Instead, Eighth Army’s Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese decided to drive up the western coastal plain bordering the Adriatic Sea. When it became clear that the German grip on the mountains was very strong, the planned offensive out of Florence was abandoned. This section of mountains formed the anchor point for the last German fortified line in Italy - dubbed the Gothic Line. In the early summer, the Allied command in Italy had intended for the next major offensive by Eighth Army to be launched from Florence through the northern dogleg of the Apennines. I Canadian Corps was now considered the Army’s shock force. Since the Liri Valley battles in April and May, German intelligence had concentrated on tracing the movements of the Canadians - believing their location would signal the site of the next major Allied Eighth Army offensive. All troops stripped off their Canadian insignia, and vehicles were similarly disguised.
On 8 August 1944, I Canadian Corps undertook an elaborately secretive movement from the city of Florence eastward across the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic coast.
Hughes, 48th Highlanders of Canada, sniping a German position in 1944, near the Foglio River, Italy, during the Battle of the Gothic Line.
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