This map is in the Grenadier Guards history. I asked Gurdjieff to work his magic again. He burnt the midnight oil until he succeeded. Click each thumbnail to make it bigger. the Arezzo overlay job: I think you'll agree he's done a fine job. I hope they prove useful in other members' research.
Hi Owen, Very interesting the map and the overlays. Is there anything written about the advance to/from Arezzo related to your map that indicates any particular details like where and what resistance was put up, if it was an easy walk or heavy defended? Thanks, Justin
My Google Map of the 2nd Coldstream Guards progress as part of the 1st Guards Brigade during the battle of AREZZO (to be viewed alongside the war diary) is here The war diary regarding the assault on Arrezo is here: Please note *again*, this is the uncorrected raw translation. Spelling mistakes are throughout the document. WAR DIARIES 2nd Bn Cldm Gds Commanding officer: Lt Col R.E.J.C Coats Jul 1944 PERUGIA: 1st July. 1000: No 4 Coy move forward and take up defensive posns on CIVITELLE 683003. Coy Comds conference reference the disbanding of No 3 Coy. Capt. The Hon D.C. Chichester and his Coy HQ will run a battalion Rest Camp at PERUGIA. 1400: Commanding officer talks to no 3 Coy reference their disbandment. First Dark: Battalion is relieved by 4th GWARHLI rifles (10 Ind Div) Major. H.J.L. Green leaves the Bn to become floating major 2nd July: 0915: Battalion column leaves PERUGIA. 1200: Arrives at CASTIGLIO FOSCO 5087 (42° 58' 21'' N, 12° 09' 45'' E) p.m.: Baths 3rd July: Lt. Gen. Sir Bertram Sergison Brooke visits the Bn. 2000: Battalion Concert. 4th July: First leave party goes to Battalion Rest Camp. 5th July: 1530: Battalion Column leaves CASTIGLIO FOSCO. 1930: Arrives at BORGHETTO 3901 just NORTH of Lake TRASIMENE 3901 (43° 10' 49'' N, 12° 01' 10'' E) 6th July: 1300: Left BORGHETTO 1420: Arrived at CAMUCIA 3510 (43° 15' 37'' N, 11° 58' 03'' E) 7th July: The armour is still held up by A.Tk fire, and heavy shelling 4 miles short of Arezzo. 8th July: Captured German Operation Order shows that 15 P.G. Div are holding the line of hills just south of AREZZO, from the CANAL to M.LIGANO in strength. 9th July: A plan is made to capture the hills overlooking AREZZO. 1st KRRC are to capture LIGNANO. 1st guards Bde is to avance from Lignano to L’OLMO ravine. 1015: C.O. and I.O. go on recce of ground. This proves very difficuly. And the C.O. gets all coy comfs to see the ground from an air an O.P 10th July: A new plan is made. 2 Coldstream Gds is to capture LIGNANO, and the other two bns of 1st Gds are to advance to L’ALMO gap. A sand model is made of LIGNANO, to allow the NCO’s and men to see the lie of the ground. 1100: Commanding Officers conference 11th July: The plan is again changed. A New Zealand Bde is to capture LIGNANO, and 1st Gds Bde is to attack simultaneously. 12th July: 0830: Drill Parade. 13th July: C.O. and I.O. go to HQ 28 Bde (4) Div from where there is a good view of the ground? 1600: Coy and specialists Pl Comds Conference. 14th July: All section commanders see the ground from 28 Bde HQ. 1900: Co-ordinating conference. 2245: Bn Leaves for lying up area. 15th July: 0015: Batalion debusses and moves up to lying up area at 263253 (43° 23' 46'' N, 11° 51' 19'' E). Bn HQ est with Rear HQ 3 Gren Gds at S.ANDREA 2626 (43° 24' 08'' N, 11° 51' 05'' E) Commanding officer and I.O listen to progress made by 3 Gren Gds. 0500: 3 Gren Gds have two coys on their objectives. Commanding Officer moves Tac. HQ and No 4 Coy up to fwd conc area 267266 (43° 24' 28'' N, 11° 51' 35'' E) 0700: ‘S’ Coy moved into fwd conc area. No 4 Coy advances to behind point 575 (2727) from where they will attack LE SELVE and point 565. 0905: 3 Gren Gds are counter attacked off pt 575. No 4 Coy makes plans to recapture pt 575. No 4 Coy makes plans to recapture pt 575. 1110: No 4 Coy report capture of pt 575 with little opposition. Maj Hon. R.J. Palmer. M.C. (4 Coy) makes plans to capture Le SELVE and pt 565? 1215: No 4 Coy take LE SELVE. Tac HQ and ‘S’ Coy move forward to 272268 (43° 24' 35'' N, 11° 51' 57'' E). Capt Neilson (‘S’ Coy) is wounded (Subsequently died of wounds) by shoe mine. Lieut. Charteris assumes comd of ‘S’ Coy. No 3 Coy is ordered up behind ‘S’ Coy. 4 Coy captures 3 PW. 1440: ‘S’ Coy moves up behind No 4 Coy, who are now on pt 565 1530: ‘S’ Coy attacks Pt 501 and encounter considerable M.G. fire and mortaring. Owing to the fact that Lt. Charteris is wounded there is considerable difficulty in getting the Coy posn. 1645: Tac HQ, followed by No 4 Coy move up to MARZUPINO 2727 (43° 24' 41'' N, 11° 51' 48'' E), followed by No 2 Coy. It is discovered that ‘S’ Coy are on Pt 501, but can get no further fwd as the enemy are in considerable strength on the fwd slopes. 