Operation_Grapeshot_order_of_battle
The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War.[1] The attack into the Lombard Plain by the Allied 15th Army Group started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of German forces in Italy.
Main article: AFHQ
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander
Mark Wayne Clark as a lieutenant general
Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander
- Deputy: Lieutenant General Joseph T. McNarney
- Chief of Staff: Lieutenant-General William Morgan[2]
- Air Commander-in Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces: Lieutenant General John K. Cannon
Allied 15th Army Group
Main article: 15th Army Group
General Mark Wayne Clark
- Chief of Staff: Major General Alfred M. Gruenther
US Fifth Army
Main article: Fifth United States Army
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Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott
- Army troops
85th Infantry "Custer" Division- Major General John B. Coulter
- Infantry: 337th, 338th, 339th Infantry Regiments
- Artillery–105mm: 328th, 329th, 910th Field Artillery Battalions
- Artillery–155mm: 403rd Field Artillery Battalion
92nd Infantry "Buffalo Soldiers" Division (Colored)[lower-alpha 1]- Major General Edward M. Almond
- Infantry: 370th (Colored), 442nd (Nisei),[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] 473rd[lower-alpha 4] Infantry Regiments
- Artillery–105mm: 597th, 598th, 599th, 600th Field Artillery Battalions (all Colored)
- Armor–Tank: 758th Light Tank Battalion, 760th Tank Battalion (less two companies)
- Armor–TD: 679th, 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion (less two companies)
Corps deployed west to east:
IV CorpsMain article: IV Corps (United States)
Lieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger
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II CorpsMain article: II Corps (United States)
Major General Geoffrey Keyes
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British Eighth Army
Main article: Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery
- Army troops
- 7th Hussars (amphibious tanks)
- 12th Lancers (armoured cars)
- 16th Army Group Royal Engineers
- 20th Army Group Royal Engineers
- 22nd Army Group Royal Engineers
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Army Reserve
6th Armoured Division- Major-General Horatius Murray
- 25th Armoured Engineer Brigade (less detachments with assault divisions)
- 2nd Parachute Brigade
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Army Group C
Main article: Army Group C
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (to 29 April)
General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz (from 29 April to 2 May)
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (from 2 May)
West: Army Group Liguria
Main article: Army Group Liguria
Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
- Corps Lombardia
- Lieutenant-General Kurt Jahn
- 3rd Marine Infantry Division "San Marco" (Major-General Amilcare Farina)
- Battle Group Meinhold
- Fortress Brigade 135
- Elements of the 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa"
- LXXV Corps
- General der Gebirgstruppe Hans Schlemmer
- 2nd Grenadier Division "Littorio" (Major-General Tito Agosti)
- 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa" (bulk of) (Colonel Giorgio Milazzo)
- 5th Mountain Division (Generalmajor Hans Steets)
- 34th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Theobald Lieb)
Center: Fourteenth Army
Main article: 14th Army (Wehrmacht)
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Generalleutnant Joachim Lemelsen
- XIV Panzer Corps
- Generalleutnant Frido von Senger und Etterlin
- 8th Mountain Division (Major-General Paul Schricker)
- 65th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Pfeifer)
- 94th Infantry Division (Major-General Bernhard Steinmetz)
- LI Mountain Corps
- Generalleutnant Valentin Feurstein until March 1945 and then Lieutenant-General Friedrich-Wilhelm Hauck
- 1st Bersaglieri Division "Italia" (Major-General Mario Carloni)
- 114th Jäger Division (Brigadier-General Hans-Joachim Ehlert to 15 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Martin Strahammer)
- 148th Reserve Division (Major-General Otto Fretter-Pico)
- 232nd Infantry Division (Major-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz)
- 334th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Böhlke)
East: Tenth Army
Main article: 10th Army (Wehrmacht)
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Generalleutnant Traugott Herr
- LXXVI Panzer Corps
- Lieutenant-General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin (to 25 April 1945)
- Major-General Karl von Graffen (from 25 April 1945)
- 42nd Jäger Division (Major-General Walter Jost)
- 98th Infantry Division (Major-General Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt to 11 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Otto Schiel)
- 162nd Turkoman Division (Major-General Ralph von Heygendorff)
- 362nd Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Alois Weber)
- I Parachute Corps
- Lieutenant-General Richard Heidrich
- 1st Parachute Division (Brigadier-General Karl-Lothar Schulz)
- 4th Parachute Division (Major-General Heinrich Trettner)
- 26th Panzer Division (Brigadier-General Alfred Kuhnert to 19 April 1945 then Major-General Viktor Linnarz)
- 278th Infantry Division (Major-General Harry Hoppe)
- including the 1st Italian Assault Company "Forlì" (Pier Vittorio Riccardi)
- 305th Infantry Division (Major-General Friedrich von Schellwitz)
- LXXIII Corps
- Lieutenant-General Anton Dostler[lower-alpha 7]
- Minor units watching the coast between the Po and Venice
- LXXXXVII Corps (transferred to Army Group E in Yugoslavia on 10 April)
- General of the Mountain Troops Ludwig Kübler[lower-alpha 8]
- 188th Mountain Division (Major-General Hans von Hößlin)
- 237th Infantry Division (Major-General Hans von Grävenitz until late April then Colonel Karl Falkner)
- Army Reserve
- 29th Panzergrenadier Division (Major-General Fritz Polack)
- 155th Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Georg Zwade)
Army Group Reserve
- 90th Panzergrenadier Division (Brigadier-General Heinrich Baron von Behr)
- Blaxland, Gregory (1979). Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945). London: William Kimber & Co. ISBN 0-7183-0386-5.
- Carver, Field Marshal Lord (2001). The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy 1943-1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-330-48230-0.
- Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1987]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 2 - June to October 1944. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-071-8.
- Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1988]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 3 - November 1944 to May 1945. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-072-6.
- Kay, Robin (1967). "Appendix VII — Fifteenth Army Group — Order of Battle as at 9 April 1945". Italy Volume II : From Cassino to Trieste. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington, New Zealand: Historical Publications Branch.
Web
- Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen. "World War II unit histories and officers". Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
- "Orders of Battle.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
- Wendell, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook: German army order of battle". Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2007.