The Caesar Line was the last German line of defence in Italy before Rome during the Second World War. It extended from the west coast near Ostia, over the Alban Hills south of Rome, from Valmontone to Avezzano and then to Pescara on the Adriatic coast. Behind the western half of the line was a subsidiary line, the Roman switch line which took a path north of Rome.
When the Caesar C Line defenses, manned by the German Fourteenth Army, were breached by the US Fifth Army on 30 May 1944, following the breakout from Anzio, the road to Rome was finally opened. The Germans retreated to their next line of defence, the Trasimene Line where the Fourteenth Army re-aligned with the German Tenth Army before withdrawing to the formidable defences of the Gothic Line.
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“Not only had Caesar a great name and a general’s glory, but his valor knew no rest, and the only thing he looked upon as a disgrace was not winning a battle.”
—Marcus Annaeus Lucan (39–65)
“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice—that is, until we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.””
—Sydney J. Harris (b. 1917)