The battle began with the amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle. However, the 5th Army did not have enough troops or a way to transport them. The southwestern U.S. Force ("X-Ray Beach"): This force attacked the coast 6 miles (10 km) east of Anzio. The Allies had come to a halt in their advance towards Rome, 100 miles on the south of Rome at the town of Cassino the Axis blocked their advance. The Anzio and Nettuno beaches are on marshland. The attack failed to break through. Operation Shingle was planned by Winston Churchill in December 1943. The Allies even got near Rome. 11. The Allies tried to break through three times in 1944 starting on January 17th, 144. The WRA camps were the creation of Milton Eisenhower, among others In 1942 the War Relocation Authority was established by Presidential executive order as the civilian operated organization responsible for the final disposition of the Japanese Americans removed from the exclusion zones. Parts of eight German divisions were put around the beach. The Allied breakout finally came in May as part of Operation Diadem. However, the 5th Army did not have enough troops or a way to transport them. He planned to land two divisions at Anzio and capture Rome. The Allies planned an attack in May. In an interesting post-script, American General Mark Clark prohibited British troops from entering Rome when he gave a press conference upon taking the city. The 1944 Battle of Anzio stemmed from the Allied attempt to draw German troops off the Gustav Line during Operation Shingle. At 05:45 on May 23, 1944, 1,500 Allied artillery pieces started bombing. [10] The first day's fighting was hard: 1st Armored Division lost 100 tanks and 3rd Infantry Division had 955 casualties. Winston Churchill, or more formally known as, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, DL, FRS, Hon. They wanted to capture a beach near Anzio, move forward, and be ready to go to Rome. One group moved to Cisterna. Anzio was deemed to be a suitable beachhead north of the Gustav Line where Allied forces could land, encircle the Axis forces, and end the war in Italy relatively quick. Milton S. Eisenhower, whose brother rose to command the Allied Expeditionary Forces […] After a month of heavy fighting, By early February German forces in Fourteenth Army had 100,000 troops. Battle of Anzio Facts. Nettuno was the German name for the Battle of Anzio. Interesting Battle of Anzio Facts: The battle began with the amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle Although amphibious invasions are historically the purview of the Marines, the Marines is the smallest of the United States armed forces and was totally deployed in the Pacific Theater, so the U.S. Army was forced to do its own amphibious landings in the European Theater. He wanted to get around German forces on the Winter Line. Thid was defensive line across Italy. [7], On February 16 the Germans launched a new attack. Whitlock makes it clear that Anzio was a living hell. If troops were left on the Gustav Line, then the Allies could try to capture Rome. Three days after the landings, the beach was surrounded by three divisions: The 4th Parachute Division to the west, the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division to the center, the Hermann Göring Panzer Division to the east. The arrival of U.S. 45th Infantry Division and U.S. 1st Armored Division, brought Allied forces total on the beach to 69,000 men, 508 guns and 208 tanks by January 29. By midnight, 36,000 soldiers and 3,200 vehicles had landed on the beaches. The operation was opposed by German forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno. The British force ("Peter Beach"): This force attacked the coast 6 miles (10 km) north of Anzio. Thid was defensive line across Italy. General Harold Alexanderhad thought of a plan using five divisions. General Lucian Truscott replaced Lucas as commander on February 22. Once the landings began and the Allies established a beachhead, Kesselring took troops from the Gustav Line to stop an Allied breakout. General Harold Alexander had thought of a plan using five divisions. Lucas' passivity has been seen as one of the reasons why the Battle of Anzio took so long and was so costly, but Kesselring later said in Lucas' defense that the Allied plan was flawed to begin with and they also failed to take into account the desperate nature of the German forces. Two Italian SS divisions fought at Anzio and were elevated to Waffen status due to their actions holding the line. The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). By late May, there were 150,000 Allied troops.[9]. The Battle of Anzio, which is also called Operation Shingle (January 22, 1944) was an Allied sea landing in the Italian Campaign against German forces of Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. However, the 5th Army did not have enough troops or a way to transport them. Although the Germans continued to hold northern Italy, the Italians were all but out of the war. The Battle of Anzio, which lasted from January 22 to June 5, 1944, was an Allied amphibious invasion that was intended to flank most of the German defensive lines. The Anzio and Nettuno beaches are on marshland. The Allies got their men ready on the beach. Hitler ordered no defence of Rome.[12]. Allied forces in this attack consisted of 5 cruisers, 24 destroyers, 238 landing craft, 62+ other ships, 40,000 soldiers, and 5,000+ vehicles. Other articles where Battle of Monte Cassino is discussed: Cassino: …German resistance in three savage battles. Whe… On June 2 the Caesar Line broke and the 14th Army pulled back through Rome. Battle of Anzio Commanders. After the war, some experts said the Anzio plan was not good. The Allies went north-west to Rome which was captured on 4 June. The Axis forces numbered about 25,000 with only about 5,000 of those being Italians. Actually, the Germans were able to remove both the monks and the treasures of the abbey; and, after the bombardment ceased, they in… On February 15 the Allies bombed and demolished the Benedictine monastery, erroneously believing that the Germans had occupied and fortified it. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use Privacy Policy. Destruction of the abbey. The British government’s decisive defeat of Prince Charles’s Jacobite Army was the beginning of the end for the clan system in the Highlands of Scotland. The Germans had prepared defenses, but they lacked officers. Once the Allies broke through on May 26, they turned north to Rome. Allied forces by this time were 76,400 The Third Battle of Cassino in mid-March was preceded by a thunderous artillery barrage from nine hundred guns and a massive aerial bombardment of the town. Both sides realised that no result could be achieved until the spring. There were five German divisions. The Germans brought in new troops from Rome. The Germans found out about the landings at 03:00 on January 22. Second battle. The Germans had 40,000 troops in defensive positions.[4]. At the end of 1943, following the Allied invasion of Italy, Allied forces were stuck at the Gustav Line. https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Anzio&oldid=5000097, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009, Initially: 36,000 soldiers and 2,300 vehicles, Initially: 20,000 German soldiers + five Italian battalions (4,600 soldiers). Von Mackensen's 14th Army took command of the defence on January 25. Battle of Anzio Casualties. Whitlock organizes his facts in an interesting manner, providing fascinating background information on how the 45th came to be.