A Remembrance

Today, we visited the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery near San Donato, just south of Ortona.  This was the main reason for coming to this part of Italy as my friend's uncle is buried in the cemetery.  Every time I come to Europe, I try to visit some battleground or war cemetery to, in my own way, honour and remember the "fallen" who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms and cultures we hold dear.  In the spring, I was in Gallipoli which figured so prominently in WWI and today, it was here where a battle during the Italian campaign was waged in WWII.  The following is from Wikipedia and a link to more info at the Canadian Soldiers website.

The Moro River campaign was an important battle of the Italian campaign during WWII, fought between elements of the British Eighth Army and LXXVI Panzer Corps of the German 10th Army.   Lasting from 4 December 1943 to 4 January 1944, the campaign occurred primarily in the vicinity of the Moro River in eastern Italy.  The campaign was designed as part of an offensive with the intention of breaching the German Army's Winter Line defensive system and advancing to Pescara and eventually to Rome. 

Beginning on 4 December, four infantry divisions—one British, one Canadian, one Indian and one New Zealand attacked heavily defended German positions along the Moro River, achieving several exploitable bridgeheads by 8 December.  Throughout the next week, nearly continuous combat operations by both sides—designed to keep one another pinned down—created stagnated defensive positions near Orsogna and a narrow pit known as "The Gully".  After being held at the Gully for 10 days, the Canadians succeeded in outflanking German defences, and forcing a German withdrawal to the Ortona–Orsogna Line.  By 26 December, strong German defences had stalled Canadian forces during the Battle of Ortona and British and New Zealand forces in Orsogna.  Although both Ortona and Villa Grande were captured by the end of December, general exhaustion among the Allied forces prevented the capture of Orsogna and an advance to Pescara. When harsh winter weather set in, it became clear to the Allied commanders that no further progress would be made and General Alexander called off the offensive.  There is more detailed information available at:  https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/battlehonours/italiancampaign/moro.htm.

The cemetery was only about a 10 minute drive from our hotel.  My friend had researched the location of her uncle's grave and, while it took a few minutes to decipher the layout of the graves, she located his.  While he was killed quite a few years before she was born, it was still an emotional moment.  He was only 25 years old when he died on December 21st, 1943.  He had such a bright future having studied business.  So many taken in their youth!   We spoke to a Canadian while we were there who had grown up in a village nearby.  He told us he can still remember as a child hearing the explosions and seeing the sky lit up with fire.  Tragic!  So, to honour her uncle and the others lost in this battle, here are some photos from our visit there today.

Following the visit, we went back to our hotel for some lunch and to soak up some sun.  It almost seemed sacrilegious to be enjoying ourselves; however, my thought is that is what those soldiers fought so gallantly for: our ability to live our lives happily and freely.   Lest We Forget!  To make it slightly more personal, the woman at the reception desk of our hotel, when we told her we were going to visit the cemetery, she expressed her thanks for what the Canadians had done here.  I thought, given it was nearly 80 years ago, it was amazing and wonderful she still wanted to acknowledge that part of history!