After The Battle #129 – The Battle for Florence

Jeffrey Plowman describes how in mid – July 1944, the British Eighth Army in Italy launched its XIII Corps in a major drive on Florence, the Renaissance city on the Arno river in the Tuscany region, the objective being to gain the city and the river line. with the German divisions offering fierce resistance in the hills to the south of Florence, the drive evolved into a hard – fought campaign that lasted for three weeks. In the end the 6th South African ArmouRed Division enteRed Florence early on August 4, just a few hours before the 2nd New Zealand Division. It Happened Here The Kavieng Raid – On February 15, 1944, the US Fifth Air Force despatched a force of 156 light, medium and heavy bombers to the Japanese stronghold base of Kavieng on New Ireland in the south – west Pacific. Rodney Pearce, Don Fetterly and Gail Parker tell the story. Remembrance Yasukuni Jinja – Of the few remaining vestiges of wartime Japan, one of the most controversial is Yasukuni Jinja (shrine). A legacy of Japan’s pre – war union of religion and state. The US National World War II Memorial – In May 2004, the United States inaugurated a National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington to honour all those that served, fought and died during the Second World War. Realisation of the project took 17 years and was the result of a painful process wrought with controversy, both over the site selected and the final design of the memorial.

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