I'm Canadian and I've just watched a documentary on the battle at Ortona (nicknamed little Stalingrad). What amazing courage those Canucks displayed, with so many being slaughtered. This is one of my favourite WWII stories. Don't like the follow up at Rome, however. I was proud to be Canadian after learning about Ortona. I know there are so many similar cases throughout the war but I particularly respect the soldiers who fought at Ortona to get a stronghold in Italy.
look in the old threads in the Med forum as well as the sister site ww2talk.com if you would like to research more.
I hadn't really registered Ortona until it cropped up on the other forum a while back. Kind of ashamed that I wasn't fully aware of such a story... (though the Chaps over there have done much work to redress the balance.) What a hellish punch-up to have fallen into relative obscurity, in comparison to the more 'popular' actions. Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database ~A
You will find some links here: http://www.ww2f.com/information-req...wwii-related-research-i-e-family-history.html http://www.ww2f.com/italy-sicily-greece/29240-battle-ortona.html I have a post here with several links to information on the Battle of Ortona http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/9817-battles-christmas.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/9816-ortona.html http://www.ww2f.com/italy-sicily-greece/18261-ortona-canadians-sicily.html http://www.ww2f.com/military-servic...-cotching-5th-canadian-armoured-division.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/48327-canada_remembers_part_one_turning_the_tide.html
