World War 2 Timelines 1939-1945 - Southern Europe 1944


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World War 2 on Film

American troops parade through a liberated Rome.

Southern Europe!


01/01/1944	General Mark Clark takes over the U.S. Seventh Army in addition to the command of the U.S. Fifth Army.
03/01/1944	The US Fifth Army begins an offensive against the German forces in Italy who are entrenched in the Gustav Line along the Rapido river, with its centre at Cassino.
08/01/1944	The trial of Count Ciano and 18 other Fascists responsible for Mussolini’s downfall opens at Castel Vecchio, in Verona.
09/01/1944	Countess Ciano escapes to Switzerland and is interned.
10/01/1944	All but one of the Fascist ex-ministers on trial are sentenced to death at Castel Vecchio.
11/01/1944	Ciano and 17 others are shot by firing squad.
15/01/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army gains Monte Trocchio, overlooking Rapido River as the Germans withdraw across it. French troops under General Juin capture Monte Santa Croce.
20/01/1944	U.S. troops are thrown back on the Rapido.
22/01/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army lands two divisions (36,034 men and 3,069 vehicles) under Major-Gen. John P. Lucas at Anzio, 30 miles South of Rome.
23/01/1944	A Royal Navy destroyer, Janus is lost as the fighting rages around the Anzio beachhead.
24/01/1944	Hitler orders that German troops in Italy hold the ‘Gustav Line’ at all costs. The French attack to the North of Cassino. Allied patrols from Anzio beachhead are halted but the Germans.
27/01/1944	The Germans counter-attack the French at Cassino.
30/01/1944	A U.S. Ranger battalion is wiped out at Anzio.
31/01/1944	The U.S. 34th Division crosses the Rapido.


03/02/1944	An attempt to breakout of the Anzio Beachhead ends after an advance of just three miles in three days. The German begin their first counterattacks against Anzio.
05/02/1944	U.S. troops reach the outskirts of Cassino, but are repulsed.
07/02/1944	The Germans begin a full-scale counter-attack against the Anzio Beachhead.
09/02/1944	The Germans capture Aprilia in the Anzio beachhead.
10/02/1944	The allies announce that southern Italy is to be handed over to Italian government jurisdiction.
11/02/1944	Americans troops at Cassino are relieved by Indian and New Zealand forces. The allies are pushed back to final defence line at Anzio.
13/02/1944	The allies halt the German attack around Cassino. The Italians in Cassino Monastery are warned that it will be bombed.
15/02/1944	Monte Cassino is devastated by 422 tons of bombs as the Indian and New Zealanders begin their offensive to capture the monastery which is now occupied and defended by paratroopers (the Green Devils) of 1st Fallschirmjäger Division.
16/02/1944	Kesselring launches seven divisions in a second major attack against the US 5th Army's bridgehead at Anzio.
18/02/1944	Renewed allied attacks at Cassino are broken off. The Germans make further gains at Anzio but are repulsed by allied artillery and warships.
23/02/1944	General Lucas is sacked from the Anzio command and is replaced by Major General Truscott. German counter-attacks drives the Anzio beachhead back further.
29/02/1944	The Germans launch their third major offensive at Anzio.


03/03/1944	German attacks cease at Anzio after loss of 3,500 men and 30 Panzer's in four days.
15/03/1944	The allies pound Cassino, dropping 1,250 tons of bombs dropped and firing 195,969 in 7 and a half hours, but the troops make slow headway.
16/03/1944	The British Eighth Army continues to batter itself against Monte Cassino.
17/03/1944	New Zealand troops take Cassino railway station.
18/03/1944	A New Zealand tank attack on Monte Cassino is repulsed, with the loss of all 17 tanks.
19/03/1944	The RAF launch Operation Strangle, aimed at German communications in Italy.
22/03/1944	Alexander halts the frontal attacks on Cassino.
24/03/1944	The US Fifth Army's bridgehead at Anzio is bombarded by German heavy long-range guns and Luftwaffe aircraft using guided bombs, causing severe casualties in men, ships and equipment. Persistent US and British attacks against the Gustav Line at Cassino are repulsed by the German defenders. In response to the killing of 35 German soldiers in Rome by the Italian resistance, SS Colonel Herbert Kappler orders the execution of 335 Italians, at least 255 of whom are civilians in reprisal. All are shot by German troops in the Fosse Ardeantine caves outside of Rome.


