The Germans thus had yet another strong defensive position in high ground. This flows south from a point south-west of Arezzo, runs the west of Lake Trasimeno, and into the Tiber. These troops defended a series of heights that ran west from Monte Castiglione Maggiore to Castello di Brolio, twenty miles west of Arezzo, running around the edge of the valley of the Chiani River. The central section of the line, facing the part of the Eighth Army operating west of the Apennines, was held by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, 334th Infantry Division, 1st Parachute Division and the Hermann Goering Division, formed into the 76th Panzer Corps. The eastern part of the line, on the Adriatic, was along the Musone River, 12 miles south of Ancona, where it would be attacked by the advancing Polish 2nd Corps. This line fell into three largely separate sectors. The next line was the Arezzo Line, which cut across Italy to the south of the key ports of Livorno and Ancona and the communications centre of Arezzo, not far to the south-east of Florence. The Germans would then make a stand on the Gothic Line in the northern Apennines. As a result Kesselring decided to use the next series of lines for delaying actions only, holding each line for long enough for the bulk of his men to reach the next line back. The Germans made a determined attempt to hold the Frieda line for as long as possible, but it had been too costly, and only gained them two weeks. The first of these, the Dora Line, was brushed aside in mid June, but the Germans had more time to work on the Tresimeno or Frieda Line. Marshal Kesselring attempted to set up a series of defensive positions, in the hope that these would delay the Allies long enough for the defences of the Gothic Line to be completed. In the aftermath of the Allied breakthrough at Cassino and the fall of Rome on 4 June, the Germans were in full retreat back towards the Gothic Line in the northern Apennines. The battle of the Arezzo Line (3-18 July 1944) saw the Germans fight a delaying action along a line that protected the ports of Livorno and Ancona, winning them precious time to improve the fortifications of the Gothic Line.
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