Hi, someone have document about Sassocorvaro or Mercatale? This 2 places are on the gothic line, on the Foglia River.....i'm searching all kind of document about this zone..... Nicola
Hi to everyone, someone have document, pictures or something of similar about Sassocorvaro or Mercatale zone? Period september/august 1944 on the gothic line.... Thanks in advance Nicola
Bosco91 Nothing specifically on Sassocorvaro or Mercatale but on the BBC Peoples War Archives I found 233 articles about the Gothic Line, some of which had even been posted by a bloke named Ron Goldstein, you can ignore those. BBC - WW2 People's War - Search Results Good luck ! Ron
Bosco91 Now you have the link to the website, look down to the bottom left of the page and you will see a search box. Any word keyed in will find articles on that subject and I remind you there are over 40,000 stories. Enjoy ! Ron
Bosco91 Can you give us any clue as to where those places might be close to a bigger Town / City as that whole area has a few paces in total Cheers
There are a few mentions of Mercatale in the New Zealand on-line WW2 archive : Fourteenth Army then held the Heinrich Line from the west coast to Empoli (on the southern bank of the Arno River about 15 miles west of Florence) and from there the Olga Line eastwards through Montespertoli (on 8 Indian Division's front), San Casciano (on the New Zealand Division's front) and Mercatale (on 6 South African Armoured Division's front). Heavy attacks, ‘as expected’, were launched in 1 Parachute Corps' sector on 25 July. By the end of the day 6 South African Armoured Division and 2 NZ Division were facing squarely up to the Olga Line. (snip) The fire from San Casciano was sufficient to prevent Armcav from making any progress beyond the Terzona stream, about a mile and a half south of the town. Reports were received that Tiger tanks and anti-tank guns were defending San Casciano, which was shelled and twice raided spectacularly by fighter-bombers. Patrols sent out eastward in the afternoon met South African patrols and learnt that the enemy was still holding strongly in the Mercatale area. General Freyberg, feeling that he should not leave the Division at this time, deputed Brigadier Inglis on 26 July to receive His Majesty the King when he passed through the New Zealand sector while visiting the troops in Italy. Only men from the units not in action, which included part of 4 Brigade and 23 Battalion, were available to line a road about 20 miles from Florence to cheer King George, who sent the General a message that he was sorry he had not been able to see him but quite understood. (snip) Armcav, driving up Route 2, had been held up on 26 July at the Terzona stream. Early next morning an armoured car patrol managed to cross farther upstream and reach a road junction near Mercatale, but was halted by mines on the Mercatale – San Casciano road. The main body of Armcav also crossed the Terzona and advanced along Route 2. The tanks and other vehicles were delayed by demolitions, but shortly before 10 a.m. infantry of 22 Battalion entered San Casciano unopposed except by some sniper fire. II: The Pesa Valley | NZETC
On the left of the New Zealand sector 8 Indian Division had entered Montespertoli unopposed on the morning of 27 July and, before the day ended, had drawn level with 5 NZ Brigade, whose role of protecting the New Zealand Division's left flank therefore was no longer necessary. On the right of the New Zealand sector 6 South African Armoured Division had found Mercatale, south-east of San Casciano, vacated by the enemy, but had been able to advance only a short distance beyond the village against stiffening resistance and under fire from guns on the high ground around Impruneta, and also had come up against strong enemy positions on Poggio Mandorli, south of Strada. Thus, until such time as the South Africans should draw level, 4 NZ Armoured Brigade, which was proposing to push north from San Casciano, had an unprotected right flank and was exposed to counter-attack and to fire from the guns around Impruneta. III: The Pian dei Cerri Hills | NZETC If I'm reading this correctly, Mercatale must be just south of San Casciano on the bottom of this map
Dave - so technically this was in the US 5th Army's sector- and quite some time before the 8th Army started their attack on the Gothic Line on Aug 25th - The 6th STh African Div took over from 1st Canadian at Agnani just as rome fell on June 4th - then went off to Chiusi and Trasemeno Line and finally Florence just before we started off over the Matauro so our Friend Bosco is looking in the wrong direction Cheers
