Battle of Bologna – Wikipedia

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The Battle of Bologna It was fought in Bologna, in Italy, from 9 to 21 April 1945 during the Second World War, as part of the offensive of spring 1945 on the Italian front. The allied forces were victorious, with the II Polish body and the support units of support that captured the city on April 21.

Spring Allied Offensive: Italy 1945, April 9 – May 2nd. This map shows the advance of the II Polish body on Bologna
Map of the breakthrough of the IV and II Corps of the United States in the Po Valley, April 1945 (this map shows operations in the Bologna region, 14-21 April 1945, but does not seem to show any operation of non-US troops in the region)

In March 1945 the allies were preparing a new offensive, Operation Buckland, in northern Italy. [2] The socket of Bologna, an important national communication junction, included in the context of this offensive. The allied forces in charge of this were composed of the U.S. Army (II Corps, 6th South African battleship division [3] ) and from the British 8th Army (which for that part of the theater, was composed of the 5th body and the II Polish body). [2] The German units defending the area were composed of the 26th Panzer division of the XIV. Panzerkorps, from 1. Fallschmejäger-Division and from the 4. Fallschirmjäger-Division of the parachutic body. [2] The German defenses in that region were part of the armed group C, [4] [5] who defended the Paula line. [6]

The moral of the Polish forces was weakened by the outcome of the Jalta conference, which ended on 11 February, in which the British and the American, without consulting with the Poles, had decided to give an important part of the Polish territories of 1921-1939 all ‘Soviet Union. [7] [8] [9] One of the three Polish divisions, the 5th Kresowa Infantry Division, had taken its name from the Kresy region, which had now been assigned to the Soviets in its entirety. [7] When the Polish commander of the II Corps, General Władysław Anders, asked for the withdrawal of his unit from the front line, Winston Churchill told him that “you [the Poles] are no longer necessary”, but the American and early -line British commanders , the generals Richard McCrery, Mark Wayne Clark and Feldmaresse Harold Alexander, asked Anders that the Polish units remained in their positions, since they had no troops to replace them. Anders at the end decided to keep the Polish units engaged. [7] [9]

Allies [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

5th Army of the United States

2 Corpo

6th South African armored division
Air forces of the United States Army

62o wing from hunting

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1st Brazilian hunting squadron
8th British Army

In Corpo
The Polish body

Maggior Generale Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko (Comandante ad interim)

Germans [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

XIV. Panzerkorps

26. Panzer-Division
65th Infantry Division
I. Parachute corps (Comandante Richard Heidrich [ten] )

1. Paratrooper division
4. Paratrooper division

The offensive on Bologna began on April 9 at 4:00 local time, with an important air and artillery bombing of 400 cannons shooting on the German positions, followed by an advance of the land forces the same evening. [2] [11] The friendly fire caused victims: the US bombers that day killed 38 Polish soldiers who advanced. [twelfth] [13] The US and British units hired the German hips, while the Polish units broke into the city. [2] On April 10, the Polish forces rejected the Germans from the Senio river. [2] From 12 to 14 April the Polish forces fought against the Germans on the Santerno river and conquered Imola. [2] From 15 to 16 April the Poles fought at the Sillaro river and the medical channel. [2] On April 17, the commander of the VIII Army ordered the Polish forces to continue their push towards Bologna from the east. The city had to be initially taken by the US troops of the V -Army that advanced from the south. [2] [14]

Allied troops enter Bologna on April 21, 1945

On April 21, the 3rd shotgun brigade of the carpathians of the 3rd division of infantry of the Polish carpathians entered the city, where only isolated German units still fought. [2] Another source attributes the entrance to the 5th Kresowa Polish division. [twelfth] At 6:15 the Poles had secured the city, exposing the Polish flags to Palazzo d’Accursio and the Torre degli Asinelli, the highest tower in the city. [14] The local Italian population welcomed the Poles like their liberators. [2] [14] At 8:00 the US tanks arrived in the city (South Africans [15] ) followed by the Italian partisans of the Maiella Brigade and the “Friuli” combat group of the Italian cobelligger army. [14]

