bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany  > The MTO > Italy > Rome To Florence, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 16 May 2022.
​After the German withdrawal from Rome, the Allies advanced northward, liberating much of central Italy in the summer of 1944. 
This webpage covers the third part of the US Army's Rome - Arno Campaign, from early June 1944 to 9 September 1944. For earlier parts, from January to early June of 1944, see my Cassino/the Gustav Line and Cassino to Rome webpages.

​The Italian Campaign Timeline, May - August 1944:
  • May 1944 - Allies break out of Gustav Line and Anzio Beachhead and advance northward.
  • 4 June 1944 - Germans abandon Rome.
  • 19 July 1944 - Allies capture the port city of Leghorn (pronounced as Ligorno).
  • 4 Aug 1944 - Germans abandon Florence and Florence is occupied by Allies.
The US Fifth Army Reorganization, June & July 1944
  • After the fall of Rome, VI Corps was replaced on the Fifth Army's  by the newly-arrived IV Corps (Willis Crittenberger), which entered combat on 11 June.
  • The 3rd, 36th and 45th  Army divisions left with VI Corps to prepare for the 15 August invasion of southern France.
  • In July, Fifth Army lost the French Expeditionary Corps of four divisions, also being transferred to participate in the southern France invasion.
​The Allies' Central Italy Campaign, Summer of 1944
After German forces abandoned Rome in early June 1944,  Allied forces comprising the US Fifth Army and British Eighth Army followed the retreating German army north through central Italy until early August 1944.
Upon several occasions, 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 through Lake Transimento in late June.
  • The Arno Line through Florence in early August.
​The advance slows:
  • 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 8 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 Big Pigeon's The MTO > Italy > Rome to Florence webpage:
  • Cassino to the Alps (scalable maps) (United States Army in World War II, Mediterranean Theater of Operations series, Ernest F. Fisher Jr., 1989, CMH #6-4) - http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-Cassino/index.html.
  • ​The Allied Advance from Rome to Florence - Summer 1944 map is courtesy of the US Army Center for Military History.

Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - The MTO > Italy > Rome to Florence:02-02 - The MTO > Italy > Rome to Florence: (two dead, updated 31 Dec 2022)
† O'Connell, John Francis, SN 20-706-814, US Army, Cass Co.​
  • first served w/ Co. M. (Red Oak), 168th Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div.; in 1944 transferred to Co. L, 133rd Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div., II Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 9 Jul 1944 near Castellina, S of Florence, Tuscany, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Rome to Florence.
† Schram, Edward Nicholas, SN 37-111-412, US Army, Shelby Co.
  • Co. B, 755th Tank Bn., Fifth Army; KIA 12 Jun 1944 near Latera, N of Rome & NW of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy, supporting French forces; The MTO > ​Italy > Rome to Florence.