22/04/1944	Tito’s Partisans storm the Adriatic Island of Korcula, capturing 800 Germans.
26/04/1944	The Greek PM resigns and George Papandreou forms a new government.


11/05/1944	The British Eighth and U.S. Fifth Armies begin an attack on Gustav Line in central Italy with a 2,200-gun bombardment.
12/05/1944	Fierce German counter-attacks are put in by the German defenders at Monte Cassino.
13/05/1944	The allies take Sant’ Angelo and Castelforte, thereby opening the way to Rome.
14/05/1944	French troops in Italy break through the Gustav Line.
15/05/1944	The Germans begin a withdrawal from the Gustav Line to new positions, called the Adolf Hitler or Dora Line, some 30 miles to the South of Rome.
17/05/1944	Kesselring orders the evacuation of Cassino. The French breakthrough is now 25 miles deep.
18/05/1944	Polish troops finally capture the town of Cassino.
19/05/1944	British troops capture Aquino airfield in the Liri valley, to the South East of Rome.
20/05/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army captures Gaeta to the South of Rome.
23/05/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army begins an offensive from the Anzio bridgehead toward Rome. Canadian troops breach the Adolf Hitler Line to the South West of Monte Cassino.
24/05/1944	U.S. troops take Terracina in Italy. The retreating Germans are subjected to heavy air-attacks.
25/05/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army make first contact with troops from the Anzio beachhead. German airborne troops attack Tito's Partisan HQ at Drvar in Bosnia on Tito’s 52nd birthday. Tito and Churchill’s son Randolph, both manage to escape in to the mountains.
26/05/1944	U.S. troops from Anzio take Cori, 22 miles inland. Mark Clark makes a decision to direct four divisions on Rome, but only one to Valmontone on Highway 6 to cut German retreat.
29/05/1944	The British reach ‘the factory’, 10 miles North of Anzio.
30/05/1944	The Eighth Army captures Arce, 15 miles Northwest of Cassino, en route to Rome.


01/06/1944	The British Eighth Army captures Frosinone to the South East of Rome.
02/06/1944	U.S. troops are now only 20 miles from Rome. The Bulgarian government seeks terms of surrender from the western allies.
03/06/1944	Hitler allows Kesselring to withdraw from Rome, which has now been declared an 'Open City'.
04/06/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army enters Rome.
06/06/1944	The French take Tivoli in Italy.
07/06/1944	The Americans take Civitavecchia on the western coast of Italy.
08/06/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army continues its drive North in Italy, taking Civita Castellana.
09/06/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army is now 50 miles Northwest of Rome.
14/06/1944	The allies take Orvieto, 65 miles Northwest of Rome.
16/06/1944	The Eighth Army captures Foligno and Spoleto, east of Orvieto and approach Perugia.
17/06/1944	German troops evacuate the island of Elba off the west coast of Italy.
18/06/1944	The Eighth Army take Assisi.
20/06/1944	Eighth Army take Perugia as its advance North continues.


02/07/1944	German troops evacuate Siena.
03/07/1944	French troops take Siena, only 30 miles South of Florence.
06/07/1944	The British Eighth Army captures Osimo 20 miles South of Ancona.
16/07/1944	The Eighth Army captures Arezzo and reaches the Arno river.
18/07/1944	The Polish II Corps takes Antona in Italy.
19/07/1944	The U.S. 34th Division captures Livorno on the Italian coast.
20/07/1944	French troops begin their withdrawal from the Italian front, ready for the invasion of Southern France.
23/07/1944	The U.S. 34th Division takes Pisa.


04/08/1944	Florence is evacuated by German forces.
26/08/1944	Hitler orders a withdrawal from Greece. Bulgaria, Germany's ally, withdraws from the war against Russia and declares its neutrality.
27/08/1944	The British 8th Army renews its offensive North on Italy's eastern coast. Slowed by rain and mud, the British attack toward the Gothic Line at Pesaro, just north of the Foglia river.
30/08/1944	Canadian Armoured forces with the British 8th Army attack west of Pesaro. Without supporting artillery, they are beaten back by the Germans, who destroy or badly damage 32 of the 50 tanks engaged in the attack. German troops withdraw from Bulgaria.
31/08/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army crosses the Arno while the Eighth Army attacks the Gothic Line in Italy.


