Barbara Line - Definition and Overview

During World War II, the Barbara Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, some ten to twenty miles south of the Gustav Line, and a similar distance north of the Volturno Line. Near the eastern coast, it ran along the line of the Trigno river. The line mostly consisted of fortified hilltop positions.

General Albrecht Kesselring, commander of the German forces in Italy, ordered his forces to retreat to the Barbara Line on 12 October 1943 after the Allies crossed the Volturno River, breaching the Volturno defensive line. By the end of October the Barbara Line was breached, and the Germans retreated to the Bernhardt Line.

See also:

• Allied invasion of Italy
• British Eighth Army
• US Fifth Army
• Gustav Line
• Gothic Line