The site of the cemetery was chosen by the 78th Division for battlefield burials, and it was later enlarged when burials were brought in from the surrounding district. It contains, among others, the graves of many men of the Commandos engaged in the amphibious operations on the shores of the Comacchio lagoon early in April 1945. Argenta Gap War Cemetery contains 625 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, eight of them unidentified.
The Italian campaign
On 3 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. 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 lines. In the northern Appenine mountains the last of these, the Gothic Line, was breached by the Allies during the Autumn campaign and the front inched forward as far as Ravenna in the Adratic sector, but with divisions transferred to support the new offensive in France, the Germans dug in to a number of key defensive positions, the advance stalled as winter set in.
The final Allied offensive began early the following April and Argenta Gap War Cemetery marks the final stages of the hard fighting in Italy in the spring of 1945.
Directions
The cemetery is located in the commune of Argenta in the province of Ferrara. Argenta is 2 kilometres south of the cemetery on the SS16 connecting Ravenna with Ferrara. Approaching the cemetery from the south, go right just before reaching the town of Argenta and proceed down the Strada di Circonvallazione, passing the railway station on the right. Take the second turn to the right and, after crossing the railway, continue forward to a fork and again go right. The turn to the cemetery is on your left, a little further on, near a farm. Approaching the cemetery from the north, turn sharp left off the main road at the first crossroads on the borders of the town and then take the third turn to the left which will lead to the railway crossing mentioned above.