Seventy one years ago the Apennines between Florence and Bologna were the scene of a bloody battle as the
American 5th army at the Passo del Giogo tried to punch a hole
through the Gothic line, a defensive line built by the Germans to stop the Allies reaching the Po valley. A hard
four day battle ensued.
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| Passo del Giogo, FI |
At the Passo del Giogo
the Comune of Barberino Mugello have restored some of the defences and created a footpath that leads you through
the area of battlefield. It is possible
to see the underground caverns tunnelled by the defenders and the faint remains
of the trench system. It takes two or three hours to complete the circuit.
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| Reconstructed defences, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Reconstructed defences, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Reconstructed defences, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Reconstructed defences, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Reconstructed defences, Passo del Giogo, FI |
On Monte Altuzzo on the first part of the path, one is
struck by the steepness of the mountain that the troops of the 85 division had
to climb and conquer . Even with mountain boots it is difficult to descend in
some places. It was a battle of small groups of soldiers eliminating the defences
bit by bit. Soldiers would often get lost in the thick forest on the mountain, the fog of war was total here.
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Monticelli from Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
One eventually arrives at a cavern carved into the rock that
was a German command centre and strong point, little remains to be seen here
and nature has reappropriated the trenches
and other works.
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| German Bunker, Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| German Bunker, Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| German Bunker, Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| American Foxholes, Monte Altuzzo, Passo del Giogo, FI |
The path then leads on to Monticelli the peak captures by the
91st division, here there is less to see, another hard to find strongpoint tunnel and if you leave the
footpath and reach the top of Monte Monticelli some trenches are still evident.
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| German Bunker, Monte Monticelli, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| German Bunker, Monte Monticelli, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| German Bunker trenches, Monte Monticelli, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| Trenches, Monte Monticelli, Passo del Giogo, FI |
It is a footpath well worth doing just to try and imagine what
this battle was like for the troops on the ground, something that maps and
descriptions in history books cannot convey entirely.
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| 363 Infantry Regiment memorial, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| 363 Infantry Regiment memorial, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| 363 Infantry Regiment memorial, Passo del Giogo, FI |
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| 85 th Division memorial, Passo del Giogo, FI |
Just below the pass there are two monuments erected by the
Regiments which took part in the battle.
A few miles down the road at the Futa pass, where the
Germans expected the Americans to try and break the line, there is a huge
German war cemetery with 30.683 graves. It was opened in 1969 and contains the
remains of soldiers who fell across a large area of Northern Italy. It is quite moving in its starkness and size.
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI |
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI |
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI |
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI |
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI |
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| German War Cemetery, Futa Pass, FI | | |
