The battles of the Winter Line or Gustav Line (12 January-18 May 1944) were the most important battles of the Italian campaign, and saw the Germans under Kesselring keep the Allies pinned down south of Rome from the autumn of 1943 until the summer of 1944.
The battle of Salerno led to changes in plans on both sides. The original German plan had been to withdraw to the north of Italy, and defend a line from Pisa to Rimini, which the Allies would find hard to outflank by sea, and which was the most northerly line that could be used to keep the Allies off the Po plains. Kesselring was to command the fighting retreat from the south, Rommel the defensive battle in the north. However the unexpectedly prolonged battle around the Salerno beachhead helped to support Kesselring’s belief that he could successfully defend a series of lines in southern Italy. He had always preferred this option, and had ordered work to begin on surveying what became the Gustav Line during the battle of Sicily. On 10 September he had outlined this plan and on 4 October Hitler ordered him to make a stand between Rome and Naples. Rommel was ordered to send two of his infantry divisions and part of his artillery south, and was then removed from the Italian theatre altogether and sent to France. This approach would keep the Allies pinned down further from German soil, and would give the newly freed Mussolini a larger state to rule.
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