Seaforth Landing


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Seaforth Landing

Seaforth Landing

Sadly neither of Canada's two magazines dedicated to war vets and the military, Legion and Esprit de Corps, ran any articles in December 2008 specifically honouring Canadian soldiers' Ortona experiences of 65 years ago. It was the Canadian 1st Division's job to clear the Germans from the port city on the Adriatic, thus breaching the Gustav Line, the road to Pescara and the eastern approach to Rome. The Canadians acheived their objective but at great cost:

  • the bloodiest month of war in the Italian campaign with 1,375 dead, 964 wounded and 213 dead alone in the Christmas week
  • historian Daniel Dancocks reported even higher figures, 4,206 casualties including 1,700 sick with shell shock, exhaustion and jaundice

These Canadian forces cannot be forgotten or their efforts diminished. Their experience and achievements deserve more than the denigrating moniker "D-Day Dodgers" unintentionally given by Lady Nancy Astor, according to her biographer John Grigg.

The Experience of Ortona

After the battle for Sicily and landing at Reggio, the Canadians had been fighting up the eastern side of Italy's boot since September, 1943. Slogging through steep river valleys with gullies and ravines cutting through the Apennine spine, they approached Ortona at the beginning of December. Ortona was the eastern flank of the German defensive Gustav Line just beyond the Moro River which presented a 2-mile front line from Villa Rogatti and San Leonoardo to Ortona itself, all still bearing war scars to this day.