Operation Grapeshot order of battle

The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War.^[1] The attack into the Lombard Plain by the Allied 15th Army Group started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of Axis forces in Italy.

Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander

Mark Wayne Clark as a lieutenant general

Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander

Deputy: Lieutenant General Joseph T. McNarney

Chief of Staff: Lieutenant-General William Morgan^[2]

Air Commander-in Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces: Lieutenant General John K. Cannon

General Mark Wayne Clark

Chief of Staff: Major General Alfred M. Gruenther

Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott

Army troops

85th Infantry "Custer" Division

Major General John B. Coulter

Infantry: 337th, 338th, 339th Infantry Regiments

Artillery–105mm: 328th, 329th, 910th Field Artillery Battalions

Artillery–155mm: 403rd Field Artillery Battalion

92nd Infantry "Buffalo Soldiers" Division (Colored)^[a]

Major General Edward M. Almond

Infantry: 370th (Colored), 442nd (Nisei),^[b][c] 473rd^[d] Infantry Regiments

Artillery–105mm: 597th, 598th, 599th, 600th Field Artillery Battalions (all Colored)

Armor–Tank: 758th Light Tank Battalion, 760th Tank Battalion (less two companies)

Armor–TD: 679th, 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion (less two companies)

Corps deployed west to east:

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery

Army troops

7th Hussars (amphibious tanks)

12th Lancers (armoured cars)

16th Army Group Royal Engineers

20th Army Group Royal Engineers

22nd Army Group Royal Engineers

166th (Newfoundland) Field Artillery Regiment^[3][4]

6th Armoured Division

Major-General Horatius Murray

26th Armoured Brigade

1st Guards Brigade

61st Infantry Brigade

25th Armoured Engineer Brigade (less detachments with assault divisions)

2nd Parachute Brigade

Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff

Marshal Rodolfo Graziani

Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (to 29 April)
General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz (from 29 April to 2 May)
Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (from 2 May)

Maresciallo Rodolfo Graziani

Lombardia Corps

Lieutenant-General Kurt Jahn

3rd Marine Infantry Division "San Marco" (Major-General Amilcare Farina)

Battle Group Meinhold

Fortress Brigade 135

Elements of the 4th Alpine Division "Monterosa"

LXXV Corps

General der Gebirgstruppe Hans Schlemmer

2nd Grenadier Division "Littorio" (Major-General Tito Agosti)

4th Alpine Division "Monterosa" (bulk of) (Colonel Giorgio Milazzo)

5th Mountain Division (Generalmajor Hans Steets)

34th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Theobald Lieb)

Generalleutnant Joachim Lemelsen

XIV Panzer Corps

Generalleutnant Frido von Senger und Etterlin

8th Mountain Division (Major-General Paul Schricker)

65th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Pfeifer)

94th Infantry Division (Major-General Bernhard Steinmetz)

LI Mountain Corps

Generalleutnant Valentin Feurstein until March 1945 and then Lieutenant-General Friedrich-Wilhelm Hauck

1st Bersaglieri Division "Italia" (Major-General Mario Carloni)

114th Jäger Division (Brigadier-General Hans-Joachim Ehlert to 15 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Martin Strahammer)

148th Reserve Division (Major-General Otto Fretter-Pico)

232nd Infantry Division (Major-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz)

334th Infantry Division (Major-General Hellmuth Böhlke)

Generalleutnant Traugott Herr

LXXVI Panzer Corps

Lieutenant-General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin (to 25 April 1945)

Major-General Karl von Graffen (from 25 April 1945)

42nd Jäger Division (Major-General Walter Jost)

98th Infantry Division (Major-General Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt to 11 April 1945 then Brigadier-General Otto Schiel)

162nd Turkoman Division (Major-General Ralph von Heygendorff)

362nd Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Alois Weber)

I Parachute Corps

Lieutenant-General Richard Heidrich

1st Parachute Division (Brigadier-General Karl-Lothar Schulz)

4th Parachute Division (Major-General Heinrich Trettner)

26th Panzer Division (Brigadier-General Alfred Kuhnert to 19 April 1945 then Major-General Viktor Linnarz)

278th Infantry Division (Major-General Harry Hoppe)

including the 1st Italian Assault Company "Forlì" (Pier Vittorio Riccardi)

305th Infantry Division (Major-General Friedrich von Schellwitz)

LXXIII Corps

Lieutenant-General Anton Dostler^[g]

Minor units watching the coast between the Po and Venice

LXXXXVII Corps (transferred to Army Group E in Yugoslavia on 10 April)

General of the Mountain Troops Ludwig Kübler^[h]

188th Mountain Division (Major-General Hans von Hößlin)

237th Infantry Division (Major-General Hans von Grävenitz until late April then Colonel Karl Falkner)

Army Reserve

29th Panzergrenadier Division (Major-General Fritz Polack)

155th Infantry Division (Brigadier-General Georg Zwade)

90th Panzergrenadier Division (Brigadier-General Heinrich Baron von Behr)

• Blaxland, Gregory (1979). Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945). London: William Kimber & Co. ISBN 0-7183-0386-5.
• Carver, Field Marshal Lord (2001). The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy 1943-1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-330-48230-0.
• Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1987]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 2 - June to October 1944. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-071-8.
• Jackson, General Sir William & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. (2004) [First. pub. HMSO:1988]. Butler, Sir James (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume VI: Victory in the Mediterranean, Part 3 - November 1944 to May 1945. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-072-6.
• Kay, Robin (1967). "Appendix VII — Fifteenth Army Group — Order of Battle as at 9 April 1945". Italy Volume II : From Cassino to Trieste. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington, New Zealand: Historical Publications Branch.

• Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen. "World War II unit histories and officers". Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
• "Orders of Battle.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
• Wendell, Marcus. "Axis History Factbook: German army order of battle". Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2007.