Anzio
Italy
WWII
45th Division
break through
the
break through...
"The whole artillery was zeroed in on a certain point. Every artillery piece on the whole area was zeroed in on one point. The Germans pulled a big counter attack that happened to be at that point. In the paper the Stars and Stripes - they said there were 35,000 rounds, 90mm and bigger in two hours and 45 minutes. When we pulled out we went through that area. There had been quite a few trees there and maybe there would be a stump, 10 feet high, all splintered at the top, no limbs, no nothin'. And the ground looked like hundreds of pot holes, almost continuous.
"They sure picked a bad place to have a counter attack."
(Bernie L. Stokes, Summer, 2001)
Excerpt from The Story of the 45th Infantry Division, a publication of the Information and Education Division and issued to troops in 1945:
"On May 23, after artillery and the Air Corps had combined to saturate the area, the division jumped off - destination: Rome.
"The artillery preparation, aggressive and determined infantry action and the coordinated effort of the supporting arms and services, forced the steel trap to bend, snap open.
"For the next 12 days, Thunderbird pressure on the retreating Germans never lagged. The breakthrough became a rout. Three days later, when beachhead troops contacted doughs from the Cassino front, Nazis were falling back in slap-happy disorganization."