Ortona Avenue

This street commemorates those who fought at Ortona in the Second World War. The mediaeval town of Ortona, with its castle and stone buildings, was situated on a ledge overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Its steep, rubble-filled streets limited the use of tanks and artillery and thus made this an infantryman's struggle. During several days of vicious street fighting, the Canadians smashed their way through walls and buildings—"mouseholing" as they called it. This was Christmas 1943. Meanwhile, a subsidiary attack had been launched to the northwest and the Germans, in danger of being cut off, withdrew from Ortona. The city officially fell on December 28.