bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Germany  > MTO > Italy > Rome To Florence, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.
The Allies' Central Italian Campaign, Summer of 1944
For Operation Diadem, which broke through the German Gustav Line in May 1944, Allied forces had been concentrated in the western portion of the Italian Front, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. This concentration remained in effect as Allied forces following the retreating German army north through central Italy from June to early August 1944.

Several times the German army temporarily stopped the Allied advance at improvised defensive lines, the two most significant of which are shown on the accompanying map:
  • The Transimeno Line in late June.
  • The Arno Line through Florence in early August.

In July, the Allies lost their four French divisions, being transferred to participate in the 15 August invasion of southern France.

After destroying all bridges in Florence except for the Ponte Vecchio, the German army withdrew from the Florence area around 11 August as partisans in Florence began an uprising.

In early and mid August, portions of the British Eighth Army, especially the Canadian Corps, moved east towards the Adriatic Sea to prepare for Operation Olive, the Allied offensive against the Gothic Line.
The Allied Advance from Rome to Florence
The Allied Advance from Rome to Florence - Summer 1944
Sources for the WW II - Rome to Florence webpage
  • The The Allied Advance from Rome to Florence - Summer 1944 map is courtesy of the US Army Center for Military History.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - Rome to Florence
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)
02-03 - The Italian Mainland - Rome to Florence: (one dead, updated 25 Apr '20)
† Schram, Edward Nicholas, SN 37-111-412, US Army, Shelby Co.
Co. B, 755th Tank Bn.; KIA 12 Jun 1944 near Latera, NW of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy, supporting French forces.