Breakout from Anzio

23rd May 1944: Six Medals of Honor in Italy as individual soldiers force the pace of the attack with outstanding heroism

Troops of the Green Howards advance through enemy minefields at dawn during the start of the final breakout attack

British soldiers take cover from German shelling in a shallow trench during the breakout. The trench is similar to many which were dug along the opposing front lines during the lifetime of the bridgehead.

Two captured German paratroopers carrying a wounded British soldier who had lost a foot on a mine, 22 May 1944.

Sidestepping the Germans at Cassino by landing at Anzio had seemed such a simple concept when Churchill met the Allied commanders at Christmas. It proved to be quite easy to organise an amphibious landing at short notice, but quite another to break out of the small bridgehead that was then established.

Now that the Gustav line had broken and the Germans were falling back, the Anzio positions offered the Allies another opportunity. If they could break out from the beachhead in sufficient strength they would be able head directly inland and cut off the Germans retreating from Cassino. The German forces would be squeezed between the two Allied attacks and would potentially suffer a great defeat.

Overseeing all on the ground was General Mark Clark¹:

On 22 May I moved permanently into the forward echelon of my headquarters at Anzio in preparation for the break-out. . . . Almost every inch of space at Anzio was crowded with men, guns and ammunition in preparation for the attack. Any time the enemy fired a shell in our direction it was almost certain to hit something, but we had taken what precautions were possible, and most of our supplies were protected by mounds of earth.

Before dawn on the morning of 23 May I went with Truscott to a forward observation post on the Anzio front, where just before six o’clock some five thousand pieces of artillery opened up on the enemy, whose positions were concealed by a morning haze.