When the German Gustav Line centered on Monte Cassino proved impenetrable, the Allies were forced to concede a plan to somehow bypass it. The plan was born to land the American VI Corps behind the Gustav Line just 30 miles south of Rome. The achievement of sneaking a considerable force to any enemy's rear is the greatest tactical advantage upon an adversary. It was believed that performing this maneuver would cause the Wehrmacht high command to panic, and withdraw the German 10th Army off the Gustav Line and north, to escape entrapment by the amphibious assault now behind them.  Interestingly, how could the Allied Mediterranean command's commanders, Wilson Alexander and Clark possibly believe so? In Sicily, Termoli, and Salerno, the enemy had not only remained cool, but ferociously attacked the assault landings immediately. Clearly, the Allies were not learning the lessons of their experiences very well. Apart from misjudging the Germans' reactions, the planned landings at Anzio were about to be executed on too small a scale. Not only was shipping capacity limited for the planning of Overlord in France, but the Anzio landings (Operation Shingle), was allotted roughly the equivalent of only 3 divisions. This force would not only be too weak to exploit any successful strategic surprise it might gain, but may even end up as an actual liability against a powerful German reaction from the German 14th Army headquartered in Verona, northern Italy. Nonetheless, 15th Army Group released the following units for the  amphibious assault at Anzio:

AMERICAN - 3rd Infantry Division, 751st Tank Battalion, 504th Parachute Regiment, 1st, 3rd, and 4th Ranger Battalions, and the 509th Parachute Battalion.

BRITISH - 1st Infantry Division, 46th Royal Tank Regiment(A battalion) and 2 Commando Battalions.

Immediate reinforcements consisted of the American 45th Infantry Division, and at least one-third of the U.S. 1st Armored Division.

The landings took place on January 22, 1944. They were preceded by a diversionary attack by 5th Army on the western side of the Gustav Line. They ended with the failed, and bloody Crossing of the Rapido River near Cassino. This attack on the Gustav Line caused many of the German reserves to move further south, and leave the Anzio sector practically unguarded. The Anzio landings therefore went smoothly and virtually unopposed. Miraculously the Allies had clearly caught the Germans by surprise, and were able to unload all their forces and supplies. During the next couple of days, the British / American VI Corps took a couple key terrain features a few miles furthers inland. This would help anchor General Lucas's VI Corps perimeter solid for what he believed would be an eventual Wehrmacht counterattack. As the VI Corps probed forward, it met tough German resistance.

In one of the most tragic episodes of the U.S. Army, a night infiltration of the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions into the town of Cisterna turned disastrous. The Rangers went out under darkness using a depressed gulley to avoid detection. The 2 battalions would never get closer than 800 meters to their objective. It seems at some point in their movement, they were detected by the enemy. At dawn they found themselves in the center of a large German ambush. The Germans were already deployed in an offensive posture, and unleashed a hail of fire. Parts of the Herman Goering also took part in flushing the Rangers into open ground, where they could more easily be massacred. The valiant light infantrymen put up a heroic fight, and even managed to destroy 14 German tanks with their few bazookas and grenades before being annihalated. Of the 767 Rangers who were ambushed, only 6 managed to escape and reach friendly lines. Attempts by the 3rd Infantry Division and 4th Ranger Battalion to extricate their brothers failed in the face of impenetrable German defenses. After this, Lucas decided to pull back and circle the wagons in preparation for what the Allied OSS intelligence staff also confirmed was an imminent massive enemy offensive.

                                                Braving The Onslaught - Holding on at Anzio

 It came quick and hard on February 3rd. It hit the British 1st Division incredibly hard at a small town called Campoleone with a combined arms assault. The attackers came in the form of the Herman Georing Panzer Division, and the 4th Parachute Division.The British took over 1,400 casualties that day alone, but they stood fast, and then finally under powerful assaults were forced to retreat. The fury of the German 14th Army was upon them. The Wehrmacht was slamming battalions behind battalions of Infantry and armor down the muddy Albano Road, into the British 1st Division trying to gain a clean break to the sea through the Allied lines. After an enemy advance of 2.5 miles, the line held. Muddy conditions, concentrated Allied artillery, naval and air power, plus the arrival of reinforcements from the U.S. 45th Infantry Division, and the 504th Parachute Regiment held the damn. The Germans held the famous "Factory" and refused to give it up. Both sides reorganized their forces in the next days. The British 1st Division was shattered and had to be augmented by the British 56th Infantry Division and CCA of the American 1st armored Division. The Germans had assembled more units than the Allies thought possible. Some came from as far away as France and Yugoslavia. Eventually, Field Marshal Kesselring would outnumber the Allies in the beachhead with 130,000 to 90,000. The attackers from the sea had now suddenly become the defenders. There was no thought of breaking out, but now only of holding Anzio, and survival.