2215: After considerable recce and preparation No 3 Coy start their attack to clear the fwd slopes of 501 and then to patrol fwd to pts 456 and 482. Fwd slopes of 501 are found clear of enemy, and patrols to Pts 456 and 482 find no enemy. It is appreciated that the enemy have withdrawn. Mules come up with Coy Rations. Casualties: x- Offrs 1. O.R. 9 Y – Officers 1. O.R. 14 Z – Offrs NIL. O.R. 5 16th July 0300: 0040: Welsh Guards go through No 2 Coy to PARADISO without opposition. 0800: 16/5.L. get through the L’ONO gap and by 100 hrs are in AREZZO. 1200: Bde Comd visits Tac HQ. We get orders to move down the road where areas have been recced for Coys. 1730: All Bn is off the hill and in Billets. Bn HQ at 263254 (43° 23' 49'' N, 11° 51' 19'' E) 2130: Cinema Show. 17th July: Baths and rest 1400: Lecture by Maj. Lincoln (A.Y.) on selecting and calling for Gunner targets. 18th July: Baths and Laundry 19th July: Shooting and drill parades by companies. 20th July: Shooting and cinema show. 21st July: 2030: Bn Column moves to another Harbour area at 256340 (43° 28' 27'' N, 11° 50' 38'' E) 22nd July: BLANK 23rd July 0900: Church Parade for church of England personnel 0930: Church Parade for Roman Catholics. Cinema show? (Tunisian Victory) 24th July: 0900: Recce Party left to recce new area. 1539: Main Body leaves. 25th July: I.O. leaves on photographic course. 26th July: Visit of H.M. the King to the eighth Army. 0345: The Bn practices for the Guards of Honour for his Majesty. 0845: H.M. The king arrives. 2145: Bn Moves to MONTEVARCHI 054407 27th July: 1100pm: Bn HQ moves to farm 053406 (43° 31' 42'' N, 11° 35' 26'' E) 28th July: 0130: No 2 Coy established a ‘Stink Major’ (Strong Point) 29th July: Patrols by No 2 Coy. 30th July: Coys visited by Brigadier C.A.M.D Scott. DSO. 0900 R.C. Church Service. 31st July: 1400: I.O and the commanding Officer recce new area. No 2 Coy relieved by ‘G’ Coy 3 W.G.
Great stuff guys ! Very interesting. I'm actually planning to make a little hike in the Arezzo area on Saturday moring (early because otherwise it get's too hot later in the morning). If I go, I'll try to shoot some photos to show. Cheers! Justin
Cheers Justin, that will be great. There's a few photos to be found here Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database and chance you could maybe do some Then & Now type pics?
Hi guys, I've georeferenced the map, and overlayed it in Google Earth with a 3d view: All the map view (Map+Satellite view): The Mountain sector (Igm 1:25k+map+satellite view): All the best, Gurdjieff
From The Times, Jul 13, 1944 MOVING TOWARDS AREZZO HIGH GROUND TAKEN THREAT TO PRINCIPAL HIGHWAY From Our Special Correspondent ALLIED H.Q. ITALY, JULY 12 Hard fighting and small gains still characterize operation on the Italian front. The most important development reported to-day is the advance by troops of an Indian division north of the Nestore in the country between Arezzo and the upper Tiber. The Nestore is a tribuary of the Tiber which joins the main river from the west about six miles north of Umbertide. The country in which this fighting is taking place is a sparsely inhabited hill region intersected by numerous valleys and gulleys. The new attacks have given us the village of Morra on the Nestore and a number of dominating points in the hills - Monte Civitella, which rises to a height of 3,000ft.; Monte Fabri, and the hamlets of Mucignano and Meone. The importance of this advance is that it threatens Highway 73, the main road which leads eastwards from Arezzo towards the Tiber valley. Yesterday's fighting brought the troops to a point where they are approaching the head of the mountain road which leads down to the highway at Palazzo del Pero. The new movement should speed up the liberation of Arezzo. In the Arezzo valley itself there has been little or no change. One patrol of six men came upon a party of 20 Germans with an officer who were described as being "in various stages of drunkenness." The British patrol opened fire, and only five Germans got away.
