Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos traveled to Rimini, Italy, on Sunday to attend the ceremony at the Riccione military cemetery in memory of the Greeks that died in the Battle of Rimini in the autumn of 1944, ANA reports.
Pavlopoulos laid a wreath at the monument.
The Battle of Rimini took place between 13 and 21 September 1944 during Operation Olive, the main Allied offensive on the Gothic Line in August and September 1944, part of the Italian Campaign in the Second World War. Rimini, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy, anchored the Rimini Line, a German defensive line which was the third such line forming the Gothic Line defenses.
Just south of Rimini, attached to 1st Canadian Division, was 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade (Greek: ΙΙΙ Ελληνική Ορεινή Ταξιαρχία, ΙΙΙ Ε.Ο.Τ.), a unit of mountain infantry formed by the Greek government in exile on 1 July 1944 in Lebanon under the command of Colonel Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos.
On the morning of 21 September, the 2nd Greek Battalion reached the city center via the Ausa River and raised the Greek flag on the balcony of the municipal building. At 7:45 of 21 September, the mayor unconditionally surrendered the city to the 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade with an official protocol that is written in Greek, English, and Italian.[4]
The actions of the Greek brigade during the battle earned it the honorific title “Rimini Brigade” (“Ταξιαρχία Ρίμινι”).
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