The
Gustav Line was the most rearward of the three German defensive lines
on the Italian peninsula south of Rome. Built along the Garigliano
and Rapido rivers it was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers,
turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed wire and minefields. The
Gustav Line was held by 15 divisions of the German
Army under
the command of General Albert
Kesselring.
Several
attempts were made to breach the western flank of the
Gustav Line during January 1944 when General
John Lucas and US 5th Army landed at Anzio.
However, it was not until May 1944 that Operation Diadem under the
leadership of General Harold
Alexander that
Allied forces managed to breakthrough
the Gustav Line.
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