U.S. FIFTH ARMY LAUNCHES FULL GROUND ASSAULT ON THE WINTER LINE

ITALY — December 3, 1943 On this date in World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army shifted from days of reconnaissance and probing attacks to a full-scale coordinated assault on the German Winter Line, a fortified defensive belt built across the mountains of southern Italy to block the Allied advance toward Cassino and Rome.

Fifth Army units advanced under winter rain and darkness against the Bernhardt sector of the line, including the Camino hill mass, Monte la Difensa, Monte Maggiore, and the approaches to the Mignano Gap. Official Fifth Army historical records describe the operation as part of Operation Raincoat, a push intended to break German control of dominating high ground that overlooked Highway 6, one of the few viable routes toward the Gustav Line farther north.

The First Special Service Force, the U.S.-Canadian commando unit trained for winter and mountain warfare, began its assault on Monte la Difensa the night of December 3. Scaling near-vertical slopes the Germans considered impossible, the force struck the mountaintop positions from an unexpected direction, helping pry open the left side of the Winter Line.

Despite the initial successes of December 3, the Winter Line did not collapse immediately. Heavy fighting continued throughout December and into mid-January 1944 as Allied forces cleared the hill masses one peak at a time. The December 3 attack, however, marks the day the Winter Line battle shifted from attrition to a deliberate offensive aimed at breaking through German winter defenses in Italy.

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Primary First-Hand Sources

• U.S. Army Center of Military History – “Fifth Army at the Winter Line, 15 November 1943–15 January 1944”
• Official U.S. Army operational maps and campaign chronologies for the Italian Campaign (Winter Line / Bernhardt Line)

Secondary Attribution-Based Sources

• Modern summaries of the December 3 Fifth Army assault and historical analyses of Operation Raincoat.