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Often the Italian Campaign is associated with the idea of a secondary front; instead it has been a real war in the war since the Allies have fought step by step along the Peninsula from Sicily to the Alps, suffering heavy losses as well as the Axis forces did. The Italian Campaign ended in April 1945, although Italy was no more in the limelight since the Liberation of Rome (June 4th 1944) which little anticipated D-Day in Normandy (June 6th 1944). Despite that, in the second half of 1944 and for the whole winter of 1945 thousand soldiers from both parts were deployed by/against the Gothic Line, the last German fortified defense line built up in the Apennines Mountains. Only during the first days of April 1945 Allies finally managed to clear the Gothic Line and push through the Po Valley for the last effort to reach the North of Italy. The most frequent images of those days depict columns of liberators marching northbound with the population familiarizing with soldiers during a spring of new hope.

This year our commemoration of the days of Liberation, which in Italy is officially celebrated on April the 25th, will take place between the Bologna area, Cesena and Cervia on the Adriatic Coast! That theater of operation was in charge especially to the 8th British Army.

The event starts April 25th in Bologna and the following days April 27th to 29th.

More information are available on the Gotica Toscana NPA website

Thanks for that. I certainly appreciate this post, since many of our guys fought in Italy. Yes, you are right when you say, Italy was pretty much forgotten by the press, etc., because of the fighting in France. That was and is a real shame.

The 2012 edition of the Column of Liberation was ended. The convoy crossed the area of the British 8th Army moving between Bologna and Cesena. More than 120 HM vehicles and 370 reenactors was involved in this 3 days event.

The pictures show the vehicles in Cervia and some of the participants in Cervia.

Thanks a lot to all participants

Ah, my friend and our fellow forum member, Enrico took part in that too. Did you get to see all his photos this week?

It was a great event. We are collecting the pictures the participants send us. Also, most of the participants posted their photo gallery and videos on Facebook. There is an account named "Gotica Toscana".

Usually, we publish also a report in english, I'll keep you informed when ready.

Andrea