On February 18, occurred the most intense and dangerous battle of the campaign. This time with the concentration of the entire 76th Panzer Corps hitting the town of Aprilia now defended by the American veteran 45th Infantry Division. The Germans bombarded with an intense artillery preparation that virtually cleared a path for the attack. The German assault was dense, powerful, and organized. It hit so hard it caused a battalion of the 179th Regiment to vanish instantly, wiped out. The 157th and 179th Regiments were smashed, crippled, and exploited. The weight of the Panzers, Panthers and Tigers was simply too much to bear. 57mm antitank guns often bounced off the heavier German machines. The Germans kept driving forward and shooting everything in their paths and creating a hole two miles deep by one mile wide in the 45th Infantry division's line. General Lucas ordered all service personnel and the 90 mm antiaircraft gun battalion to help plug the hole at the front and prevent a complete disaster. 3rd Panzergrenadier, 715th Motorized, and the 65th Infantry division were at the front taking heavy losses which now became fatal with the arrival of 730 tactical air support sorties. The German armor and infantry teams were destroyed, and survivors fled. The 14th Army's attempt had again failed in the face of dogged American resistance, and powerful air and artillery strikes.The Germans' chances of destroying the beachhead were dealt a major blow.

Renewed German attacks came in early March with the addition of reinforcements detached from the Gustav Line, and other units such as the SS 16th Panzergrenadier Division. The renewed attack came against the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division near Cisterna. The attack was powerful, achieving an advance of over 800 meters into American lines. Losses were grievous to both sides. The American use of concentrated artillery and pre-deployed armor into the infantry line made the 3rd Infantry Division's defense formidable. Designated American local reserves also prevented the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division from achieving a serious penetration and reaching the rear of the Allied beachhead. German attacks failed, and on March 4th, German General Von Mackensen of the 14th Army gave up the offensive. The allies used the respite to relieve the British 56th Division with the 5th British Division, the U.S. 34th Division relieved the exhausted 3rd Division. These outfits had been in the line of combat for 67 consecutive days. The battle took a new form, not unlike World War One, where trenches and frequent infantry raids were the deadly routine. The Germans took on a new harassment role of the enemy beachhead with two 280 mm rail guns, inflicting continuous casualties and misery.

Some undeniable benefit did come from Operation Shingle. Since the Germans had used up most of their units against the Anzio beachead in a grinding conflict of attrition, the Gustav Line could not be reinforced. 5th Army, and VI Corps at Anzio now coordinated their own assaults on May 23rd. The Germans were still very capable of defensive operations. Between 23-25 May, the 3rd Infantry division took over 3,000 casualties retaking the town of Cisterna after a tremendous artillery bombardment of the German positions.1st Armored Division lost over 100 tanks and armored vehicles in the same time. It was a bloody business, and no end in sight. Monte Cassino was finally taken in late May by Polish forces, and VI Corps broke through the German ring around Anzio. The enemy went into full flight north to escape before the allies cut off their lines of communication.

The battle for the Anzio beachhead was a costly, bloody affair. It was unpopular because of its lack of decisive strategic impact on the stagnant Italian Campaign. Most disappointed of all was Winston Churchill who was actually the driving force behind Shingle's inception. There were questions as to wether Anzio was worth the casualties. If we count the cases such as "Trench Foot" amputations, shell shock, hospitalization for serious illness and infections cases, VI Corps at Anzio sustained a staggering 66,000 casualties and Over 42,000 were American. Many normally admitted soldiers to a hospital who were slightly wounded or ill went unadmitted, and stayed at the front. The dire situation at Anzio made it imperative that often sick soldiers remained on the line to fight. It was the constant exposure to the rain, density of rotting corpses in the mud, constant shelling, duration of the battle, and vulnerability of every foot of the beachhead that caused so many cases of disease, and combat fatigue cases in Allied units. The Battle for Anzio represents World War Two in one of its most brutal and horrific chapters. There were no flag raising episodes to cheer, or liberated people to thank our soldiers. There was only a horrific enemy onslaught to brave, not once or twice, but again and again. This was Anzio.