From The Times, Jul 17, 1944 AREZZO FALLS SUDDEN GERMAN WITHDRAWAL STREAM OF ALLIED ARMOUR From Our Special Correspondent AREZZO, JULY 16 Forward troops of the Eighth Army entered Arezzo soon after 9 o'clock this morning. By midday tanks and armoured forces were moving through this ancient town in a steady stream. The Eighth Army assault was nearing the River Arno to the north. Those of us who came to Arezzo an hour or two after our advanced troops found it a deserted town, ghostlike in the silence that was broken only by the rumble of approaching tanks. The main street through the town from the south was a melancholy line of battered shopfronts and doorways. It looked as if one great explosion had pushed everything sideways but left the walls standing. At the end of this sombre route one came to the Piazza del Doumo and it was a refreshing sight. There stood Arezzo's fine cathedral, serene on its height above the streets of the town and remote from the damage and havoc that war had wrought below. The town hall at one corner of the Piazza and the bishop's palace at the other were likewise undamaged. The Bishop of Arezzo himself had remained in the town throughout all its ordeal, and this aged prelate, now in his seventy-third year, was among the first to welcome the British soldiers. The worst damage to the town was in the area of the railway station and yards where there had obviously been large fires at some time. Many of the inhabitants had fled to the mountains, and Italian partisans in the town this morning told of the Germans having attacked these people in the mountains during the past three days. The partisans also gave some useful information on the extent of German mining and the setting of booby traps within Arezzo. PARTISANS' SUCCESS A notable achievement of the partisans was their capture of a German battery just outside Arezzo to the north. The Germans, they told us, had begun to pull out of the town last night, and the place was completely abandoned by the early hours of this morning. The fall of Arezzo has thus come with unexpected suddenness. Even so the Eighth Army has been well prepared to take full advantage of this sudden withdrawal, as indeed is apparent from the steady flow of armoured strength now moving forward. The first objectives in what yesterday we were envisaging as the battle for Arezzo were the heights to the north-west of Monte Lignano. The attack along these heights - they are in effect the north-west slopes of Monte Lignano itself - was made at dawn yesterday and achieved initial success. One force of British Guards were later driven from some of their positions in a German counter-attack, but when reinforcements came up to restore the situation the Germans had themselves withdrawn. This was the first surprise move the enemy made, and it was followed by a second in that the heights to the west dominating the road to Arezzo by way of a narrow pass were given up without a hard struggle. This pass - at the hamlet of Olmo, on the road running north from Lake Trasimeno, at a point about three miles from Arezzo - was the last enemy bastion in his defence of Arezzo from the south.
And lest we forget the civilian tradgedy of arrezo. The city and its surrounding towns were the scenes of several partisan/civilian massacres. Link
Jaykay- Thanks for that - looks really peaceful - and all grown up to-day - we - 21st Tank bde with the 1st Canadian Div. had turned back by then after trying to fool Kesselring that the big attack was to come from the Florence area - it worked as he pulled his best units from the coast - then we sneaked back to Spoleto - then over the valley to Fabriano and Iesi and went over the Metauro to start the Gothic Line Battles - so Kesselring had to pull the 1st Paras - 26th Panzers - and 29th PG's over to meet us again ! He might have been a bit annoyed at using all that petrol Cheers !
Owen - Don't feel bad about missing the fun around there in '44- just think - if everyone was there at that time - there would have been no room for us to fight - then there would have been no fun at all....... on our way back from that area and going over to Fabriano - we "discovered" a very cool looking pool and our Tank had a "breakdown" and we were frolicking around in this cool pool when a soldier appeared to be guarding our clothes - on further inspection he had red tabs on his collar - the Brigadier wondered what the X*Y*Z*** we were playing at...... Cheers
Sadly not as they have been lost over the last ten years since I started the thread. All I can give you the Gren Gds history map that I orginally posted.
Thanks Vitellino - Im looking for something quite large scale that demonstrates the position of A/B/C Batteries in Chris's War Diary quoted in this threadË 1117663 W/Sgt Daniel Lewis Lucas DCM, Royal Artillery
