as few cemeteries as possible and (3) to use World War I cemeteries where possible, thereby securing properly landscaped terrain at an early date. Many thousands of servicemen were repatriated to the United States at the wishes of the next of kin. From the Editor — A round-up and update on previous stories from After the Battle.

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