The Battle of Ortona | Canadian Christmas in the Italian Campaign of WW2
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- Опубліковано 19 гру 2023
- Between 20 and 28 December 1943, the idyllic Adriatic resort town of Ortona, Italy was the scene of some of the most intense urban combat in the Mediterranean Theater. Soldiers of the First Canadian Infantry Division fought German Falschirmjager for control of the city, the eastern anchor of the Gustav Line. The Army University Films Team is proud to present, The Battle of Ortona, as told by Major Jayson Geroux of the Canadian Armed Forces.
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This is very well done and easy to follow, Chimo!
Bout ten years ago I spoke to a Canadian soldier from near Russeldale, Ontario named Dow who was there. At age 95 he still vividly remembered Ortona as the worst fighting he went through in the entire war. In particular he vividly remembered crossing The Gully under the creeping barrage which Montgomery ordered so they could get across the heavily defended Gully and up into Ortona itself. The bravery of such men is beyond words. May they now RIP !!
Thank you. My grandfather was a Sergeant in the Seaforth Highlanders. (Many stories) he fought in both Sicily and Ortona. This documentery means a lot. Again, thank you. (He made it home safe)
I should have said 'with' not 'in' - my bad
Thank you for commenting. It is always great to hear that we have made an impact.
Excellent presentation! My family has served in every war in which Canada was involved from the Second Boer through Korea and well into the Cold War (that's me... the Cold Warrior)... in War 2 it was 3 of my uncles and cousins along with 2 great uncles. None served in the Italian campaign... they were in Europe (D-Day to VE Day), in Hong Kong (bad outcome there), in Burma theatre and Battle of the Atlantic.
Very good to see that our veterans are being showcased.... not a very "Canadian" thing to do. I will say this; about all Canadians that have been called on to fight regardless of the conflict: if we decide we are taking something from you.... it shall be done!
As some of my American cousins told me while I was in service alongside them - there are no finer friends and no worse enemies than Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen. I believe it. For those who fell - Requiescat im pace.
Edit: that bit about no finer friends etc.... that was paraphrased. As I recall the actual phrase was a wee bit more colourful 🤣 but I didn't think it appropriate to use the original language here.
Fabulous production. Maj. Geroux is the perfect storyteller and injects the facts with feeling. As the son of a Canadian WWII soldier, I am blown away by the level of care and detail of this production. Seeing the Maple Leaf being flown in a town halfway around the world as thanks and appreciation for what those soldiers gave brings tears to my eyes. Thank you.
I agree
This is an excellent no equal military explanation of infantry and armor WW2 point-blank ground combat.
To understand just how deadly the Battle of Ortona was, Canada saw around 42 000 KIA in the course of the war, of which 2000 were in Ortona and the surrounding area's. That means that this battle alone resulted in 1 in 21 of all Canadians deaths in the war, in the span of little over a week.
You will find that there is an Ortona Avenue, road or street in every town in Canada. We remember.
As a Navy League Cadet in Edmonton, our drill hall was the Ortona Armoury.
No Ortona streets in meaford, Ontario, but there is a small town at the meaford base named such. It's used to train for urban combat
Worthy of the fallen. Thank you
My thanks as a Canadian for creating this very informative content. Major Geroux was an excellent presenter and narrator.
Farley Mowat wrote a decent book, “ And No Birds Sang” about the Canadian First Regiment. He was an Army Intelligence officer who later turned author and participated at Ortona.
My father was with the Princess Patricia, was a stretcher bearer. Mowat’s book helped me understand what he and others went through. He served from beginning to end of the war, spoke very rarely about anything to do with the war
My Grandfather was wounded in Italy. Lost an eye. Not sure when or where. His name was James Williamson from New Brunswick. He served with the Carleton and York Regiment. 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade.
His whole story (or what they allow you to see) will be found in his Personnel Service records file, Ottawa. Family have rights to them.
Excellent history lesson. Thanks AUP, and Maj. Geroux. I served with Jayson many years ago in 2 RCR, he has always been a fine story teller, and historian. Pro Patria.
Pro Patria
This was a hell of a fight,my hats off to the Canadians and Germans for a well fought ,messy tragic and scary fight,urban warfare is the worse you can fight folks, 7 days of continues fighting is a hell of a slug match,and at Christmas also,sad but such is war.Thank you for the history.
I thought this was a US channel. But us Canadians who know and remember that this battle happened thankyou for it. Not expected but welcome.
I cover Canadian military history, including Ortona, on my channel, if you'd like to check it out.
The channel has stuff on the Battle of Warsaw and Stalingrad. So it doesn’t just create stuff on US battles.
