by Mark Zuehlke
2. Ed Boyd, correspondence with author, 11 Oct. 1998.
3. “Employment of Snipers in Sicily and the Italian Campaign,” National Archives of Canada, 1–2.
4. Fritz Illi, interview by Major Michael Boire, Zuffenhausen, Germany, 20 Feb. 1999.
5. Jock Gibson, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
6. Captain A.J. Porter, “Report No. 165 Historical Section Canadian Military Headquarters: Operations of 1 Canadian Infantry Division and 1 Canadian Armoured Brigade in Italy, 25 Nov. 43–4 Jan. 44,” Department of National Defence, n.d., 89.
7. Fighting in Built Up Areas, Part Two: Ortona (London: Ministry of Defence, Britain, 1990).
8. Ibid.
9. Harry Rankin, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 15 Oct. 1998.
10. Charles Comfort, Artist at War (Pender Island, B.C.: Remembrance Books, 1995), 90.
11. Anna Tucci, interview by author, Ortona, 8 Dec., 1998.
12. June Thomas, interview by author, Victoria, B.C., 23 Oct. 1998.
13. Major D.H. Cunningham, “The Press in the Ortona Battle,” National Archives of Canada, n.p.
14. Porter, “Report No. 165,” 90.
15. Bert Hoffmeister, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
CHAPTER 24 / THE DARING GAMBLE
1. Kim Beattie, Dileas: History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1926–1956 (Toronto: 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1957), 459.
2. Ibid., 457.
3. Ibid., 458–59.
4. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
5. Beattie, Dileas, 459–61.
6. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary.
7. Ibid.
8. The Royal Canadian Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
9. Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 33-N-16, National Archives of Canada.
10. Strome Galloway, Some Died at Ortona (n.p., n.d.), 205.
11. The Royal Canadian Regiment War Diary.
12. Galloway, Some Died at Ortona, 205.
13. Ibid., 206.
14. Royal Canadian Regiment War Diary.
15. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary, 32-N-12.
CHAPTER 25 / IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE
1. Jock Gibson, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
2. Bert Hoffmeister, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
3. Ibid.
4. John Alpine Dougan, interview by author, Victoria, B.C., 23 Oct. 1998.
5. John Dougan, interview by Tom Torrie, 27 July 1989, University of Victoria Special Collections.
6. Dougan, interview by author.
7. Ibid.
8. G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 326.
9. Fred Mallett, “Carols and Bullets,” n.p., n.d.
10. Wilf Gildersleeve, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 14 Oct., 1998.
11. Syd Thomson, correspondence with author, Dec. 1998 and 25 Jan. 1999.
12. Dave Fairweather, correspondence with Dr. Reginald Roy, 10 Sept. 1967. University of Victoria Special Collections.
13. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
14. Thomson, correspondence.
15. June Thomas, interview by author, Victoria, B.C., 23 Oct. 1998.
16. Fighting in Built Up Areas, Part Two: Ortona (London: Ministry of Defence, Britain, 1990).
17. Eileen Currie-Smith, interview by author, Coquitlam, B.C., 16 June 1999.
18. Gordon Currie-Smith, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 15 Oct. 1998.
19. June Thomas, interview.
20. Gordon Currie-Smith, interview.
21. Karl Bayerlein, diary.
22. Ibid.
23. June Thomas, interview.
24. Turnbull family, correspondence.
25. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada War Diary.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Captain A.G. Steiger, “Report #18 Historical Section Army Headquarters: The Campaign in Southern Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943), Information from German Military Documents regarding Allied operations in general and Canadian operations in particular,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 65.
29. Ibid., 64–65.
30. Ibid.; Bayerlein, diary.
31. Bert Hoffmeister, interview.
CHAPTER 26 / AS MERRY AS CIRCUMSTANCES PERMIT
1. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, 32-N-12, National Archives of Canada.
2. Kim Beattie, Dileas: History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada: 1929–1956 (Toronto: 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1957), 467.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., 468.
5. Ibid., 469.
6. Ibid.
7. J.T.B. Quayle, In Action: A Personal Account of the Italian and Netherlands Campaigns of WW II (Abbotsford, B.C.: Blue Stone Publishing, 1997), 134.
