turned into infantrymen. As the fighting continued through December and into January an increasing number of support personnel were used in the front line. By 2 January all the horse meat had been eaten and the physical condition of the troops was rapidly deteriorating while replacements combed from the service units were found to be willing but lacking in basic infantry training. On 10 January 1943 the Red Army unleashed their attack on the pocket, the 65th and 21st armies overwhelmed the 44th divisional defenses on the first day. By 12 January the western protuberance of the pocket, the karpovka nose, was eliminated, and groups of German units had to retreat. The remnants of the division were pushed back into Stalingrad. Now only a single gun was left to the divisional artillery, and the infantry regiments formed battle groups with their few remaining men mixed with a variety of other combat and service troops, and equipped with only rifles and a few light machine guns. All the other heavy weapons had been abandoned in the retreat, or had no ammunition. On 27 January General Deboi, the divisional commander, joined the 131 Battle Group to 'be with the infantry' at the end. Finally, with no more food or ammunition, resistance ended, the surviving officers joined their last troops in surrender, and the 44 Infantry Division ceased to exist. Italy On 25 July 1943 Mussolini was removed from Office by King Victor Emmanuel and replaced as Prime Minister by Marshal Badoglio Although Badoglio publicly declared a continuation of the war and the pact with Germany Hitler immediately suspected that he would seek to make peace with the Allies. The German military forces in Italy remained weak, most combat capable combat units were fighting in Sicily, with very little on the mainland, capable of dealing with a swift Italian defection. Hitler recalled Rommel to Berlin and ordered him to take on the problem of securing German interests in Northern Italy and to use his newly set up Army Group B headquarters to control the new forces that would soon be moved into the area. Orders for these troop movements soon began to be issued, but to get the troops into the theatre, first the vital communications route through the mountains had to be secured. On 26 July, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, at OB West Headquarters was ordered to move 2 divisions immediately to