Mediterranean and North Africa · British Commonwealth, United States and Poland vs Germany
Gothic Line offensive
25 August 1944 – 17 December 1944
Operation Olive drove Eighth Army through the Gothic Line on the Adriatic coast while Fifth Army breached the mountain passes north of Florence. Both armies ran out of momentum in the autumn rain short of Bologna and the Po valley.
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Day by day
— Olive
Eighth Army, moved in secret from the centre to the Adriatic, crosses the Metauro at 23:00 with three corps abreast and no barrage. The Gothic Line, thirty kilometres ahead on the Foglia, is not yet fully manned. Fifth Army holds the Arno and waits its turn north of Florence.
— Two attacks
Eighth Army is through the Gothic Line proper but stuck on the ridges at Gemmano and Coriano, where a week of rain and German reserves has cost it 8,000 men. At 17:30 Fifth Army opens its own attack in the mountains: II Corps on the Il Giogo pass and XIII Corps to its right, with the Futa road left alone as too well defended.
— Rimini
The 1st Canadian Division and the Greek 3rd Mountain Brigade enter Rimini, and the Marecchia is crossed into the Romagna plain that was meant to be tank country and is now mud. Il Giogo fell on the 18th and the Futa on the 22nd: Fifth Army is through the Gothic Line and on the road to Imola and Bologna.
— Short of Bologna
Fifth Army stops on the last ridges above the Po valley: II Corps has taken Monte Grande and Livergnano and lost 15,700 men since September, and the rifle companies are down to half strength in the rain. Bologna is fifteen kilometres away. Eighth Army has Cesena and is fighting river by river, the Savio, the Ronco, the Montone.
— Ravenna
The 1st Canadian Division and the partisans of the 28th Garibaldi Brigade take Ravenna as Eighth Army, now under McCreery, works up towards the Lamone. Forli fell on 9 November. Fifth Army is holding in the mountains for the winter, its offensive on Bologna postponed for want of shells and men.
— The Senio
Faenza fell on the 16th to the New Zealanders and the 10th Indian Division, and Eighth Army closes up to the Senio, the last river before the spring. Both armies have advanced about fifty kilometres since August and lost some 40,000 men each; Bologna and the Po are left until April.
