Battle of Monte la Difensa

Battle of Monte la Difensa
Part of the fighting for theBernhardt Line
Action around Monte La Difensa 3–9 December 1943
Date December 3, 1943 – December 9, 1943 Location Hill 960,Italy 41°22′59.88″N13°55′59.77″E Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom United States Canada	Germany

TheBattle of Monte La Difensatook place between 3 December and 9 December 1943 duringOperation Raincoat,part of the Battle for theBernhardt Lineduring theItalian campaigninWorld War II.

Background

Monte La Difensa (also known as Hill 960) was one of the peaks forming the Camino hill mass which formed the left-hand "gatepost" dominating the Mignano Gap, key to theU.S. Fifth Army's route toCassino,the Liri valley, and thence toRome.The mountain itself had become a stalemate forAmericanandBritishtroops because of the defenses employed by theGerman troops,part of theBernhardt Line.

The battle

The action was the first combat in the Italian theatre for the US-Canadian commando unit1st Special Service Force(1st SSF). They were attached to theU.S. 36th Infantry Division.The1st SSFused the special training that they had received inwinterandmountain warfareto scale the mountain and overcome the Germans atop the stronghold.

With the rest of 36th Division on 1st SSF's right attacking Monte Maggiore andBritish 56th Infantry Division(attacking Monte Camino) andBritish 46th Infantry Divisionon their left, it took 5 days heavy fighting for the Camino hill mass to be cleared.Casualtieswere high. After a pause to regroup the U.S. Fifth Army renewed its offensive but it took until mid-January to advance the 10 miles (16 km) toCassinoat the mouth of theLiri valleyand the formidableGustav Linedefenses, where the Allies were halted by stubborn German defense until May 1944.

In media

• The successful assault on Difensa was the setting for the climax of the 1968 motion picture,The Devil's Brigade.
• Part 2 of the seriesWW2 Greatest Raidscalled "Mountain Massacre", depicting the battle, was broadcast byNational Geographic.

See also

• Winter Line

Sources

• Fifth Army at the Winter Line 15 November 1943 - 15 January 1944.American Forces in Action series. Washington:United States Army Center of Military History.1990 [1945]. CMH Pub 100-9. Archived fromthe originalon 21 November 2012.Retrieved21 July2010.