The 60th anniversary of one of the fiercest, most bloody battles ever fought by Canadian soldiers, is being commemorated this year to honour those who gave up their youth and dreams to fight for our freedom. As with all stories of war, it is often difficult to understand and relate to the horrific events, but the Battle of Ortona and its associated misery, stands among the few battles in Canadian history that had such significant loss of life for nothing more than the futility of war.
Former Ontario high school history teacher Dennis Makowetsky has been living and working in Lanciano, Italy, a small medieval town about 15 kilometres southwest of Ortona for the past four years. As part of the history faculty at the Canadian College Italy, Makowetsky has become somewhat of a resident Canadian expert on the Battle of Ortona. In addition to promoting awareness in the classroom, Makowetsky has been giving tours to an audience of students, dignitaries, parents and former war veterans, retracing and re-living the unbelievable and emotional journey the Canadian soldiers endured for those unbearable three weeks in December, 1943.
Overlooking the Adriatic Sea, the town of Ortona was intended to be a stopover point for the weary and tired Canadian forces that had been traveling through an unforgiving winter up the eastern coast of Italy before making their planned final move on to Rome. Unbeknownst to the approaching Canadian troops, Makowetsky indicates “the Germans were positioning snipers, land mines and hiding hundreds of reserves in the railroad tunnels below the city waiting for the unsuspecting Canadian contingent.”
Separating the oncoming Canadian forces from Ortona, was what now has infamously become known as the “gully,” a trench roughly 10 storeys deep in the middle with a width of approximately 500 metres.
Ten kilometres away, the Allied forces commander, seeing the gully only as a line on a map, continually ordered Canadian troops to forge onwards to seize Ortona. As soldiers reached the lip of the gully, before even beginning their descent down the steep slope, they faced a barrage of enemy gunfire with no chance of survival. Within six days of initiating the attack, hundreds of soldiers were killed by strategically placed German snipers. Twenty-three year-old Captain Paul Triquet was one of the exceptions.
One of the defining moments of the Ortona tour is a solemn stop at Case Berardi, the Italian farmhouse that Triquet and his company managed to reach only days before Christmas. As Makowetsky reveals, “In the morning of Dec. 14, Triquet left the Canadian side of the gully with 81 men. When they captured Casa Berardi later that afternoon, there were only 14 remaining.” With little ammunition and an exhausted team of troops, Triquet and his crew were able to secure the position on the German side of the gully to facilitate a passageway into Ortona.
Casa Berardi still stands today overlooking the gully where so many soldiers lost their lives. In the backyard of the house where descendants of the Berardi family still live, a monument resembling the fleur-de-lis sits, dedicated to and remembering the triumph and bravery of Triquet’s Quebec regiment. In addition, a portrait hangs in La Citadel in Quebec City. Painted in the picture has Triquet wearing the Victoria Cross, the highest military recognition and honour bestowed on a Canadian soldier for bravery.
As a result of the devastating casualties suffered trying to cross the gully, the Allied forces decided it was no longer feasible to continue on to Rome. “In the evening of Dec. 18,” Makowetsky explains, “after the capture of Casa Berardi, the Canadians sent some scouts into Ortona. When they returned, the soldiers told the contingent that the Germans were gone.” However, as the weary Canadians marched into the city, the aforementioned Germans ambushed the oncoming soldiers, catching them in a bloody street battle. The plans to spend the winter in Ortona were instantly erased as the Canadians were caught, fighting against an enemy that was relentless in their mission. Buildings, churches and homes were obliterated as the desperate German army used every remaining weapon to secure their final stronghold. On Dec. 28, 1943 three days after Christmas, the remaining Canadian forces awoke to an eerie silence. The Germans had retreated. The Allies had won. For the few surviving Canadian soldiers, the brutal week-long street battle was over, as too were the thoughts of marching into Rome as victors.
The culmination of the battle tour is an emotional Nov. 11 Remembrance Day ceremony, organized by school principal Marisa D’Alessandro, at the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, the pristine resting place for more than 1,300 Canadian soldiers who died during the Italian campaign in World War II. “In addition to the large contingent of Canadian and Italian students,” Makowetsky explains, “the ceremony will be attended by soldiers, former veterans, representatives from Canadian Legion magazine and the Canadian Deputy Ambassador to Italy, Peter McKellar.” Surrounded by the surreal peacefulness overlooking the Adriatic Sea are scattered memories of Canadian bravery, but few are as dramatic and emotional as the tombstone of Brantford soldier Gordon E. Ott. Lying among his fellow soldiers, the inscription on his grave reveals that the he was only 16 years-old when he was killed in January, 1944. This, as one visitor recorded in the cemetery registry, “represents what Canada sacrificed for our freedom.”
Today, although the town has never fully recovered from the battle scars, the churches, cathedral, piazzas, homes and businesses have been mostly rebuilt. Aside from the few remaining shell marks and bullet holes permanently engrained in the landscape, very little is visible of the horrific war.
In 1998, a memorial commissioned by the Canadian government was constructed from remnants of buildings and houses destroyed during the battle. The emotional monument depicts a fallen soldier, reaching out to a fellow comrade as he lay there dying. Over the past five years, the monument, located in the former piazza where so many Canadian soldiers died, has been visited by numerous people to remember the lives and families that were destroyed. “Two of the most prominent visitors,” explains Makowetsky, “are Francesca and Maria LaSorda,” two elderly sisters that were living in the piazza during the gruesome battle. “They were standing in their doorway watching the unveiling of the monument and were very moved by the whole thing with the memories of the Canadians.” Since that time, the sisters have maintained flowers on the memorial every day as a way of remembering and thanking the Canadian troops. As she will emotionally tell you, Francesca LaSorda had fallen in love with a soldier in 1943, only to never see him again. She never married.
