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Operation Shingle continued

Chapter6 of 6

The Breakout

We had come to feel that we should be condemned to living on the Beachhead for the rest of the war but the sight of such activity and obvious preparations for a breakout raised our hopes and boosted morale. Unknown to us, and more importantly to the Germans, there was much happening on the Cassino front. 8th Army Divisions had been moved secretly from the Adriatic end of the Gustav line as part of a huge concentration. The Allied force now facing the German defenders on the Cassino front was truly international; the US on the coastal sector, the Free French Mountain Troops - the Goumiers from the Atlas mountains -, Indians, Poles and British and Commonwealth Divisions.

The plan being hatched was substantially the same as when we landed on Peter Beach, four months previously, that an attack on the Cassino front would collapse the Gustav Line to be followed by a pincer movement from Anzio to the Alban Hills to cut off the German lines of retreat along Routes 6 and 7, inflict irreparable damage and shorten the war in Italy.

By the 11th May all was ready on both fronts and the fourth battle of Cassino began with an Allied strength that took the Germans by surprise. Advances were made and such was the danger to Von Mackensen's defenders that some elements of the enemy forces surrounding the Beachhead were withdrawn to bolster the Gustav Line at the southern front. The Americans held the extreme western end of the front before a narrow coastal plain leading towards Anzio; the Goumiers were on their right opposite the Aurunci mountain mass, thought by the Germans to be impenetrable and lightly held. A critical stroke by the French Goumiers breached the Gustav Line defences. To the Goumier mountain men this type of war was an ideal and they drove through with incredible speed and threatened a left hook to the German rear. This was the final blow and the Gustav Line broke and the German withdrawal began. This was 20th May.

The pursuit started up Route 7 to Rome whilst the US Army advanced along the coastal plain in the direction of Anzio. This was time to release the killer-punch from the Beachhead. Moves started on 23rd May and next day the 24th, there was a general break-out from the Beachhead perimeter in the direction of the Alban Hills and northward along the coast. "Brett Force" was a small detachment of the Recce Regiment of 1st (Br) Division and US Army 36th Engineers which set forth southwards to meet US forces advancing along the coast from the Cassino southern front. This historic meeting took place at 0730hrs near Borgo Grappa on 29th May 1944 and the Beachhead was relieved.

About 26th May our HQRE had relocated in the American sector as a follow-up and I recollect quite vividly being on the first slopes of the Alban Hills and seeing the American tanks making for the Velletri Gap - a low col leading to Route 7 along which the enemy was retreating. It all seemed to be going so well and the excitement of what was going on, after four long months of isolation, was quite heady. We received an inexplicable order to return to our original location and axis of advance! I did not know it then but this must have been the time when the decision was made to switch the line of advance and attack to capture Rome instead of to close the pincer movement and capture of a German army.

As it was, we moved away from Anzio without regrets on 26th May along the Albano road, under the Flyover as far as Carocetto and then a bumpy journey along the disused railway towards Rome and up onto the slopes of the Alban Hills and bivouacked for a noisy night by the gun lines. On the morning of 4th June tanks of the US 1st Armoured Division entered The Eternal City of Rome.

The only two Divisions which were in the Beachhead for the whole period of four long months and two days were our 1st (Br) Infantry Division and the 3rd US Infantry Division. Others came and went but a special bond of comradeship developed amongst Beachhead soldiers of both nations, born of the sense of isolation and togetherness on that small patch of ground and all that was endured. In later times, to meet one of the "Men of Anzio" was to be an immediate comrade. One cannot forget ever the drama, heroism and suffering, or the 8868 officers and men of my 1st Infantry Division who were killed, wounded and missing in the crucible that was Anzio. These are my abiding memories.

War strategists have argued at length over the general-ship of Operation Shingle, the decisions taken, the subsequent battles and the perceived consequences of options, but nobody can be certain of anything in war; nobody can know. There are two sides to every coin and, right or wrong, what was done is done and cannot be undone. There is no point in raking over old ashes. After all this time there will be no post mortem.

As for myself?....there was Rome, the capture of Florence, mountain warfare in the Northern Apennines.......but that is another story.

Postscript: May 2002

For sometime it had been my wish to return to Anzio to relive some of those days, never to be forgotten even after 58 years. My main intent was to visit the British War Graves Cemeteries and discover the headstones of sappers from the Field Companies of my 1st Division and to photograph each headstone for any relatives or friends. After a lapse of 58 years there could not be many.

There are two British and Commonwealth Cemeteries; the Anzio Cemetery, a smaller one for those who Fell during the landing and shortly afterwards and the Beachhead Cemetery for those lost during the Battle of Anzio. There is an exception here as those of 23 Field Company, overrun at the battle for Carroceto are, I have found, interred in a Cassino Cemetery.

The British War Graves Commission provided much helpful information to assist me in my task and I took photographs of each headstone and its surroundings and of the cemeteries. Each headstone is engraved with the regimental crest and details of the soldier at rest and sometimes a message of remembrance from a loved one at home. Flowers grow round the rows of headstones, beautifully tended as are the surrounding lawns which are immaculate. The Italians call them "the English carpet". After the bustle and noise of traffic both places are so serene and a haven of peace and so very like home. One could not but feel emotional. I laid a poppy wreath at both memorials.

I was prepared to see a complete change in the Anzio landscape, which is what happened, but I knew places, which are forever engraved upon my mind, from the contours of the ground and a few landmarks. My recollection did the rest.

I found the Italians in this small town an amiable, easy-going and pleasant people who seemed interested in what happened 58 years ago and anyone "who was there", even though they not born then. Appreciation for what was done was genuinely sincere: "they gave us our freedom"

There were desperate days on the Beachhead but seeing a pretty town, rebuilt after much destruction, a happy, prosperous people and a gentle countryside I now realise it was worthwhile and has ended for the best.

I hope to return on 22nd January 2004 as one of the "Men of Anzio", for the town's 60th Anniversary Remembrance of the Beachhead Landings and The Battle which followed.

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