This appears to be from a wargaming site, but matches up with the NZ history: The last week of July finds the 6th South African division advancing up both sides of the Greve river valley towards Florence. On the 23rd the 3rd Coldstream Guards, supported by tanks from the Pretoria Regiment, attacked and secured the wind-swept summit of Monte Domini. This was followed by the 5th Grenadier Guards capturing a series of lower peaks dubbed "Grenadier Ridge", which pushed the front line beyond the town of Greve to Monte Collegalle. Meanwhile, on the other (western) side of the valley the Witwatersrand/De La Rey Regiment, with support from the Prince Alfred's Guards took Monte Fili two miles due west of Greve, then went on to secure the town and its important bridge, forcing the Germans to withdraw to avoid encirclement. In an effort to maintain the initiative, and to keep the Germans off-balanced, the Imperial Light Horse/Kimberly regiment struck westward towards route 2 and overran a strong German position two miles south of the small town of Mercantale. This move threatened to outflank the German troops defending route 222 and the "Olga" line near Chiocchio and Cintoia. On the German side the 356th infantry division had done well in keeping with Field Marshal Kesselring's orders to delay the allied drive for as long as possible. This was done by establishing a series of intermediate positions along the most favorable defensive terrain, and holding it until it appeared the allies were about to launch a full-scale attack, then withdrawing to the next position further north. However, the sudden move by the South Africans towards route 2 and Mercantale caught the defenders by surprise, and a counterattack was ordered to restore the situation. Due to the references to the South Africans, for info on the towns originally referred to in this thread, I would suggest getting a copy of the book: Come Back to Portofino : Through Italy with the 6th South African Armoured Division Author: Bourhill, James ISBN10: 1920143564 ISBN13: 9781920143565 Cover: Hardcover Copyright: 06/15/2011 Thursday 20 July 1944: Radda in Chianti p. 208 Friday 21 July 1944 - Monday 24 July 1944: Panzano p. 211 Tuesday 25 July 1944 -Wednesday 26 July 1944: Three miles to Greve p. 217 Thursday 27 July 1944: Greve p. 221 Friday 28 July 1944 - Saturday 29 July 1944: Four miles beyond Greve p. 222 Sunday 30 July 1944 - Wednesday 2 August 1944: Mercatale p. 224 Thursday 3 August 1944: Impruneta p. 227 Friday 4 August 1944 - Monday 7 August 1944: Florence p. 230 Tuesday 8 August 1944 - Tuesday 22 August 1944: Siena p. 234
Dave - so technically this was in the US 5th Army's sector- and quite some time before the 8th Army started their attack on the Gothic Line on Aug 25th - The 6th STh African Div took over from 1st Canadian at Agnani just as rome fell on June 4th - then went off to Chiusi and Trasemeno Line and finally Florence just before we started off over the Matauro so our Friend Bosco is looking in the wrong direction Cheers That's the way I read it, Florence / the Gothic Line was further north and were in action August / September. The towns mentioned were in action in July and appear to have been part of the Olga Line (much fun to search Google for this term, as the Olga Line is a ladies underwear company) Plus this - PIXEL RENOSTER: WW2 CASUALTIES IN ITALY - THE MARAIS BROTHERS - JULY 1944 Private Marais attested with the Kimberley Regiment in 1940. He was killed in action 28/7/1944 whilst serving with the combined Imperial Light Horse & Kimberley Regiments attached to the 6th South African Armoured Division and General Mark Clark's U.S. 5th Army. The summer of July 1944 saw the allies final push for Florence. Marais was K.I.A. during the assault on San Caciano, north-west of Mercatale, whilst driving the enemy back across the Greve River.
Dave - we live an learn - but these war gamers are something else- always sounding important as if they were looking for a relative Cheers
no it's a different town Dave, Mercatale is on the adriatic cost more or less So I have basically wasted my time because there are two towns called Mercatale? I have no idea of what or where the Adriatic coast is, so unless you want to help yourself and provide some more clues - I give up.
dave - can only agree with you as I asked for some indication of the nearest bigger town etc - no response - have googled for only ONE Mercatale - and it's where the Kiwi's said it is ... so the Adriatic he is obviously thinking about lies over to the East between Ancona and Rimini- which is where he claims to live !!! Cheers
How i can search in the british national archive? i don't find anything.... If you know what British or Commonwealth units were fighting there you can have a look in their war diaries. Quite a few of them contain NCO patrol reports and junior commander reports about certain actions. There are no definates though, you would have to take pot luck and have a look in each one as the contents of war diaries vary greatly. Cheers Andy
Drew Good advice - shouldn't be too hard to follow as from the Metauro the Polish Div was squeezed out by the Canadian 1st & 5th AD - with 21st Tank bde- at Cattolica -then 5th Corps of 46- 56-25tth Tank bde - this was followed by 4th Brit Div and 1st AD then 4th Indian Div... So only seven Divisions to bother about as they were joined by the Kiwi's and 8th Indian after Rimini....with main battles at San Fortunato - San Martino-Coriano- Gemmano and Croce Cheers
Hello, i know this conversation is more than a decade old but i found it while doing research about the war in that area, since its been so long i dont know if you still have the book you mentioned here, but if you do, may I ask you to post a photo or a transcript of what the author wrote in page 227 about Impruneta? Thanks.
Thanks Giorgio, if you open the NZ Electronic Text Collection (New Zealand Electronic Text Collection) and search for Impruneta you should get a few book extracts that mention the town