8. Ibid., 134–36.
9. The Royal Canadian Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
10. Ibid.
11. Strome Galloway, Some Died at Ortona (n.p., n.d.), 208.
12. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
13. Ibid.
14. Major Roy C.H. Durnford, diary, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
15. Ibid.
16. Wilf Gildersleeve, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 14 Oct. 1998.
17. Durnford, diary.
18. Syd Thomson, correspondence with author, Dec. 1998.
19. Dave Fairweather, correspondence with Dr. Reginald Roy, 10 Sept. 1967, University of Victoria Special Collections, 4.
20. Ernest “Smoky” Smith, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998. On October 22, 1944, during the battle for the Savio River bridgehead, Smoky Smith would win the third and last Victoria Cross awarded a Canadian during the Italian campaign when he knocked out a tank with a PIAT gun and then single-handedly broke up a heavy German infantry attack with fire from a Thompson submachine gun.
21. Ibid.
22. Loyal Edmonton Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 38-N-10, National Archives of Canada.
23. Jim Stone, interview by William S. Thackray, 13, 20 May and 3, 10, 17 June 1980, University of Victoria Special Collections.
24. 12th Canadian Armoured Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 108-N-35, National Archives of Canada.
25. Captain H.R. Heggie, “Three Rivers Regiment History of WW II” (n.p., n.d.), 69.
26. G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 332.
27. Melville McPhee, correspondence with author, 21 Oct. 1998.
28. Beattie, Dileas, 469.
29. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary, 32-N-12.
30. Beattie, Dileas, 471–72.
31. Ibid, 473.
32. Karl Bayerlein, diary.
33. Major General Chris Vokes, The Red Patch: Canada’s Front Line Newspaper, vol. 2, no. 8, Dec. 1943, n.p.
CHAPTER 27 / CARRY ON
1. June Thomas, interview by author, Victoria, B.C., 23 Oct. 1998.
2. Terry Copp, Battle Exhaustion (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990), 57.
3. Ibid.
4. Alon Johnson, interview by author, Victoria, B.C., 29 Sept. 1998.
5. Jock Gibson, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
6. Melville A. McPhee, correspondence with author, 21 Oct. 1998.
7. Robert L. McDougall, A Narrative of War: From the Beaches of Sicily to the Hitler Line with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, 1943–1944 (Ottawa: The Golden Dog Press, 1996), 158.
8. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
9. Fritz Illi, interview by Major Michael Boire, Zuffenhausen, Germany, 20 Feb. 1999.
&nb
sp; 10. Dave Fairweather, correspondence with Dr. Reginald Roy, 10 Sept. 1967, University of Victoria Special Collections, 3.
11. Peggy Turnbull, correspondence with author, Dec. 1998 and Feb. 1999.
12. 12th Canadian Armoured Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 108-N-37, National Archives of Canada.
13. Peggy Turnbull, correspondence.
14. Gibson, interview.
15. Ibid.
16. Bert Hoffmeister, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
17. Bert Hoffmeister, interview by B. Greenhous and W. McAndrew, Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, Ottawa, n.d.
18. Loyal Edmonton Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 38-N-11, National Archives of Canada.
19. Melville McPhee, correspondence.
20. Karl Bayerlein, diary.
21. Kim Beattie, Dileas: History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada: 1929–1956 (Toronto: 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1957), 475–77.
22. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, 38-N-13, National Archives of Canada.
23. Beattie, Dileas, 478.
24. Ibid., 479.
25. 48th Highlanders of Canada War Diary.
26. Ibid.
27. Captain A.G. Steiger, “Report #18 Historical Section Army Headquarters: The Campaign in Southern Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943), Information from German Military Documents regarding Allied operations in general and Canadian operations in particular,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 66.
28. Ibid., 66–67.
29. Ibid, 66.
30. Strome Galloway, Some Died at Ortona, n.p., n.d., 209.
31. General Bernard Montgomery, Personal message from the army commander, Christmas 1943.
32. Eric Morris, Circles of Hell: The War in Italy, 1943–1945 (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), 224, 236.
33. Galloway, Some Died at Ortona, 211.
CHAPTER 28 / THERE IS NO TOWN LEFT
1. Ed Boyd, correspondence with author, 11 Oct. 1998.
2. G.R. Stevens, A City Goes to War (Brampton, Ont.: Charters, 1964), 278.
3. Ibid.
4. Loyal Edmonton Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 38-N-11, National Archives of Canada.
5. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
6. Karl Bayerlein, diary.
7. 12th Canadian Armoured Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 108-N-40, National Archives of Canada.
8. Ibid.
9. Gordon Currie-Smith, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 15 Oct. 1998.
10. 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, Dec. 1943, n.p., National Archives of Canada.
