The Capture of Ortona

December 1, 2021

Reading Time: 3 min  

This was the first time the Allies had encountered a built-up area turned into a fortified zone. The bulk of the fighting was conducted by the Seaforth Highlanders and the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) joining in towards the end. Tank support was provided by 12 Canadian Tank Regiment (Three Rivers Regiment). The fighting quickly degenerated into a brutal urban contest with some war correspondents nicknaming Ortona “Little Stalingrad.” Canada’s renowned war artist, Charles Comfort, observed that it was a “medieval battle in its close-quarter violence, groping through suffocating dust and smoke, stumbling over upturned furniture and debris, struggling breathlessly in nightmare darkness, felling, clubbing, blasting, shooting it out.” On 27 December the CBC’s Matthew Halton reported that “the battle has the quality of a nightmare,” but by the next morning the nightmare was over – the paratroopers had withdrawn leaving the Canadians in possession of the field. The official Canadian casualty estimate for the fighting inside Ortona was 275 including 104 killed. Precise German losses are unknown. General Montgomery, commander of Eighth Army, heaped great praise on the Canadians – they were “quite magnificent and in the end outfought the Germans.”

*The Capture of Ortona December 1943 (A Report by 1st Canadian Division) is Annex A to Chapter 1 of B-GL-322-007/FP-001, Unique Operations - Urban, 2006.