@@armyjacky96And most important, it seems, this U.S. channel does not input some U.S. bs into the video. At one point I thought they used footage of American troops but on closer inspection they were Canadian.
Great to see Jayson telling this story. I've been lucky enough to have him on my channel to talk about Ortona.
I thought I'd see you here Brad @OTDMilitaryHistory
What channel is that?
I grew up on Ortona Street in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in a neighborhood of Montgomery Place, dedicated to veterans and their families. My Dad saw service as an airframe mechanic in Labrador, and my grandfather was a prison guard in Lethbridge, Alberta at a German POW camp. It's refreshing to hear about the contributions Canadians made during WWII, as it seems to be disregarded by the Allies as no big thing.
If you consider hearing and reading false, fraudulent rigmarole such as this "refreshing" you are an profound moral imbecile.
TIL Lethbridge had a POW camp. I lived there for two years after moving from Saskatoon, I knew about the Japanese internment camp but never the about the second largest POW camp on the continent. Upon further investigation I lived just blocks from one of the monuments for the camp.
I nearly instantly subscribed.
This US Army Documentary is a monumental record of the magnificent Canadian victory action at Ortona.
CANADIAN documentary !
CANADIAN documentary !
Excellent job on this video! Makes me proud to be a Canadian, and a veteran (not of WW2). I've read Zuehleke's outstanding account of the battle, as well as Farley Mowat's first hand account of the Italian Campaign. Incredible bravery and leadership, from the ground up and back.
My father was there outside of Ortona with the Saskatoon Light Infantry who were the divisional support with machine gun and mortar sections. He was RCEME (Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) attached as a mechanic and driver with the mortar section. The nature of the warfare in Ortona did not allow for use of the SLI in the combat. Afterwards my father had a chance meeting with his cousin who was a tanker in the tank regiment.
Thank you for putting this together. My grandfather fought there, rarely spoke a word of it afterwards. I wondered at that when I was young but learned better when I grew up.
Thank you for this I saw my grandfather in your footage several times. Thank you grandpa pvt. W. Langhorn Seaforth Highlanders
Congratulations on one of the most informative and moving descriptions of a little known but pivotal battle.
I think it was the best documentary I have seen.
I've read various references to the battle including Mark Zuehlke's exquisite 'Ortona' and studied Google earth and other sources but none have come close to putting me 'there' and understanding day by day what happened on a tactical level. This was truly brilliantly done and may be the best documentary I have seen on a battle. Others here have spoken of the models and drone shots and yes! Amazing! I also like the way it didn't pull punches either. It appears to be very balanced even to the admission of civilian casualties caused by Canadians and efforts to mend feelings afterwards... something I don't think I've ever heard other documentaries speak to. Well done and thank you for such a high quality doc!
great video, my grand dad was a Seaforth highlander at Ortona.
My Uncle is buried in the Moro River Cemetery, an Edmonton "Eddie", thank you for this awesome film.
Jayson is awesome!
Yes he is!
This is so in depth and so much better then your average youtube video about a war battle. Thank you.
I love this and it's the first video I have seen of your channel. I'm hoopng then i click on all your videos there's tons more like this
the veterans I grew up around were there. The Hasty P's! They had a big fight at the gully. Thank you!
Farley Mowatt wrote two books about the Italian Campaign, he was a Hastings Prince Edward Regiment member as well. In fact his dad founded the reg. Met him twice when I was a young lad for Young Authors Day back home. Most battle decorated Canadian Army Unit in WW2 would have been in Ortona if the Gully hadn't punished them to the point of needing to recoup.
My uncle served in north Africa and Italy, it was there he and his buddies found an abandoned wine cellar. They stayed in it for 2 or 3 days, upon exhausting the contents of the cellar, he promptly stumbled over the edge of a ravine 😅. He received a welcome stay in a hospital and a medal 🏅 😮.
He recovered and re joined his unit fighting in europe. 🇨🇦
Two uncles on my Fathers side served in North Africa and Italy, unfortunately they never recorded their stories..
Wooow. If most documentaries could even start to come near this quality 🤌🏼
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AUP killed it! Excellent editing and production. Also shoutout drone footage it adds an incredible element!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're thrilled to hear that you enjoyed our editing and production. And yes, we agree, the drone footage really added an incredible dimension to our video. If you haven't already, please consider liking and subscribing to our channel. It helps us continue to create content that you enjoy, and you'll stay updated on our latest releases.
Excellent Documentary.
Thank you!
Probably the best documentary I've seen on this battle. The AUP produces outstanding work.Thank you!
