bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 25 Aug 2022.
The Po Valley Campaign, the final WWII Allied campaign in Italy, officially began on 5 Apr 1945 and ended with the German surrender in Italy on 2 May 1945.
The Po Valley Campaign, the final WWII Allied campaign in Italy, officially began on 5 Apr 1945 and ended with the German surrender in Italy on 2 May 1945.
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The Po River Valley lies between the northern Apennines and the Italian Alps. Once the Allies broke through the remaining Gothic Line defenses, they advanced quickly across the Po Valley and into portions of the Italian Alps.
As the War with Germany wound down, US Fifth Army troops in northern Italy and Seventh Army troops in Bavaria made contact at Brenner Pass on the German-Italian border between Innsbruck and Bolzano on the accompanying map. |
Northern Italy
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Timeline:
- Apr - May 1945 - Allies break out of Gothic Line and advance across the Po River valley.
- 28 Apr 1945 - Mussolini captured and executed in northern Italy while attempting to flee to Switzerland.
- 2 May 1945 - German military forces in Italy surrender.
- 8 May 1945 - World War II in Europe ends.
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In April 1945, the Allies advanced from the Gothic Line through the Po Valley in northern Italy.
The long and bloody Italian Campaign ended with the surrender of German forces in Italy on April 29, effective on May 2. Surrendering units included the German 10th and 14th Armies and the First Ligurian Army Group, composed of German troops and Italians loyal to Benito Mussolini. |
Northern Italy - The Po Valley (sources below has link to scalable version)
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Sources for Big Pigeon's The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley webpage:
General Sources (CMH = US Army Center for Military History, these sources generally contain good maps):
Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley:
† Hildebrand, Gilbert Dean, SN 37-126-329, US Army, Pott. Co.
General Sources (CMH = US Army Center for Military History, these sources generally contain good maps):
- Po Valley: 5 April-8 May 1945, by Thomas Popa, 26 pp. [CMH #72-33]
- Cassino to the Alps, by Ernest F. Fisher Jr., 1989, 584 pp. [CMH #6-4]
- Page header photo, Italy-Austria Border, 4 May '45, by Irving Leibowitz, https://www.argunners.com/liberation-war-destruction-unseen-photographs/ - C/O the personal collection of General Charles D. Palmer. Advance units of the MTO's US Fifth Army and the ETO's US Seventh Army met at Brenner Pass on the border between Italy and Austria.
- Northern Italy map - C/O Free Maps Library.
- Northern Italy - The Po Valley scalable map, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-Cassino/maps/USA-MTO-Cassino-XVI.jpg - Map XVI from Cassino to the Alps, cited above.
Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
† Hildebrand, Gilbert Dean, SN 37-126-329, US Army, Pott. Co.
- Troop E, 81st Cavalry Recon. Sqdn., 1st Armored Div., IV Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 25 Apr 1945, Colorno, NE of Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy; The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley.
- b. 28 Sep 1914 rural Elliott, Montgomery Co., IA; s/o John W. Lewis & Mary A. Wright; m. Desda R. Winterstein 1934, four children; entered service 7 Jun 1944 from Exira, Audubon Co., service credited to Audubon Co.; bur. Hillside Cem., Elliott.
- Co. E, 85th Mountain Inf. Regt., 10th Inf. Div.; KIA 15 Apr 1945 near Castel d’Aiano, 25 miles S of Bologna, Emilia-Romanga, Italy; The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley.
- Notes: Killed during the Fifth Army breakout from the northern Apennine Mountains into the Po River Valley; Bob Dole of Kansas, also from the 85th Inf. Regt., was seriously injured the previous day.
- Co. A, 14th Armored Inf. Bn., 1st Armored Div., IV Corps, Fifth Army; WIA & DOW 25 Apr 1945 near Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, shrapnel; The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley.
- Co. E, 363rd Inf. Regt., 91st Inf. Div., II Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 17 Apr 1945 S of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy; The MTO > Italy > The Po Valley.