no military significance.â I think it is armchair hindsight that leads us to fault Vokes for getting drawn into the Ortona street battle.
Where Vokes was in error, where he came close to destroying thedivision he commanded, was in his overall execution. Specifically, his insistence on feeding the regiments into individual battles against well-defended objectives. It seems Vokes could not think on a divisional scale or implement a divisional-level offensive. He committed his regiments piecemeal, allowing each to be chewed up before withdrawing it and sending another into the fray. Several opportunities to achieve a breakthrough, particularly at The Gully, were thrown away through this approach simply because there was no regiment in reserve that remained capable of capitalizing on an advantage gained. Had he outflanked The Gully early on, rather than waiting until several regiments had been mauled in head-on attacks, the battle undoubtedly would have been decided sooner. It is also possible that he then would have seen the wisdom of abandoning the direct drive up the Ortona-Orsogna lateral into Ortona in favour of the hook he eventually had 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 3rd brigadeâs Royal 22e Regiment and Carleton and York Regiment throw toward Torre Mucchia.
Standing on the southern edge of The Gully, it is unthinkable to me that Vokes failed to see the folly of frontal assaults. I wonder if he ever came up to the actual front to see where his regiments were dying? There is no record that he did. The Gully is a daunting land feature, readymade for defence. Too many Canadians died there needlessly. I am less convinced they died for no purpose in Ortona itself.
Generals, of course, make plans; soldiers pay the price of execution. It is their voices that murmur in my ear as I join the Ortona-Orsogna lateral road and walk along its verge through the industrial park that stands now on the ground across which the Loyal Edmonton Regiment made its assault on December 20. For every veteranâs voice I can hear, there are many more who remain silent. Five out of six declined to be interviewed. Ortona has left its imprint on the hearts and minds of many soldiers in a way other battles perhaps did not. How often I heard, âItâs not something to talk about. It should just be forgotten.â These veterans were not talking of the war itself, or of their overall experience. They were speaking of December 1943.
Yet the veterans who were there seem unable themselves to forget. Many who declined an interview remarked that they had gone back to Ortona once, twice, sometimes repeatedly. In December1998, a few days after I left Ortona for Canada, a group of about fifty veterans arrived. Their visit was a significant affair, but one organized and paid for by a private Canadian benefactor rather than the Canadian government. For the first time, Canadian veterans and German veterans sat down together in the church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli for a Christmas dinner reminiscent of the one taken by the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada on Christmas Day, 1943. A group of Ortona citizens provided the meal. The dinner was accompanied once again by organ music played by Wilf Gildersleeve. Former enemies emerged as somewhat wary comrades. Many spoke of a healing being achieved.
Ortona itself is physically healed from the battleâs destruction. Entering Ortona, as the Edmontons did, along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, I see a town that has risen anew from the rubble. The great dome on Cattedrale San Tomasso has been restored. Holes in the walls of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli were repaired. Many of the old buildings were reconstructed, so parts of the town retain its old-world charm. Elsewhere, the buildings are modern. Ortona has grown, sprawling over to the other side of the western ravine and extending to the edge of The Gully. But today few outsiders think of it as the âPearl of the Adriatic.â Ortona is a
Where Vokes was in error, where he came close to destroying thedivision he commanded, was in his overall execution. Specifically, his insistence on feeding the regiments into individual battles against well-defended objectives. It seems Vokes could not think on a divisional scale or implement a divisional-level offensive. He committed his regiments piecemeal, allowing each to be chewed up before withdrawing it and sending another into the fray. Several opportunities to achieve a breakthrough, particularly at The Gully, were thrown away through this approach simply because there was no regiment in reserve that remained capable of capitalizing on an advantage gained. Had he outflanked The Gully early on, rather than waiting until several regiments had been mauled in head-on attacks, the battle undoubtedly would have been decided sooner. It is also possible that he then would have seen the wisdom of abandoning the direct drive up the Ortona-Orsogna lateral into Ortona in favour of the hook he eventually had 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 3rd brigadeâs Royal 22e Regiment and Carleton and York Regiment throw toward Torre Mucchia.
Standing on the southern edge of The Gully, it is unthinkable to me that Vokes failed to see the folly of frontal assaults. I wonder if he ever came up to the actual front to see where his regiments were dying? There is no record that he did. The Gully is a daunting land feature, readymade for defence. Too many Canadians died there needlessly. I am less convinced they died for no purpose in Ortona itself.
Generals, of course, make plans; soldiers pay the price of execution. It is their voices that murmur in my ear as I join the Ortona-Orsogna lateral road and walk along its verge through the industrial park that stands now on the ground across which the Loyal Edmonton Regiment made its assault on December 20. For every veteranâs voice I can hear, there are many more who remain silent. Five out of six declined to be interviewed. Ortona has left its imprint on the hearts and minds of many soldiers in a way other battles perhaps did not. How often I heard, âItâs not something to talk about. It should just be forgotten.â These veterans were not talking of the war itself, or of their overall experience. They were speaking of December 1943.
Yet the veterans who were there seem unable themselves to forget. Many who declined an interview remarked that they had gone back to Ortona once, twice, sometimes repeatedly. In December1998, a few days after I left Ortona for Canada, a group of about fifty veterans arrived. Their visit was a significant affair, but one organized and paid for by a private Canadian benefactor rather than the Canadian government. For the first time, Canadian veterans and German veterans sat down together in the church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli for a Christmas dinner reminiscent of the one taken by the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada on Christmas Day, 1943. A group of Ortona citizens provided the meal. The dinner was accompanied once again by organ music played by Wilf Gildersleeve. Former enemies emerged as somewhat wary comrades. Many spoke of a healing being achieved.
Ortona itself is physically healed from the battleâs destruction. Entering Ortona, as the Edmontons did, along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, I see a town that has risen anew from the rubble. The great dome on Cattedrale San Tomasso has been restored. Holes in the walls of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli were repaired. Many of the old buildings were reconstructed, so parts of the town retain its old-world charm. Elsewhere, the buildings are modern. Ortona has grown, sprawling over to the other side of the western ravine and extending to the edge of The Gully. But today few outsiders think of it as the âPearl of the Adriatic.â Ortona is a
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