WI: Hitler orders a defense of Rome?

Wendigo

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On 2 June the Caesar Line collapsed under the mounting pressure, and 14th Army commenced a fighting withdrawal through Rome. On the same day Hitler, fearing another Battle of Stalingrad, had ordered Kesslering that there should be "no defence of Rome"
What if there had been a defense of Rome?

How costly would urban fighting be to the Allies?
 
(just lost my entire post &@#$£)

First of all lets considered what such a garrison would consist of.

14th Army consisted of the following units around May 11th 1944

LXXVI Corps:
715th Division (Shattered during fighting around Anzio - rebuilt July)
362nd Division (a 44 pattern division with only 6 Battalions of infantry - also Shattered after being over run at Anzio)

I Fallschirmjäger Corps:
4th Fallschirmjäger Division (OTL Fought as the rear guard through Rome and was the last to leave the city on the 4th June - very likely to have been the core component of any garrison - but had also been fighting around Ansio so would have been under strength )
3rd Division (Panzer grenadiers? Accounts I found listed this unit as having been decimated)
65th Division (Accounts I found listed this unit as having been decimated)

At Army's Disposal:
29th Division (Panzergrenadier? Also heavily damaged fighting around Anzio)
92nd Division (??? Found nothing)

I found some account mentioning the 15th Panzergrenadier Division of 10th Army which covered the retreat of the remains of 715th and 362nd during the retreat to the Gothic line and nearly got surrounded itself so It might have formed part of the garrison as well

So with this somewhat scant data I think you can count on the reduced divisions of the I Fallschirmjäger Corps with the Core of 3 divisions and possibly elements of upto 5 others

However we must also consider the Gothic line - the 10th Army cannot hold it alone and many of the units from the 10th and 14th Army's managed to rebuild once they reached this relative safety of this line - units 'trapped' in Rome are not going to be able to replace their losses in men and equipment.

So it might make more sense for some of the 'lesser' divisions to hold the City - perhaps the remaining elements of the LXXVI Corps reinforced with the remnants of the 65th and 92nd Infantry Divisions while the more mobile I Fallschirmjäger Corps + 29th Panzergrenadier fall back on the Gothic line.

However as I mentioned the 4 Garrison Divisions are going to be very weak - but Kesselring is no mug - he is not going to trap his best units in Rome (OTL he trapped none)

As for what happens next?
 
do not think the Italians wanted that and they still had (and/or hoped to have) some degree of support across northern factory region?
 
and then there is the Vatican. Allies didn't want to damage the ancient city of Rome, but even less the Vatican.

In that perspective it would have been a huge moral strain on the allies to be forced by the Nazis to fight inside Rome and the Vatican. Much like the destruction of Palmyra in Syria in modern times.
 
and then there is the Vatican. Allies didn't want to damage the ancient city of Rome, but even less the Vatican.

In that perspective it would have been a huge moral strain on the allies to be forced by the Nazis to fight inside Rome and the Vatican. Much like the destruction of Palmyra in Syria in modern times.
Well, Palmyra was entirely deliberate.
 
and then there is the Vatican. Allies didn't want to damage the ancient city of Rome, but even less the Vatican.

In that perspective it would have been a huge moral strain on the allies to be forced by the Nazis to fight inside Rome and the Vatican. Much like the destruction of Palmyra in Syria in modern times.

Well, Palmyra was entirely deliberate.

Exactly, I think any damage to the Vatican would be blamed on the Nazis by everyone, including the Italians.
 
I for one think Smiling Albert was a hell of a lot smarter than that. If you are going to have to fight a defensive campaign anywhere during WWII Italy comes close to the top of the list.
 
Well, Palmyra was entirely deliberate.

True nd not done during combat. Maybe a bad example. But the amount of historic structures in the city, in the end it would feel and look a lot like Palmyra looks today.

Exactly, I think any damage to the Vatican would be blamed on the Nazis by everyone, including the Italians.

Indeed not my point. I meant the level of destruction of so much historic value would be morally very heavy on the allies(and i'm sure many Axis soldiers too). It would be like fighting in Paris and the Nazis have made a fortress out of the Notre Dame.

Its a lot like that monastery in Monte Cassino.
 
Kesselring would offer his resignition after showing Hitler how fast the allies would be at the alps since they would just leave enough men to surround the city and then move north. It is one thing to make Berlin och Breslau a fortress since they were filled with Germans. But now the Germans also have to face pissed off italians that dont want their homes destroyed. How many lived in Rome in 1944? I guess around a million. The choosen commander would surly surrender as soon as he was offered the chance
 
So following on from my earlier post - lets say that Kesselring was unable to convince Hitler to allow him the freedom to move 14th Army to the Gothic line, abandoning Rome in the process and has the city occupied by the 3 under strength infantry divisions and possibly 15th PG Division of 10th Army (which was nearly surrounded while covering the retreat of the less mobile LXXVI Corps) - perhaps reinforcing them as far as he can with odds and sods and commanded by the HQ of LXXVI Corps.

So what do the allies do?

Some of the allies division would also have been mauled during the fighting at Anzio and Monte Cassino etc and while they have a far greater capacity to reinforce etc initially there would have been some sub par units and it is those that would besiege the city and the siege / reduction of the German garrison could be made at a manageable pace and indeed the allied units in Italy could be rotated through this besieging force as necessary

However there is one thing...well one man actually that could change all this

Gen Mark Clark - and his massive ego

I could quite easily foresee a situation where he orders Gen. Truscott to throw 5th Army against the city pretty much as per OTL - but this time his units will be forced to fight for it possibly dragging elements of the British 8th Army into the fight as well.
 
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