Anzio Italy and the Battle for Rome, 1944

432 Pages·2006·61.28 MB·English

by  Lloyd Clark

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^1
ANZIO
—
Italy and the Battle for Rome 1944
LLOYD CLARK
$25.00
From one of the world's leading
military historians comes a
new account of the Allied assault
—
on Anzio one of the bloodiest and
most ferociously fought battles of
the Second World War.
The Allied attack of Normandy beach and
its resultant bloodbath have been immor-
talized in film and literature, but the U.S.
campaign on the beaches of Western Italy
reigns as perhaps the deadliest battle of World
War IFs western theater. In his new book,
acclaimed military historian Lloyd Clark deliv-
ers afresh andgrippingaccountofthis decisive
but often overlooked battle.
In January 1944, about six months before
D-Day, an Allied force of 36,000 soldiers
launched one of the first attacks on continental
Europe at Anzio, a small coastal city thirty
milessouth of Rome. The assault, ledbytheVI
Corps of the U.S. FifthArmy, was conceived as
the first step toward an eventual siege of the
Italian capital. The Allies captured the beach
easily but, due to indecisive leadership by
General John Lucas and his boss, General
Mark Clark, they failed to break through the
Germans' formidable "Gustav Line." Before
long the advance stalled completely.
With the Americans distracted by plotting
the upcoming D-Day landing, the Germans
—
quicklygained strength theirforces swelled to
—
120,000 men and crushed the thirty-five-
mile-long Allied line in a counterattack. Anzio
beach became a death trap. As winter beat
down, the Allies regrouped and desperately
poured more men, guns, and armor into the
stalemate. They also replaced General Lucas
with a dynamic new commander, General
Lucian Truscott. In May, after five months of
brutal fighting and monumental casualties on
both sides some 7,000 Allied and 7,000
(continuedon bat! flab)

ANZIO
Also byLloydClark
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ANZiO
ITALY AND THE BATTLE FOR ROME - 1944
LLOYD CLARK
^%
Atlantic MonthlyPress
New York
Copyright©2006byLloydClark
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby
anyelectronic ormechanicalmeans,orthe facilitationthereof,including
informationstorageandretrieval systems,withoutpermissioninwriting from
thepublisher, exceptbyareviewer,whomayquotebriefpassagesinareview.
Anymembersofeducational institutionswishingtophotocopypartorallof
theworkforclassroomuse, orpublisherswhowouldliketoobtainpermission
to includetheworkinananthology, shouldsendtheirinquiriesto
Grove/Atlantic,Inc., 841 Broadway,NewYork,NY 10003.
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2006byHEADLINEREVIEW,
animprintofHeadlinePublishingGroup,London
Everyefforthasbeenmadetofulfillrequirementswithregardtoreproducing
copyrightmaterial. Theauthorandpublisherwillbegladtorectifyany
omissionsattheearliestopportunity.
Printedin the UnitedStatesofAmerica
FIRSTAMERICANEDITION
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Clark,Lloyd, 1967- —
Anzio : ItalyandthebattleforRome 1944/LloydClark,
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-10: 0-87113-946-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-87113-946-7
1. WorldWar, 1939-1945—Campaigns—Italy. 2. Anzio
Beachhead, 1944. I. Title
D763.I8C53 2006
940.5471563—dc22 2006048433
DesignbyBenCracknell Studios
AtlanticMonthlyPress
animprintofGrove/Atlantic,Inc.
841 Broadway
NewYork,NY 10003
DistributedbyPublishersGroupWest
www.groveatlantic.com
06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgements
vii
Maps
xi
Introduction xiii
Cast List xix
Prologue xxi
The ItalianJob 1
AlliedStrategy andtheInvasion of Italy 1942-1943
Viktor, Barbara, Bernhardt and Gustav 31
TheItalian Campaign October-November 1943
The Anatomy of a Wild Cat 61
December 1943-January 1944
Style Over Substance 91
22January 1944
The Nudge 119
23January-2 February
The Spring Released 157
3—19 February
Changes 195
20 February—mid-March
Entrenchment 225
Mid-March-1 May
Diadem 265
11-24May
10 The Eternal City 295
25May-5June
Conclusion 321
Epilogue 329
Notes 333
Select Bibliography of Published Sources 365
Appendix 1: Order of Battle 373
Appendix 2: Glossary 379
Index 381