Battle of Garfagnana

Battle of Garfagnana
Part of the Italian Campaign of World War II
The Gothic Line, in red. Garfagnana was in the most western section, next to Lucca and Massa
Date 26–28 December 1944 Location North of Lucca, Italy Result Tactical Italian victory Territorial changes Territory in northern Tuscany falls back into Axis hands.
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom  India Italian partisans	Italian Social Republic  Germany
Commanders and leaders
Lucian Truscott Edward Almond Dudley Russell	Rodolfo Graziani Otto Fretter-Pico Mario Carloni
Strength
18,000 men 120 tanks 140 artillery pieces	9,100 men 100 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
nearly 1,000 killed/missing in action 300+ prisoners taken	about 1,000 killed/missing in action

The Battle of Garfagnana (Italian: Battaglia della Garfagnana) was known to the Germans as Operation Winter Storm (Unternehmen Wintergewitter) and nicknamed the "Christmas Offensive" (Italian: Offensiva di Natale).

It was an attack of Axis forces on the western sector of the Gothic Line during World War II. It happened in December 1944 in the north Tuscan Apennines, near Massa and Lucca.^{[1]: 25–6}

In late December 1944 the German 14th Army under General Kurt von Tippelskirch attacked the left side of the U.S. Fifth Army in the Serchio valley. He wanted to make the U.S. forces stay there.

The Allies had ordered two brigades from Indian 8th Infantry Division to be moved to help the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division. By the time they had arrived the Germans and Italians had captured Barga. U.S. soldiers had intended to retreat to Lucca.^[2]: 79 The German / Italian force stopped the attack and withdrew.

Barga was recaptured one week later by the New Year.^[3] The western Gothic Line remained in place until late March 1945.

1. ↑ Oland, Dwight D. "Northern Apennines 1944-45". The US Army Campaigns of World War II. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
2. ↑ Pellegrinetti, Mario (2003). Appunti per una storia della guerra civile in Garfagnana (1943-1945) (in Italian). Lucca: Editrice Fazzi. ISBN 978-88-7246-557-8.
3. ↑ Moseley, Ray (2004). Mussolini: the last 600 days of il Duce. Lanham: Taylor Trade Publications. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-58979-095-7.