1943::A Christmas Dinner On the Front Line

Amid World War II's heavy battle for Ortona, a Christmas dinner.

"1943::Eight Days and Eight Nights - Canadians Battle for Ortona, Italy"

Video Clip: British Pathe (1944)

1943 - Ortona, Italy: a valuable Adriatic port of Nazi defences on the Pescara-Rome road.

For months, Allied forces had been working to push Italy's battle line northward, intending to take back Nazi-occupied Rome. America's Fifth Army pushed in the West, while Britain's Eighth Army pushed in the East. At 11 am on December 20, Canadians fighting for the British Eighth Army entered Ortona with a boom, battling against Nazi machine-gun nests and deadly snipers lying hidden among hundreds of strongly fortified posts. Nazi tanks concealed in basements added to the chaos, firing until entire buildings crumbled on top of the Allied soldiers in the streets. War correspondents reporting from the scene claimed it was the most desperate street-fighting yet experienced in the war.

"1943::Italy's Battlefront Pushes Northward"

Clip: The Brattleboro Daily Reformer (1943)

Brattleboro, Vermont

While navigating their way through the crumbling city, the Canadians chipped away at Nazi defences, often resorting to hand-to-hand combat with nothing but their fists and bayonets. But the Nazi forces fiercely defended their Ortona stronghold. They were up against Nazi Germany's elite soldiers, men who were deployed only when all other troops had failed, men under strict orders to fight to the death or until their last bullet was spent.

"1943::Canadians Find Their Way Through the Heavily Bombed Streets of Ortona, Italy"

Photo Clip: Illustrated London News (1944)

London, England

The Canadians of the British Eighth Army had been battling their way north for months. They had reached Ortona exhausted, starving and cold, but there was no time to rest. Nazi forces had anticipated their arrival and launched their defensive battle plan the moment they entered the city. On the fifth day of the fight, however, Christmas Day, the smell of crumbling buildings, gunpowder smoke, and death was replaced with a more familiar scent — something that reminded them of home.

"1943::Christmas in Ortona and the Nazi Flame Throwers"

Photo Clip: The Gazette (1944)

Montreal, Quebec

It was a cold Christmas Day in Ortona. Soldiers from headquarters had worked through ice, snow and mud to bring a festive pre-cooked meal to the boys in the fight. With help from Italians in a nearby town, they scoured the countryside to find turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and chickens —everything needed to supplement their rations. They added a touch of colour to the dismal setting by hanging red and green peppers in glassless windows and posted "Merry Christmas" signs along the roads where the British Eighth Army was sure to travel. There was no peace for the Canadians during Christmas of '43, but for a brief moment, there was a celebration of festive spirit that no shells or mortars could destroy.

"1943::The Christmas Dinner in the Old Church"

Source: tbd

It would take a whole day of juggling to feed all the men, but for those who survived the battle, it would be a meal they would never forget. With their rifles still hot and their comrades holding the line, a small squad of soldiers snuck away from the action to step into the Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, a small 13th-century chapel, and the only building left standing in the area. A likable Padre greeted them at the door and said grace before seating them for their meal. There, amid the din of crashing explosives, machine-gun fire and the roar of Nazi flame-throwers, the Canadians celebrated Christmas.

"1943::Canadian Soldiers Enjoying a Christmas Dinner on the Front Line in Ortona, Italy"

Library and Archives Canada, PA-163936) Photo Credit: Lieut. F. G. Whitcombe

The soldiers sat elbow-to-elbow at cloth-covered boards that served as tables. Bottles of beer and Italian wine were placed before them, along with plates of roast pork, turkey, potatoes, fig pudding, and rice sauce spiced with rum. It was a sight for sore eyes and more food than they had seen in a month.

The Padre told jokes between bites, and when the meal was over, they stood around the old church organ singing Christmas carols, trying in vain to drown out the sound of the battle still raging around them. Then, when their bellies were full and their hearts filled with cheer, the men thanked the Padre and opened the door to the war outside. The soldiers returned to their posts and held the line while their comrades snuck away for their turn in the old church. For some, it was their fifth overseas Christmas since leaving Canada, but for all, it was the most memorable Christmas of their lives.

"1943::Battle Was Won and Comrades Were Buried"

Photo Clip: Times Colonist (1944)

Victoria, British Columbia

Days later, on December 28, after eight days and nights of fiery hell, the Nazis suddenly abandoned their Ortona fortress and headed North toward Pescara. The Canadians, who had battered down one basement citadel after another, had won the Battle of Ortona. Among the victorious were Esquimalt school teachers, Victoria carpenters, Oak Bay civil servants, and Vancouver Boy Scouts, all of whom had volunteered to serve in recruiting offices back home in British Columbia. Before leaving Ortona in pursuit of Nazi forces, the soldiers buried their fallen comrades in a makeshift cemetery. The Italians, who had mostly fled to the mountains when the battle began, returned to find their once beautiful city in ruins.

"1998::The Reconciliation Dinner"

Photo Clip: The Daily Item (1998)

Sunbury, Pennsylvania

Photo Credit: Associated Press

In 1998, funds were raised to send Canadian veteran soldiers back to Ortona for a reconciliation dinner with their German battle-time foes. It was a difficult situation. Both sides had lost so much and so many. Although the total loss on both sides was never entirely determined, Canada's wounded, war prisoners and Missing In Action were estimated to be nearly 3,000, with 500 dead, nearly double the known loss of the Nazi forces. For many veterans, the passing of 55 years was not enough to ease the pain caused by the eight-day Battle of Ortona. However, things changed slightly when the German veterans shared their own bittersweet Christmas story of 1943. On Christmas night, they had huddled together in a dark Ortona railway tunnel to keep warm and to honour the Nativity. With nothing but bottles of Schnapps and Aquavit to warm their bones, they prayed they would survive the battle and wondered when it would end. On Christmas Eve 1998, Canadian veteran soldiers had gathered once again in the Santa Maria di Costantinopoli to share a healing Christmas dinner with the men sitting across from them who, in 1943, were standing on the other side of the Ortona battle line.