01/09/1944	Gurkha units from the British Eighth Army storm Tavoleto.
02/09/1944	The Germans begin to evacuate the Aegean Islands.
04/09/1944	Allied air forces start operation 'Ratweek' to hinder the German retreat from Balkans.
05/09/1944	The Russians declare war on Bulgaria.
08/09/1944	The U.S. Fifth Army launches an assault against the Gothic Line.
10/09/1944	The British make am unopposed landing on the Greek Island of Kythera off the Peloponnese. The Russians enter Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
12/09/1944	German troops evacuate Rhodes and other Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean.
13/09/1944	The Canadians take Coriano Ridge in the Gothic Line.
16/09/1944	The British make am unopposed landing on the Greek Island of Kythera off the Peloponnese. The Russians enter Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
17/09/1944	Monte Altuzzo finally falls to the U.S. 85th Division.
19/09/1944	The Eighth Army occupies the Republic of San Marino, in Italy.
20/09/1944	A British tank breakout attempt through the Gothic Line is defeated by the tenacious defence.
21/09/1944	The Eighth Army’s Greek Mountain Brigade take Rimini on the Adriatic coast. German forces of Army Group E evacuates the Peloponnes peninsula in Greece.
24/09/1944	The British XIII Corps captures Marradi in Italy.
26/09/1944	The Eighth Army crosses the Rubicon in north-eastern Italy.
27/09/1944	German forces of Army Group E evacuate western Greece.
28/09/1944	An agreement between Tito and Stalin is reached in Moscow, which allows the Red Army to be enter Yugoslavia.


01/10/1944	Monte Battaglia in the Gothic Line is captured by the U.S. Fifth Army after a 4-day battle. The Red Army crosses the Danube into Yugoslavia.
04/10/1944	The British launch Operation 'Manna', and intervene in Greece, with 2nd Airborne Brigade landing at Patras. Other landings take on Crete and other Islands in the Aegean. The Russian 46th Army is within 10 miles of Belgrade.
07/10/1944	The Eighth Army resumes its attacks on the Gothic Line. The British reach Corinth, land at Nauplion and take the island of Samos.
09/10/1944	The 1st Bulgarian Army attacks towards Nis in Yugoslavia.
10/10/1944	The British take Corinth as Army Group E begins its final retreat from Greece. The Red Army breaks through the German lines in Serbia as it moves towards Belgrade.
12/10/1944	The Germans evacuate Athens.
14/10/1944	The British liberate Athens and Piraeus and also land on Corfu. Russian troops and Yugoslav Partisans force their way in to Belgrade.
19/10/1944	The Germans evacuate Belgrade.
20/10/1944	The Red Army captures Belgrade, while Yugoslav partisans capture Dubrovnik.
28/10/1944	The Germans begin to evacuate Albania.
31/10/1944	On the orders of Prime Minister Churchill, British troops occupy Salonika in Greece to assist the new government in its efforts to prevent a take-over by Communist insurgents in the wake of the recent withdrawal of German troops from Greece.


02/11/1944	German forces manage to stop the Russians at Kraisevo, enabling the Second Panzer Army to establish a firm line west of Belgrade.
05/11/1944	British forces land at Salonika, in Greece.
06/11/1944	Tito’s forces take Monastir in southern Yugoslavia and now control the whole border with Greece.
13/11/1944	German troops evacuate Skopje in Yugoslavia.
19/11/1944	The RAF's destruction of Drina bridge at Visegrad, causes an 85-mile German traffic jam in Yugoslavia.
21/11/1944	Albanian patriots free the capital, Tirana.
23/11/1944	The allies declare Macedonia on Greek Yugoslav border, free of Germans.


04/12/1944	Athens is now under martial law.
05/12/1944	The British Eighth Army takes Ravenna in and cuts the rail link to Bologna.