This is such a brilliant documentary with the perfect narration by Maj Jayson Geroux. The details regarding the geostrategic location of Ortona, the terrain, tactical details of the battle and the nuances provides a comprehensive understanding.
My father was there in the artillery. Told me many stories.
28:34 : Dunno if it's intended, but since Ortona is the Italian Stalingrad, the tune is a callback to the Stalingrad episodes about the battle for the Martenovskii Shop and the campaign, as both used this tune heavily, and IIRC, hadn't been used since then until now.
In some German memoirs, they admitted they know the 1st canadian division was not going to quit
Very Good One of my uncle served in Sicily Italy and NW Europe .We need more of this kind of well done Canadian history Lest We Forget
at 13:29 thats my uncle robert sexton in the middle of the pic/vid with the number 4 enfield off the left hip and above the bren gunner...unfortunately he was KIA a couple of days later
Brilliant documentary. Really enjoyed hearing about the events after the fighting and the rebuilding/recovery of the Ortona - often those bits get left out of the narrative.
great job of telling history
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Thank you for making this wonderful,short documentary of our precious Canadian fighting men. Long live their memory. We'll done,Lester
Engaging and educational. Very well done.
Don't expect to see anything about Canada's contribution in anyway to WW2 in the Netflix series WW2 from the frontlines, it is an astonishing America Flag Waving, series that completely ignores what Canada did without which, the Second World War would have absolutely been lost yet doesn't bother to mention anything. Otherwise the film was digitised well and a well put together series if you think Canada never went. Love this video, puts the one I just mentioned to shame in my opinion.
My uncle was wounded in this battle.
One of the best battle stories I’ve heard in a long time. Definitely excerpting & sharing on twitter
UPDATE: 5 weeks after my first view & subsequent comment. There are a couple other battles that occurred 8-9 months after Ortuna, Italy where tactics developed there (and explained here) were successfully deployed. Aachen. Schmidt. Strasbourg. The Allies took significantly fewer casualties due to the Canadian innovations refined in Ortuna. That “mouse holing” ?? That’s some hardcore run n gun. Startlingly brilliant.
That's was Very Nice.
Thank you, friends down South for remembering Ortona.
Great book
Great job AUP
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Great job on this documentary. Enjoyed this more than anything I've watched recently. Thank you 🇨🇦🇮🇹
My father was killed after the end of the Battle of Ortona - bloody Germans. He was killed when I was a few years young. When an adult I visited the Canadian cemetery in Ortona and stood by his headstone. So moving to be there amongst all the Canadians killed during that batlle....RIP.
Excellent video, brilliantly presented by Major Geroux! Thankyou!
Well done! Very much enjoyed. The drone to diorama shots during the closing credits are sweet! As is the Christmas card and talent show clip post credits! Where is that diorama located? Thank you.
The diorama is located at the Museo della Battaglia-Ortona in Italy!
Excellent
Why is there no movie of this battle? A Canadian production of this battle with Canadian actors would be a hit and a rememberance of our great soldiers.
Cigarettes and beer. The basic diet of a Canadian soldier. Probably.
An excellent and detailed description of the plan of battle. Thank you, Major Geroux.
Great tribute....Free beer for the Yanks' production team!🍻
Sounds great! Let us know how to claim our free beer!
Excellent 'Pukka-Gen'. Got me hooked. An RCE uncle was in Sicily & Italy, France etc. Left a great album behind & a letter from his 'Sicily' love that made the Italian lady who translated it cry, and a few of his letters home and many mentions in my dads war time diary in England. He had been at Dieppe. 1st Telegram announced he was MIA. 2nd a week later announced safe (some say he evaded from there in a fishing boat with a friend, the fisherman & his daughter (all featured in a 1 min news reel I was told). Never told me much himself but I got some good gossip from folks who knew him well. SERVICE Personnel Records have not allowed me access to this period.
A close family friend and old girlfriend of Sapper Leonard LeBlanc told me Len killed only one German. A sniper offered Len a target & he hit the man. Len cried while he told her the story. He was a man.
Great weĺl produced vidieo on Canadians in Italy. Subscribed!
In Hoffmeister We Trust
Good old Hoffy
Excellent briefing hoser. I've seen a lot of documentaries and briefings and classroom stuff. I could watch something like this all day. Dang I even watched the credits.
My maternal grandfather was seriously wounded xmas day and spent two years in an British hospital before he was repatriated back home in 1946.
Super, but I wonder whether anything has been learned about the utility of drones on the batllefield.
My great grandfather fought the Ortona battle and lots of the the Italian Campaign. So I enjoy watching the videos that show me what kinds of things/experiences he has to go through and endure. 😳
Any other videos yall can find on it, I would appreciate a link. ✌️
He also fought up north in the Raid of Spitzbergen.
