On December 15, 1944, Kenneth wrote a letter to the Citizens of Strathroy, later printed in the Age Dispatch, thanking them for the Christmas card he had received from the town. Kenneth wrote, \u201cIt is very nice to know that you people all think of me after being away so long, and still you have not forgotten me. It sure means a lot to a fellow\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kenneth was killed in action on December 20, 1944<\/strong> during heavy fighting for a piece of land known as the Fosso Munio in Italy. The Fosso Munio action began on the 19th of December and lasted two days. 32 men died and 49 were wounded from the Perth Regiment<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here is an anecdotal summary of events leading up to, and shortly following the day when Private Kenneth Adair of Strathroy was killed:<\/p>\n “Continuing the 5th Division’s exploitation north-west, Brigadier I. S. Johnston’s 11th Brigade reached the Lamone at Mezzano and cleared the eastern bank of the river, linking up on the left with troops of the 1st Division. Fog and rain once more delayed progress, but on the night of 10-11 December formations of both divisions made assault-boat crossings of the river. Beyond the Lamone the water obstacles athwart the line of advance were more thickly concentrated than any previously encountered. The strongly-dyked Canale Navi glio, which linked Faenza with the sea, was flanked by small drainage canals (the Fosso Vecchio and the Fosso Munio); further to the northwest was the Senio with its formidable floodbanks; all these paralleled one another within three miles. Passage of the first three was only achieved at great cost to the Canadian divisions; the fourth marked the limit of their advance in Italy.<\/em><\/p>\n From the 5th Division’s Lamone bridgehead in the vicinity of Villanova the 12th Brigade launched a two-battalion assault against the Canale Naviglio on the night of 12-13 December. It was a bloody operation. Both units, achieving surprise, reached the main canal shortly before midnight. Three companies of the Princess Louise, in the face of increasing mortar and machine-gun fire, fought their way over the high dykes to the western bank; but enemy reaction was too fierce, and the whole battalion was forced to fall back before daylight to the Fosso Vecchio. It had suffered 88 casualties. On the left the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment secured exposed positions on the near bank. Here, during the daylight hours of the 13th, they were vigorously counter-attacked but held doggedly on in spite of heavy losses.<\/em><\/p>\n Further inland the 1st Division’s attack across the Lamone met with more success. The 3rd Brigade, with the 48th Highlanders under command, went across on the night of 10-11 December; next day the 1st Brigade passed through and crossed the Vecchio that night. Twenty-four hours later the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment and the Carleton and York had forced bitterly opposed crossings of the Naviglio 3000 yards north of Bagnacavallo; before daylight on the 13th they had linked their bridgeheads and expanded them to a depth of 1000 yards. Both units were ordered to hold firm, and hold firm they did, though the enemy launched against them that day no fewer than thirteen counterattacks. When darkness fell the Edmontons and the Seaforth of the 2nd Brigade followed through and consolidated the 1st Division’s bridgehead. Through this foothold within the enemy’s defences the<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n –168–<\/em><\/p>\n <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Westminster Regiment was passed on the morning of the 14th, to strike northwards along the far bank and relieve the pressure in front of the other battalions of the 12th Brigade. It was a sound tactic, and that night the Lanark and Renfrew attacked successfully over the Naviglio. By late afternoon on the 15th the 12th Brigade was firmly established on the west bank, having linked up with the 1st Canadian Division on the left, and a limited amount of exploitation became possible. During this fighting our troops had received most helpful close strafing support from the air. “It was so close”, the Lanark and Renfrew recorded, “that empty cartridges from the planes fell in our positions”.<\/em><\/p>\n Two obstacles now lay between the Canadians and the Senio–the town of Bagnacavallo, which was still in enemy hands, and on the right the water barrier of the Fosso Munio, which ran across the 5th Canadian Armoured Division’s front 600 yards beyond the Canale Naviglio. But for some of the German infantry defending the Munio an unpleasant surprise was in store–the dubious honour of being the first enemy troops in Italy to experience Canadian flamethrowers in action. On the afternoon of 16 December a company of the Westminsters, using “Wasps” that spurted long jets of shriveling flame on the machine-gun positions on the far bank, broke readily across the canal and gained a base from which to launch subsequent operations.<\/em><\/p>\n There remained for the Canadian forces one more formal operation in 1944–the final advance to the Senio River. After an unsuccessful essay on 18 December, it began on the evening of the 19th with a silent breakout from the Naviglio bridgehead-the 11th Brigade on the right and the 2nd on the left. Enemy resistance along the Fosso Munio checked initial progress. His defence was organized in depth; in the open fields our infantry came under withering fire from scattered farmhouses–an unpleasant foretaste of what the Senio’s fortified flood-banks held in store.<\/span> But the good services of the Engineers in speedily throwing bridges across the Munio provided the forward troops with much-needed tank support. By the morning of the 21st the enemy had been driven back to the river and Bagnacavallo had been occupied without resistance.<\/strong><\/span> Right through Christmas Eve mopping-up operations continued on the Canadian side of the Senio, and many a troublesome strongpoint was flamed into ready submission with “Wasp” or “Crocodile”. Soon our troops held a nine-mile front along the river, from a mile south of Alfonsine to just south of Cotignola on the Corps’ left boundary.<\/em><\/p>\n On Christmas Day, in striking contrast to the bloody Ortona fighting of the previous year, the line was very quiet.”<\/em><\/p>\n [Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/hyperwar\/UN\/Canada\/CA\/OpSumm\/OpSumm-10.html]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At 22 years of age, Kenneth was the third Adair brother to be killed within a period of seven months. He is buried at the Villanova Canadian War Cemetery in Italy.<\/p>\n \n\n
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Clearing the Senio Line<\/em><\/h3>\n
![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-3.png\")
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![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-4.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-5.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-6.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Adair,](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Adair-KA-7.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Via](\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Via-della-Chiesa-Google-Maps.png\")
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