50 Cents - Charles III Battle of Ortona

The Battle of Ortona, December 1943, was eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting along the Adriatic coast of Italy that cost the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over 600 killed. German paratroopers of the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division demolished entire city blocks to create kill zones, forcing Canadian engineers to develop "mouseholing" — blasting through interior walls to avoid the streets entirely. The Canadians took the town on December 28th, though at a cost that left Ortona known in Canada as "the Italian Stalingrad."