COMPONENTS

Ortona is an ancient Italian harbor city. The battle lasted for 8 days (December 20-28, 1943) and is considered one of the bloodiest wars that Canadians ever took part in, during the 8 days, around 1375 Canadian troops were killed and almost a quarter of Canadians were killed during the Italian Campaign. Ortona was important because it built a strong reputation and showing allies the strength of the Canadian Army as it was one of the first victories for Canada. However Germans later took over using there Water Line defence system (a series of interlocking defence positions in the town) to defeat the allies and gain control over the docks meaning they could stop the allies from using the dock to quickly deliver supplies and more support. The defeat at Ortona was a big loss for Mussolini because he had now lost Southern Italy, the East Coast and Sicily. The German and Italian forces would later lose against weaker allied forces such as Poland, this would lead to the Italians asking for a truce with the allies in which they stopped fighting and got out of the war. The “house clearing” tactic became famous by the Canadians and for warfare then after however this was a major affect to the city and people living there as they had to stay inside or at public buildings until the war was over.