Hello everybody, Today I read in my local newspaper 'Corriere dell'Umbria' that (translated by me): 'The role of the Resistance in Umbria wasn't marginal but contributed to the slowing down of the retreat of those Germans who otherwise would have reinforced the Gothic Line.' Has anyone read anything similiar in any text in either English or German, and what do the veterans think about this comment? Vitellino
VITELLINO Very odd statement - there was no noticeable retreat by the Germans until we captured Rimini - until then they just kept on coming and holding us on the Coriano Ridge for three weeks…someone trying to make themselves heroes no doubt… Cheers
The hero idea came into my head too, Tom. Today I'm off to a conference to hear what German historian Lutz Klinkhammer has to say on the subject and will report back. Vitellino
Well there was the big rush in early June that ended up at the Gothic Line? Most of Umbria south of Trasimeno does not seem to have been fought over very much? All the best Andreas
German historian Lutz Klinkhammer, based at the German Historical Institute in Rome, who spoke at the conference I attended this afternoon on the theme 'The German War in Italy and the role of the Appenines', whom I hoped would make a reference to this comment, had absolutely nothing to say on the matter. Perhaps I should have stayed to hear the last speaker whose title was 'The Resistance in the northern Appenines - Umbria and Marche', but I couldn't imagine that being Italian he would have known more about the speed of the German retreat from the Trasimene and Arezzo lines to the Gothic Line than a German World War 2 expert. Vitellino
Andreas / Vitellino We didn't look on the RUSH around Trasimeno as a "retreat" as such but as a repositioning and strengthening of defence lines - 5th US had enough trouble keeping up with them until Florence when 1st Cdn spent days throwing empty cigarette packages into the Arno to let Kesselring know that the next push would be by them into Florence - instead we did a 180 over to the Adriatic - by then he had moved his strongest Brigade over from the coast - then again over to the Coriano area where they kept us busy for three weeks unit we got Rimini - THEN they retreated… to the Cesena area Cheers
