CORIANO RIDGE WAR CEMETERY
LOCATION
Coriano Ridge War Cemetery is 3.5 kilometres west of Riccione, a seaside resort on the Adriatic coast, and is reached by turning west off the main Rimini/Riccione road, the SS 16, about 1 kilometre north-west of Riccione. At this turning there is a sign leading to the cemetery. Follow it in the direction of Coriano until a T junction is reached, then turn left and after a short distance the cemetery will be found on the right-hand side. There is parking outside the cemetery gates.
CEMETERY INFORMATION
Coriano Ridge was the last important ridge in the way of the Allied advance in the Adriatic sector in the autumn of 1944. Its capture was the key to Rimini and eventually to the River Po. German Parachute and Panzer troops, aided by bad weather, resisted all attacks on their positions between 4th and 12th September 1944. On the night of 12th September the Eighth Army re-opened its attack on the Ridge, with the 1st British Armoured Division and the 5th Canadian Armoured Division. This attack was successful in taking the Ridge, but marked the beginning of a week of the heaviest fighting experienced since Cassino, the Eighth Army losing daily some 150 killed, who lie buried in this cemetery. The site for the cemetery was selected by the Army in April 1945 and it was formed by concentrations from the surrounding battlefields. There are now nearly 2,000, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.
ŠPaul Reed 2006
