Anzio
Italy
WWII
45th Division
pinned down
at Anzio...
"The beach at Anzio is flat back in about 10 miles and then there's a mountain. They were up on that mountain and they could see all of our movements. After we went in, the Jerrys pulled a big counter attack and we had to withdraw. The Colonel stopped and said, ‘This is as far as we're going. We're not going any farther.’ We had just 5 miles of the beach. The 158th Field Artillery set up and was shooting point blank at 200 yards. We were set up right behind the 158th with our 75's. We didn't do too much firing. We did some but the 158th with their 155's going off point blank kinda made us back up a bit. I think it was 10 days we were in that position. Not good." (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:
"Everyone moved underground at Anzio. All day, long-range artillery fire harassed the small strip containing Allied forces. German railroad guns, sited in the Alban Hills, pounded the area. Nicknamed the ‘Anzio Express,’ these high-caliber guns ran strictly ‘on time’.
Air raids by the Luftwaffe pasted port and front line positions. Germans bombed and strafed at will until Spitfires met their challenge.
"‘Photo Joe,’ the lone German reconnaissance plane made its milk run with fidelity, while ‘Popcorn Pete’ unloaded crackling anti-personnel bombs with a regularity that would have turned the conductor of the Orange Blossom Special green with envy.
"By the first week in February, beachhead forces had pushed their lines as far out as their small numbers would permit. Hastily-summoned German reserves forged a steel ring around the beachhead. This was to be the scene of four months of stubborn warfare."