Gustav Line Breakthrough
All roads lead to Rome, quite literally. For the Allied Forces it was no Yellow Brick Road. The Axis had a series of heavily fortified lines, which ran across Italy blocking AF advancements to Rome. It took time, massive man and gun power as well as relentless determination and some ingenious strategic planning to break though them. No campaign in Western Europe cost more than the Italian campaign in terms of lives lost and wounds suffered by infantry forces.
The Gustav Line aka Winter Line was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed-wire and minefields. It was the strongest of the German defensive lines south of Rome. About 15 German divisions were employed in the defense. It took the Allies from mid-November 1943 to late May 1944 to fight through all the various elements of the Winter Line, including the well-known battles at Monte Cassino and Anzio.
WoT is happy to announce the Gustav Line Special reliving the treacherous yet heroic road to Rome. More details will be available in the next couple of days. Stay around for the updates.
Break on through to the other side!
