page_title: 6th Armoured Division (South Africa)
section_title: Spring Offensive
hierarchical_section_title: 6th Armoured Division (South Africa) / Italy: Fifth Army / Spring Offensive
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of US IV and II Corps breakthrough into the Po valley, April 1945
context_page_description: The 6th South African Armoured Division was the second armoured division of the South African Army and was formed during World War II. Established in early 1943, it was based on a nucleus of men from the former 1st South African Infantry Division who had returned to South Africa after the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942. The division was initially transferred to Egypt for training, after which it served in the Allied campaign in Italy during 1944 and 1945. In Italy, the division was initially deployed as part of the British Eighth Army, under command of Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese, and was then transferred to the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, for the remainder of the Italian Campaign. The division operated as a strongly reinforced division and was frequently used to spearhead the advance of the Corps and Army to which it was attached. They returned home after the end of the war in Italy and were disbanded in 1946. The division was also briefly active after the war from 1 July 1948 to 1 November 1949.
context_section_description: On 18 February the 24th Guards Brigade was transferred from the division to the British 56th Infantry Division in the British Eighth Army.  This ended an enduring relationship, particularly between the armoured Pretoria Regiment and the three Guards battalions.  The division was relieved by the U.S. 1st Armored Division's Combat command 'A' (which took over from 12 Mot Bde) and U.S. Combat Command 'B' (relieving the 11th Armd Bde) and was withdrawn to Lucca.
  The final Italian offensive (codenamed Grapeshot) plan was based on the use of three phase lines, "Green," "Brown" and "Black". The U.S. Fifth Army, now under Lucian K. Truscott, operating on the left and coordinated with the British Eighth Army, now commanded by Richard L. McCreery, on the right, were to initiate the "Green" phase with primary attacks by the U.S. 1st Armored and U.S. 10th Mountain Divisions.  In the "Brown" phase, the South African Division would assault the two peaks of Monte Sole and Monte Caprara in the centre of the U.S. II Corps (and thus Fifth Army) advance.  If all progressed well, "Black" phase would signal the start of the break-out attempt by the armoured divisions into the Po Valley. The U.S. 1st Armored Division was to wheel westwards and the South African Division was to drive north west of Bologna to link-up with the Eighth Army.  Intelligence had shown that the peaks the South Africans were to attack were defended by the German 8th Mountain Division.
  Operations related to Phase Line "Green" progressed largely to plan and Phase "Brown" was initiated on 15 April.  That night the South African Division was the first of the U.S. II Corps divisions to secure their objectives, taking Mount Sole in a series of well coordinated night attacks, assisted by the heaviest tactical bombing support they had received to date in the campaign.  This was also the first combat experienced by the new 13th South African Motorised Brigade (13th Mot Bde) which had been sent from South Africa to replace the 24th Guards Brigade. The battle had been fierce for all the division's troops involved and in the succeeding successful exploitation of Monte Caprara heavy losses were incurred. On 21 April, 11th Armd Brigade, who were supporting the U.S. 349th Engineering Regiment, converged on the centre of the town of San Matteo della Decima.  Soon furious house-to-house fighting erupted which continued until nightfall and resulted in several tanks being destroyed by fire from German Panzerfaust rockets.  Poole committed all available South African troops to flush out German snipers and anti-tank positions and by 22 April all resistance had ceased.
  These victories had created the opportunity for the armour to break through to Bologna as part of Phase "Black" and the South Africans linked up with the British 6th Armoured Division on 23 April and in the process cut the lines of retreat of the German 14th Panzer and 1st Parachute Corps between them.  In addition, in their advance to the link-up, the South African Division had destroyed the German 65th Infantry Division.  After advancing through the Po River Valley, the division was assembled southwest of Treviso on 29 April and were instructed to move far to the west to garrison the city of Milan.
  General Mark Clark, the 15th Army Group commander, commented on the division's achievements during the Spring Offensive, stating:
  It was a battle-wise outfit, bold and aggressive against the enemy, and willing to do whatever job was necessary.  In fact, after a period of severe day and night fighting, the 6th had in an emergency gone into the line as infantrymen.  When the snow stalled their armour they dug in their tanks and used them as artillery to make up for our shortage in heavy guns.  Whenever I saw them, I was impressed by the large number of decorations and honours they had earned the hard way.  Their attacks against strongly organised German positions were made with great élan and without regard for casualties.  Despite their comparatively small numbers, they never complained about losses.  Neither did Smuts, who made i
caption: IV Corps movements into the Po River valley: April 1945
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