Reports from captured US soldiers indicated that they had intended to retreat to Lucca and beyond,[2] but decisive action by the Indian Division's Major-General Dudley Russell stabilised the situation.

Barga was recaptured one week later in the New Year,[3] and the front in the western Gothic Line remained nearly stable until late March 1945.

As a consequence the Germans created their own offensive, called Operation Wintergewitter under General Fretter-Pico's leadership, but with minor size and objectives: just 9,000 soldiers (mostly Italians) attacked in Garfagnana a small area of the Gothic Line, aiming to push the Allies back 25 kilometres (16 mi) and reduce their pressure in the Rimini area.

[citation needed] Meanwhile, units of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division, under Major General Edward Almond, moved to the Garfagnana sector, in November, and advanced along the Serchio River Valley against light resistance.

[4] On 21 December 1944, Marshal Graziani and General Mario Carloni visited the battalions of the Monte Rosa Division in the Garfagnana, in order to prepare the offensive.

[5] Following the Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front in mid-December, Allied intelligence had considered the possibility of a similar Axis operation in Northern Italy.

In the morning, 200 men of the Mittenwald battalion seized the American positions south of Sommocolonia at Bebbio and Scarpello held by the 92nd Recon Troop, which withdrew to Coreglia.

West of the river, the other Brescia companies overcame a weak initial resistance, but their opponents were already falling back and the attackers advanced to Fornaci almost without opposition.

In the morning, the German assault troops entered Pian di Coreglia, their final objective and Italian patrols went forward as far as the village of Calavorno, reporting that the enemy still was in full retreat.

All the objectives of the offensive were attained: the US 5th Army was tactically tripped out; Allied reserves were moved to a secondary sector; Italian Social Republican troops' morale was boosted by the success; the Axis gained a slightly better defensive situation on the Western Apennines, and indeed, the new front line stayed more or less intact until the April 1945 Axis collapse.

Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, who had promoted the attack in order to give military importance to the RSI, was extremely satisfied and wanted to continue the offensive.