The Allies had ordered two brigades from Indian 8th Infantry Division to be moved to help the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division. By the time they had arrived the Germans and Italians had captured Barga. U.S. soldiers had intended to retreat to Lucca. The German / Italian force stopped the attack and withdrew.
Barga was recaptured one week later by the New Year. The western Gothic Line remained in place until late March 1945.
Benito Mussolini and his Defense Minister, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, wanted to create an Italian Army. They did not want this army to be under German control. They wanted some of the newly created Italian Divisions to attack the Allies in the Italian peninsula.
They planned an attack in Garfagnana for two of their new Divisions. There would be 40,000 men and airplanes. Their goal was recapturing Lucca, Pisa and Livorno in Tuscany from the Allies. But the Italians lacked arms, tanks and airplanes.
The Germans created their own attack,
With 9,000 soldiers (mostly Italians), they attacked in Garfagnana a small area of the Gothic Line. They wanted to move the Allies back .
Groups from the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division moved near Garfagnana sector in November 1944. They did not
capture Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.
Following the Ardennes Offensive in mid-December, the Allies thought the Axis might try an attack in Northern Italy.
The 19th and 21st Brigades of the Indian 8th Infantry Division were moved to help the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division in front of Lucca.
On 26 December, several RSI military did the "Operation Winter Storm" (Wintergewitter) attacks with three German battalions. This was a German and Italian attack against the American 92nd Infantry Division. A total of 9,100 Axis troops (of which 66% were Italians), with 100 artillery pieces but no tanks attacked. There were 18,000 Allied troops with 140 artillery batteries and 120 tanks.
Their goal was to capture the small towns of Barga, Sommocolonia, Vergemoli, Treppignana, Coreglia, Fornaci di Barga, Promiana, Castelvecchio and Calomini. These were all north-west of Lucca. By 27 December the attack was over. In the morning, the German troops entered Pian di Coreglia.
The next morning, the Axis troops occupied Piano di Coreglia. The Axis troops got more than 25 kilometres inside the Allies lines.
Nadir Afonso
Nadir Afonso, (December 4, 1920 – December 11, 2013) was a Portuguese geometric painter. He painted abstract art. He wanted to be in architecture, which he practiced early in his career with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Afonso later studied painting in Paris and became one of the experts in Kinetic art. He worked alongside Victor Vasarely, Fernand Léger, Auguste Herbin, and André Bloc.
Tirol-Choco
Tirol-Choco () is a type of chocolate made in Japan. It has been made since 2004. Tyrol is an area of Austria. When Tirol-Choco's president visited Austria, he decided to use the name to give his brand a fresh image.
Tirol-Choco is cheap. It costs about 10 yen (10 cents) to 30 yen (30 cents).
Air raid on Bari
The air raid on Bari was an air attack by German bombers on Allied forces and shipping in Bari, Italy.
It occurred on 2 December 1943 during World War II. In the attack, 105 German Junkers Ju 88 bombers of "Luftflotte" 2 bombed ships from the Allied Italian campaign. They sunk 27 cargo and transport ships and a schooner in Bari harbour.
The attack, which lasted one hour, destroyed the port. Not It was not fixed until February 1944. The attack was called the "Little Pearl Harbor".
The release of mustard gas from one of the cargo ships added to the deaths. The British and American governments hid the news about mustard gas and its effects on victims.
In 1943, during the Italian campaign, the port of Bari in southern Italy was important for Allied forces. Ammunition, supplies, and provisions were unloaded from ships at the port, then moved to Allied forces.
Bari did not have good air defences. No RAF fighters were based there. There was not good anti-aircraft defences.
The Allies did not think the Germans could bomb Bari. They thought that the "Luftwaffe" in Italy could not do a major attack.
German air raids by KG 54 had bombed the Naples port area four times in the previous month.
Thirty ships of American, British, Polish, Norwegian and Dutch registry were in Bari Harbour on 2 December. The port was lit on the night of the raid to help the unloading of supplies.
On the afternoon of 2 December, a "Luftwaffe" pilot flew over Bari. His report made Albert Kesselring order the raid.
The Germans thought that destroying the port might slow the advance of the British Eighth Army. Only 105 Ju 88 bombers were available.
The attack started at 19:25, when two or three German aircraft circled the harbour at . They dropped "Düppel" (foil strips) to confuse Allied radar.
The German bomber force surprised the Allies. They bombed the harbour and its ships and many of the bombs hit targets. Two ammunition ships were bombed. A petrol pipeline was cut and the fuel caught fire. The fire spread to many of the ships.
Twenty-eight merchant ships with more than of cargo were sunk or destroyed. Twelve more ships were damaged. The port was closed for three weeks. It was reopened in February 1944.
One of the destroyed vessels—the U.S. Liberty ship "John Harvey"—had been carrying a secret cargo of 2000 M47A1 mustard gas bombs. Each held of the chemical. According to Royal Navy historian Stephen Roskill, the Mustard Gas had been sent to Europe to use if Germany used chemical warfare in Italy.
The destruction of "John Harvey" caused liquid sulfur mustard from the bombs to spill into waters. The many sailors who had jumped into the water became covered with the chemical.
Within a day, symptoms of mustard poisoning had appeared in 628 patients and medical staff. Symptoms included blindness and chemical burns.
Hundreds of Italian civilians also seeking treatment, who had been poisoned by sulfur mustard gas. By the end of the month, 83 of the 628 hospitalized military victims had died.
The Allies tried to hide the disaster.
There were too many witnesses to keep the secret. In February 1944, the U.S. admitted to the accident. They said they did not plan to use chemical weapons unless Germany used them first.
Renée Asherson
Dorothy Renée Ascherson (19 May 1915 – 30 October 2014), known professionally as Renée Asherson, was an English actress. Much of her theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse, and the Westminster Theatre. Her first stage appearance was on 17 October 1935, aged 20, and her first major film appearance was in "The Way Ahead" (1944). Her last film appearance was in "The Others" (2001).
Her first stage appearance was in 1935. Her first feature movie was the 1944 movie "The Way Ahead". Her most recent motion picture was in 2001's "The Others".
Asherson was married to fellow actor Robert Donat from 1953 until his death in 1958. His severe asthma led to their separation, although a reconciliation had seemed possible just before the end of his life. Although Donat had three children from his previous marriage, they had no children together.
She never remarried. She died on 30 October 2014, aged 99. Among her surviving relatives is her nephew, the journalist Neal Ascherson.
John Dobson
John Lowry Dobson (September 14, 1915 – January 15, 2014) was an American astronomer. He known for creating a design for a popular Newtonian telescope, named after him, the Dobsonian telescope.
Dobson died at Burbank, California on January 15, 2014. He was 98.
Danuta Szaflarska
Danuta Szaflarska (6 February 1915 in Kosarzyska, Piwniczna-Zdrój, Poland – 19 February 2017 in Warsaw) was a Polish movie and stage actress. She is sometimes called the legend of Polish cinema. In 2008, she was awarded the Złota Kaczka for the best Polish actress of the century.
Nasi goreng