11. 12th Canadian Armoured Regiment War Diary, 108-N-41.
12. G.W.L. Nicholson, Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 336.
13. Syd Thomson, correspondence with author, Dec. 1998.
14. Daniel Dancocks, The D-Day Dodgers: The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991), 180.
15. Matthew Halton, CBC Radio broadcast, 29 Dec. 1943, CBC Radio Archives.
16. Captain A.G. Steiger, “Report #18 Historical Section Army Headquarters: The Campaign in Southern Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943), Information from German Military Documents regarding Allied operations in general and Canadian operations in particular,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 67.
17. Fritz Illi, interview with Major Michael Boire, Zuffenhausen, Germany, 20 Feb. 1999.
18. Karl Bayerlein, diary.
19. Alon Johnson, “The Last Patrol in Ortona,” The Forty-Niner: Official Publication of the Fortyninth Battalion, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Association, n.d., 35–38.
CHAPTER 29 / AFTERMATHS
1. Matthew Halton, CBC Radio broadcast, 4 Jan. 1944, CBC Radio Archives.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Jim Stone, interview by William S. Thackray, 13, 20 May and 3, 10, 17 June 1980, University of Victoria Special Collections.
5. Daniel Dancocks, The D-Day Dodgers: The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991), 179.
6. Major Roy C.H. Durnford, diary, National Archives of Canada.
7. Captain A.G. Steiger, “Report #18 Historical Section Army Headquarters: The Campaign in Southern Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943), Information from German Military Documents regarding Allied operations in general and Canadian operations in particular,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 68.
8. G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 338–39.
9. Victor Bulger, correspondence with author, Oct. 1998.
10. Turnbull family correspondence.
11. Kim Beattie, Dileas: History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada: 1929–1956 (Toronto: 48th Highlanders of Canada, 1957), 487–88.
12. Ibid., 489–90.
13. Jean V. Allard, The Memoirs of General Jean V. Allard (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1988), 66.
14. Carleton and York Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 11, National Archives of Canada.
15. Robert Tooley, Invicta: The Carleton and York Regiment in the Second World War (Fredericton, N. B.: New Ireland Press, 1989), 194.
16. Americo Casanova, interview by author, Ortona, 8 Dec. 1998.
17. Antonio D’Intino, interview by author, Ortona, 9 Dec. 1998.
18. Antonio Di Cesare, interview by author, Ortona, 9 Dec. 1998.
19. Royal 22e Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 13, National Archives of Canada.
20. Tooley, Invicta, 196.
21. Carleton and York Regiment War Diary, n.p.
22. Lex Schragg, History of the Ontario Regiment: 1866–1951 (n.p., n.d.), 173.
23. Don Smith, correspondence with author, 12 Dec. 1998.
24. Ibid.
25. Jock Gibson, interview by author, Vancouver, B.C., 23 Nov. 1998.
CHAPTER 30 / POINT 59
1. Don Smith, correspondence with author, 12 Dec. 1998.
2. Wilf Gildersleeve, interview by author, West Vancouver, B.C., 14 Oct. 1998.
3. Matthew Halton, CBC Radio broadcast, 11 Jan. 1944, CBC Radio Archives.
4. Loyal Edmonton Regiment War Diary, Dec. 1943, 38-N-11, National Archives of Canada.
5. Major General Chris Vokes, “Fighting State — 1 CDN DIV as of 2 Jan 44, Appendix A,” University of Victoria Special Collections, 1.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., 1–2.
8. Ibid., 2.
9. Terry Copp, Battle Exhaustion (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990), 57.
10. Major General Chris Vokes, “Crossing of the Moro and Capture of Ortona,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 14 March 1944, 6.
11. Captain A.G. Steiger, “Report #18 Historical Section Army Headquarters: The Campaign in Southern Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943), Information from German Military Documents regarding Allied operations in general and Canadian operations in particular,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.d., 69.
12. Ibid.
13. Don Smith, correspondence.
14. Ibid.
EPILOGUE / ORTONA IN MEMORY
1. G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy: 1943–1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 329.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Freasby, W.R., ed. Official History of the Canadian Medical Services, 1939–1945. Volume One: Organization and Campaigns. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956.
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———. Ortona: Christmas 1943. Ottawa: Canadian War Museum, 1988.
Galloway, Strome. A Regiment at War: The Story of The Royal Canadian Regiment, 1939–1945. Royal Canadian Regiment, reprint 1979.
———. Some Died at Ortona. n.p., n.d.