4th Oct 1943

[antarmike]

Corsica is liberated by the free French army.

Following british and American landings on mainland Italy, the Germans were evacuating troops from Sardinia landing them on Southern Corsica.

The Free French, wishing to cut off the German troops, and informed on September 10, 1943, that the Italian troops on Corsica were willing to fight on the side of the Allies, the French launched Operation Vésuve and landed elements of the I Corps at Ajaccio on September 13, meeting Corsican partisans who also wanted enemy troops off the island.

 

German General von Senger und Etterlin hoped to obtain reinforcements with which to hold the island. After the Germans began disarming Italian soldiers, General Magli of the Italian Army ordered Italian forces to consider the Germans as an enemy rather than as allies. Thereafter, Italian units on the island cooperated with the French forces. Surprising the Italian Friuli Division in the northern port of Bastia on the night of September 13, 1943, the SS troops took 2,000 Italian prisoners and secured the port from which the Germans could evacuate their forces. Although supported by the Royal Navy, the French were unable to land forces quickly enough on Corsica to prevent the bulk of the German troops from reaching their exit ports on the east coast of the island. The final combat took place around Bastia, with the island secured by French forces on October 4, 1943. The bulk of the German forces, however, had made good their escape. The Germans took 700 casualties and lost 350 men to POW camps. The Italians lost 800 men in the fighting (mostly Friuli Division troops), and the French had 75 killed, 12 missing, and 239 wounded