Partisans parade on vehicles in Bologna on April 21, 1945

The battle of Bologna was the last battle of the II Polish Army Corps, which was brought out of the front on April 22nd. [2] [14] The US and British troops completed the encirclement of German forces north of the Rhine river, the 8th Indian division crossed the Po and German forces in Italy capitulated on April 29. [2] [14] The II Polish body, commanded by General Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko, suffered 234 dead and 1 228 injured out of 55 780 780 members of the first line staff. [7] [14]

The German divisions were left in disarray and, with the approach of the end of the war, many divided into small groups to retire through the Po and try to reach the passes in Germany. The 65th Infantry Division lost its commander, the main general Hellmuth Pfeifer, in the last days of the war while trying to head north with the remains of the general quarter of the division. [16]

  1. ^ Friuli [ interrupted connection ] . are Esercito.difesa.it .
  2. ^ a b c d It is f g h i j k l m Wawer, p. 9 .
  3. ^ ( IN ) Terry Cave, The Battle Honours of the Second World War 1939-1945 and Korea 1950-1953: British and Colonial Regiments , Compiled from official records, Andrews UK Limited, 29 marzo 2012, p. 135, ISBN 978-1-78151-379-8.
  4. ^ ( IN ) John Gooch, Decisive Campaigns of the Second World War , London, Routledge, 12 novembre 2012, p. 157, ISBN 978-1-136-28881-4.
  5. ^ ( IN ) Francis Harry Hinsley e Edward Eastaway Thomas, British Intelligence in the Second World War , Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 705, ISBN 978-0-521-35196-6.
  6. ^ ( IN ) Christopher Chant, The Encyclopedia of Codenames of World War II , in Routledge Revivals , SOLDLEDGE, 18 Otbobre 2013, P. 180, ISBN 978-1-134-649787-3.
  7. ^ a b c d Wawer, p. 8 .
  8. ^ ( IN ) Steven J. Zaloga e Richard Hook, The Polish Army 1939–45 , Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 1982, p. 20, ISBN 0-85045-417-4.
  9. ^ a b ( IN ) Anthony James Joes, Urban Guerrillas Warfare , University Press of Kentucky, 2007, p. 37, ISBN 9780813124377.
  10. ^ ( IN ) Ivor Matanle, History of World War II, 1939-1945 , Tiger Books International, 1994, ISBN 978-1-85501-603-3.
  11. ^ Ocular testimony of G.Z. Table, Royal Malta Artillery, 1999.
  12. ^ a b ( IN ) Kenneth K. Koskodan, No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland’s Forces in World War II , Osprey Publishing, 2009, p. 135, ISBN 978-1-84603-365-0.
  13. ^ ( IN ) Halik Kochanski, The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War , Harvard University Press, 13 novembre 2012, p. 479, ISBN 978-0-674-06816-2
  14. ^ a b c d It is f g Wawer, p. 13 .
  15. ^ ( IN ) R Spencer Kidd, Military Uniforms in Europe 1900 – 2000 , Vol. 2, lulu.com, 1o Ottobre 2013, p. 7, ISBN 978-1-291-18746-5
  16. ^ ( OF ) Wilhelm Velten, From the spherical tree to the slope: the face of the 65th Infantry Division , Kurt Vowinckel Verlag, 1974.
  • Władysław Anders, Memoirs 1939-1946. The history of the II Polish body , Imola, Bacchilega, 2015 [1948] , ISBN 978-88-6942-008-5.
  • ( PL ) Zbigniew Wawer, Getting Bologna [ Capture of Bologna ], in Glory of the Polish weapon , Vol. 32, n. 53, Rzeczpospolita, 3 Marzo 2007.

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