Day 101

One hundred and one days after the Invasion of Italy at Salerno, Allied forces met resistance along the banks of the Sangro River. At 76 miles in length, almost entirely incorporated into the Wehrmacht’s Bernhard Line, the river would prove an exceptionally challenging natural barrier. American, British, Canadian and Indian forces applied pressure along the span of the Sangro, hoping to find a crossing shallow and lightly defended enough that they could pierce the line and forge a path to Ortona.