Key moment in World War II brought heavy casualties
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A British landing craft unloads tanks and troop carriers on to the beach at the start of the assault |
The Allies were planning to dislodge German troops blocking the route to Rome and to liberate the capital city quickly, but the Battle of Anzio was to last for many months and cause the deaths of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
Operation Shingle, the name for the complex amphibious landing, had been the idea of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as he lay in bed recovering from pneumonia in December 1943. His concept was to land two divisions of men at Anzio, and nearby Nettuno, bypassing the German forces entrenched across the Gustav Line in central Italy, to enable the Allies to take Rome.
But the operation was opposed by German troops, as well as forces from the newly-created Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) - the Nazi puppet state in northern Italy - who were located in the area.
Operation Shingle was originally commanded by Major General John Lucas of the US Army.
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Allied troops and vehicles at first faced little opposition as they made their way ashore |
The landing was initially a success with seemingly no opposition from the Germans, but Lucas, perhaps not fully appreciating the importance of moving on from the beach quickly and wanting to be cautious, delayed the advance until he felt that the position of his troops was fully consolidated.
Meanwhile, the commander of the German troops, Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, moved every unit he could spare into a defensive ring around the beachhead. The Germans also stopped the drainage pumps and flooded the reclaimed marshland with salt water, planning to trap the Allied soldiers there and expose them to a malaria epidemic spread by the area's mosquitos.
For weeks, shells rained on to the beach, harbour, and marshland, and anything else that the Germans could see from their position above.
After a month of fighting, Lucas was relieved of his command and sent home. He was replaced by Major General Lucian Truscott.
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British troops had to take cover in shallow trenches as they came under heavy German bombardment |
As a result, German troops fighting at Monte Cassino were able to withdraw and join Kesselring’s forces north of Rome, where they regrouped and fought back against the Allies.
They were aiming to defend the next major position on what was then known as the Gothic Line, the last major line of defence for the German troops.
The surprise landings at Anzio and Nettuno on January 22 finally achieved their goal when the Allies captured Rome on June 4, 1944.
But the Battle of Anzio had resulted in 24,000 US, and 10,000 British, casualties, men who were either killed, wounded, or reported missing. There were also about 40,000 casualties among the German and Italian troops.
Around 300,000 troops, together with their weapons, had fought with intensity along just a 16-mile stretch of coastline. The Germans were able to observe the battlefield from above and pummel the Allies, who were tightly packed on the beachhead and fought back ferociously, knowing they could not afford to be pushed back into the sea.
Even Churchill, and the other supporters of Operation Shingle, had not expected the intense months of fighting that were to eventually take place.
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Anzio today is a seaside resort and fishing port and a departure point for ferries to the Pontine Islands |
The town of Anzio is about 51 kilometres, or 32 miles, to the south of Rome in the region of Lazio. It is also a fishing port and a departure point for ferries to the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian sea of Ponza, Palmarola, and Ventotene. Anzio was known as Antium in Roman times and its symbol remains to this day the goddess Fortuna. At the end of the 17th century, the Popes Innocent XII and Clement XI had the port rebuilt and also restored the harbour. In 1925, Anzio became the Station for the first submarine telecommunications cable connected to New York. The Commonwealth Anzio War cemetery and Beachhead War Cemetery are both located in Anzio. Along the coastline are the remains of many Roman villas, one of which has been identified as a former home of the Emperor Nero.
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A staircase in the mediæval part of the town of Nettuno |
The nearby town of Nettuno is now a tourist resort and has a harbour and a yacht club. Nettuno is also a centre for production of the white wine, Cacchione, which has been awarded DOC status. Nettuno has a well preserved Borgo Medievale with mediæval streets and squares and early in the 16th century the Forte Sangallo was built by the architect Antonio Sangallo the Elder to protect the town from the sea. Gabriele d’Annunzio wrote his opera, La Figlia di Iorio, while he was a guest in Nettuno with the actress Eleonora Duse, and Luigi Pirandello wrote a novel, Va Bene, set in Nettuno in 1904. After their landing during World War II, American soldiers taught the people of Nettuno to play baseball and Nettuno Baseball Club is now one of the most important Italian baseball teams. The footballer and manager Bruno Conti was born in Nettuno in 1955.
Also on this day:
1506: The founding of the Papal Swiss Guard
1889: The birth of supercentenarian Antonio Todde
1893: The birth of gang boss Frankie Yale
1956: The death of brigand and folk hero Giuseppe Musolino
2005: The death of double World War veteran Carlo Orelli