After 14 days of sporadic streetfighting and one-way shelling (by the Germans), all Florence was occupied by Eighth Army troops.
Field Marshal Albert Kesselring had been pushed back to the Arno virtually throughout its length. But at many points he had not been pushed beyond the river —an important distinction. Eighth Army positions were open to harassing mortar and artillery fire from isolated German pockets on the south bank and from the high ground of the Prato Magno in the great bend of the Arno, southeast of Florence. If the situation was bad for Kesselring, it was also uncomfortable for...