Operation Grapeshot order of battle
The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War.[1] The attack into the Lombard Plain by the Allied 15th Army Group started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of German forces in Italy.
Map of Allied offensive in Po Valley
Allied Forces Headquarters Mediterranean
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander
Mark Wayne Clark as a lieutenant general
Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander
- Deputy: Lieutenant General Joseph T. McNarney
- Chief of Staff: Lieutenant-General William Morgan[2]
- Air Commander-in Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces: Lieutenant General John K. Cannon
US Fifth Army
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Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott
Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott
- Army troops
85th Infantry "Custer" Division- Major General John B. Coulter
- Infantry: 337th, 338th, 339th Infantry Regiments
- Artillery–105mm: 328th, 329th, 910th Field Artillery Battalions
- Artillery–155mm: 403rd Field Artillery Battalion
92nd Infantry "Buffalo Soldiers" Division (Colored)[lower-alpha 1]- Major General Edward M. Almond
- Infantry: 370th (Colored), 442nd (Nisei),[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] 473rd[lower-alpha 4] Infantry Regiments
- Artillery–105mm: 597th, 598th, 599th, 600th Field Artillery Battalions (all Colored)
- Armor–Tank: 758th Light Tank Battalion, 760th Tank Battalion (less two companies)
- Armor–TD: 679th, 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion (less two companies)
Corps deployed west to east:
IV CorpsLieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger
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II CorpsMajor General Geoffrey Keyes
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British Eighth Army
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery
Lt-Gen Sir Richard McCreery
- Army troops
- 7th Hussars (amphibious tanks)
- 12th Lancers (armoured cars)
- 16th Army Group Royal Engineers
- 20th Army Group Royal Engineers
- 22nd Army Group Royal Engineers
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Army Reserve
6th Armoured Division- Major-General Horatius Murray
- 25th Armoured Engineer Brigade (less detachments with assault divisions)
- 2nd Parachute Brigade
Axis forces in Italy
Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff
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Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
Army Group C
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (to 29 April)
General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz (from 29 April to 2 May)
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (from 2 May)
West: Army Group Liguria
Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
- Corps Lombardia
- Lieutenant-General Kurt Jahn
- 3rd Marine Infantry Division "San Marco" (Major-General Amilcare Farina)
- Battle Group Meinhold
- Fortress Brigade 135
- Elements of the 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa"
- LXXV Corps
- General der Gebirgstruppe Hans Schlemmer
- 2nd Grenadier Division "Littorio" (Major-General Tito Agosti)
- 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa" (bulk of) (Colonel Giorgio Milazzo)
- 5th Mountain Division (Generalmajor Hans Steets)
- 34th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Theobald Lieb)
Center: Fourteenth Army
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GnlLt Joachim Lemelsen
Generalleutnant Joachim Lemelsen
- XIV Panzer Corps
- Generalleutnant Frido von Senger und Etterlin
- 8th Mountain Division (Major-General Paul Schricker)
- 65th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Pfeifer)
- 94th Infantry Division (Major-General Bernhard Steinmetz)
- LI Mountain Corps
- Generalleutnant Valentin Feurstein until March 1945 and then Lieutenant-General Friedrich-Wilhelm Hauck
- 1st Bersaglieri Division "Italia" (Major-General Mario Carloni)
- 114th Jäger Division (Brigadier-General Hans-Joachim Ehlert to 15 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Martin Strahammer)
- 148th Reserve Division (Major-General Otto Fretter-Pico)
- 232nd Infantry Division (Major-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz)
- 334th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Böhlke)
East: Tenth Army
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GnlLt Traugott Herr
Generalleutnant Traugott Herr
- LXXVI Panzer Corps
- Lieutenant-General Graff Gerhard von Schwerin (to 25 April 1945)
- Major-General Karl von Graffen (from 25 April 1945)
- 42nd Jäger Division (Major-General Walter Jost)
- 98th Infantry Division (Major-General Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt to 11 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Otto Schiel)
- 162nd Turkoman Division (Major-General Ralph von Heygendorff)
- 362nd Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Alois Weber)
- I Parachute Corps
- Lieutenant-General Richard Heidrich
- 1st Parachute Division (Brigadier-General Karl-Lothar Schulz)
- 4th Parachute Division (Major-General Heinrich Trettner)
- 26th Panzer Division (Brigadier-General Alfred Kuhnert to 19 April 1945 then Major-General Viktor Linnarz)
- 278th Infantry Division (Major-General Harry Hoppe)
- including the 1st Italian Assault Company "Forlì" (Pier Vittorio Riccardi)
- 305th Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Friedrich von Schellwitz)
- LXXIII Corps
- Lieutenant-General Anton Dostler[lower-alpha 7]
- Minor units watching the coast between the Po and Venice
- LXXXXVII Corps (transferred to Army Group E in Yugoslavia on 10 April)
- General of the Mountain Troops Ludwig Kübler[lower-alpha 8]
- 188th Mountain Division (Major-General Hans von Hößlin)
- 237th Infantry Division (Major-General Hans von Grävenitz until late April then Colonel Karl Falkner)
- Army Reserve
- 29th Panzergrenadier Division (Major-General Fritz Polack)
- 155th Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Georg Zwade)
Army Group Reserve
- 90th Panzergrenadier Division (Brigadier-General Heinrich Baron von Behr)
Notes
- I.e., all black
- Japanese-American
- Attached 30 Mar 1945
- Attached 24 Feb 1945
- Detached from 92nd Infantry Division
- Detached from 92nd Infantry Division
- Executed by US for war crimes
- Executed by Yugoslavia for war crimes
References
- Jackson, p. 253
- Jackson (1988), p. 196.
Sources
Print
- Blaxland, Gregory (1979). Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945). London: William Kimber & Co. ISBN 0-7183-0386-5.
- Carver, Field Marshal Lord (2001). The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy 1943-1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-330-48230-0.
- Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1987]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 2 - June to October 1944. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-071-8.
- Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1988]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 3 - November 1944 to May 1945. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-072-6.
- Kay, Robin (1967). "Appendix VII — Fifteenth Army Group — Order of Battle as at 9 April 1945". Italy Volume II : From Cassino to Trieste. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington, New Zealand: Historical Publications Branch.
Web
- Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen. "World War II unit histories and officers". Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
- "Orders of Battle.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
- Wendell, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook: German army order of battle". Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
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