MUNN Dennis

Appears on the Army casualties list for Worcestershire.

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
On the 3rd September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. The 1st Battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry landed in Southern Italy to join the 8th Army, and early in 1944 took part in the 1st Division’s attack on Anzio – an attempt to outflank German positions. Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive positions known as the Trasimene, Arezzo, Arno and Gothic Lines. Florence, which was taken by the Allied forces on the 13th August 1944, was the centre of the Arno line and the point from which the attack on the German Gothic Line defences in the Apennines was launched.

In the autumn of 1944, the 1st Battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry was pitched into action against the formidable Gothic Line, experiencing the difficulties of mountain warfare. Fighting around Monte Ceco and Monte Grande finally breached the German defences in October 1944.