He fought for the Canadians.
Yes! Farley Mowat of the Hasty P’s!
After reading Rick Atkinson's superb "The Day of Battle" it is funny to hear the Allied advance towards Rome being described as "methodical". Unless it is used a synonym for "slow".
With all due respect to Mr Atkinson and yourself, how do you quantify a word like “slow” since its interpretation will always be subjective? Slow relative to what? Certainly, when comparing the speed of advance to operations in the east or later in France, the Italian campaign seems “slow.” But methodical is actually the correct word to use in this case, since the definition of the word is “done according to a systematic or established form of procedure,” or in other words, the word is used as a synonym for military operations.
The Americans jokes about the Canadians being nice and overly polite never saw how they fought in Europe.
My mate Bill landed on Sword beach as a young Royal marine commando and his stories of the Canadians made the Americans look like Boy Scouts.
The SS hated them, and apparently the feeling was as brutal from the Canadians.
Bill said, lovely blokes but don’t piss them of and Bill was a very hard man.
So thank you my Canadian friends.
Maori POWS got a hard time,
Learned more about this battle and found some very interesting truths. Thank you, we need more truth. It would nice if Major Jayson Geroux could do more battles that Canadians fought in.
Pro Patria
That was probably the best Christmas meal those men ever had.
Canadians truly the best fighting force in WWII
Never braggarts
What are young doing now if you are not bragging. There are some unsavoury stories from Normandy about Canadians barging into peoples homes and stealing their food and possessions. Not a war crime but very upsetting for people who had welcomed them as liberators.
Pro Patria.
While we're on the subject of Canadian content, id love to see Vimy Ridge, Beaumont-Hamel, Dieppe, Hong Kong, or their contribution to the liberation of holland as subjects of future videos
plough Jockeys represent. Surprising to see Geroux not a higher rank yet knew him as capt 16 years ago
The Canadians were the hero's of Italy and Normandy. 🇨🇦
What about the British and Americans and New Zealanders and Poles who outnumbered the Canucks by thousands. Don’t overdo your praising of Canada.
Little Stalingrad they called Ortona. It was a Slugfest. Hard fighting for our Canadian Soldiers. Thank. You Veterans for your Service 🙏🇨🇦
It should be described as minuscule Stalingrad. Stalingrad lasted for more than six months Ortona just seven days. Have a sense of proportion and a sense of history.
Well that's how it was described in books & documentaries Not to say it was any worse than Stalingrad But it was given that moniker. As well I never claimed to be an expert on the Subject . I'm sure there are many more People who have a broader knowledge than myself on the Subject of WWII But I have read some things on it & find it interesting. Again I don't claim to be an Expert on it.
The British were infamous for blaming the Gernans for thier errors, Monty wanted it capturwd fast and dirty to proceed to Rona🤔
Well what a strange thing to say. Every General has a right to blame the enemy for their errors. What did you expect the Germans to do just sit there and let Monty carry on. You have an odd view of warfare.
Riveting.This story and many others like it must be told to all Canadians, and should be mandatory to learn in history classes. Could you or any of us now take up arms, knowing you have a good chance of not seeing the sun set, fight like they did, and if you're lucky you get to see a friend, a comrade blown up, not be the one carried away on a stretcher. At least you could stand his rifle up to show there was a body to carry out. Now get up and go fight, you're all right......
Why was it called dead horse square?.... Oh.
Thank you, Canada, for keeping Panzers, far away from us, in the US, too.
Don’t you think your fellow Americans British New Zealanders and Poles helped to keep away the panzers. They also were in Italy you know.
@@anthonyeaton5153 Hi. I have stated these facts, to all of them, in different ways, and many places... Noting places, like Kokoda, El Alamayn, and on and on, including WW I.....!
Careful with the attacks, son.
@@anthonyeaton5153 For instance...! Thank you, to all Ally Pilots... Polish, Czech, Aussie, British, NZ, Canada, Free France, USA,... and, even, peace loving folks of China and Russ, for keeping Panzers far away from N America, too.
Semper Fidelis.
No mention of the Polish troops in this battle.
CBC is broadcasting what the Canadian will do. Beforehand.. They haven't changed there just as stupid today.
He wasn't broadcasting then: he was recorded and those records were flown out with the high priority physical traffic. I understand the need to denigrate the CBC but in this case it is unwarranted.
@@Gerhardium Thanks you for this clarification .
Are you aware there were censors?
absolutely clueless uneducated drivel
The Royal Canadian Regiment lead the charge in this battle . Pro Patria !