Clark - Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome1944

ANZIO

Also by Lloyd Clark

1918Flawed Victory
The Fall of the Reich (with D. Anderson)
The Eastern Front (with D. Anderson)
World War One A History
Arnhem Operation Market Garden, September 1944
The Orne Bridgehead
Operation Epsom

ITALY AND THE BATTLE FOR ROME 1944

LLOYD CLARK

Copyright 2006 by Lloyd Clark

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First published in Great Britain in 2006 by HEADLINE REVIEW,
an imprint of Headline Publishing Group, London

Every effort has been made to fulfill requirements with regard to reproducing
copyright material. The author and publisher will be glad to rectify any
omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clark, Lloyd, 1967

Anzio : Italy and the battle for Rome1944 / Lloyd Clark.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-5558-4624-4

1. World War, 1939-1945CampaignsItaly. 2. Anzio
Beachhead, 1944. I. Title
D763.I8C53 2006
940.5421563dc22 2006048433

Design by Ben Cracknell Studios

Grove Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
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1. The Italian Job
Allied Strategy and the Invasion of Italy 19421943

2. Viktor, Barbara, Bernhardt and Gustav
The Italian Campaign OctoberNovember 1943

3. The Anatomy of a Wild Cat
December 1943January 1944

4. Style Over Substance
22 January 1944

5. The Nudge
23 January2 February

6. The Spring Released
3-19 February

7. Changes
20 Februarymid-March

8. Entrenchment
Mid-March-10 May

9. Diadem
11-24 May

10. The Eternal City
25 May-5 June

It is my very great pleasure to thank everybody who has helped in the researching and writing of this book. Without the Anzio veterans giving so freely of their time to talk to me, my knowledge of the battle and understanding of what made those involved in it tick would have been greatly diminished. I am therefore grateful to Dr John Attenborough; G. Bryant; Maurice Cheadle; Norman Clarimont; Clive Colley; Richard Dawes; Arthur Fenn; Jonathan Forbes; David Hardy; Lord Healey; Ted Jones; Bill Lewis; Joachim Liebschner; Arthur Malinson; Fred Mason; Jack Morris; E. Needham; Reginald Norfolk; Jimmy Reed; Terry Reynolds; Henry Tonks; Raleigh Trevelyan; Neil Tucker; Graham Swain; John Swain; Douglas Vickers; Ben Wallis; Fred Webster; Bert Wickes; David Williams; TJ. Anderson; David Cohen; Peter Coup; Charlie Franklin; Tony Glenister; Daniel Goldstein; Frank Kimble; Bernie Kirchoff; JPL; Norman Mohar; Eric Montrose; T.D. Morgan; David Munford; Leonard O. Peters; Peter Randall; Oliver P. Roach; David Stearns; Ivor Talbot; Paul van der Linden; Ran Williams; Donny Wilson; Klaus Hide; Karsten Hoffmann; Gerd Jebsen; Gunther Maucke; Ralph Leitner; Gunter Pollmann; Felix Reimann; Paul Wagner; Edgar Weiss; Alonzo Badotti; Fabia Sciarillo and Antonio Zinzone. My special thanks to the Italy Star Association for introducing me to so many old soldiers, and to Bill Lewis and Diego Cancelli proud citizen of Aprilia and native of Anzio for their friendship and assistance. Diego was my guide and inspiration on the battlefield and gained me access to the areas of the beachhead that I wanted to look at, took me to memorials and museums, introduced me to knowledgeable people and was a most wonderful companion during my research in Italy.

I should also like to thank the following people for permission to quote from memoirs and diaries: Cordino Longiotti; Dr Ray McAllister; Norman Mohar; Paul Brown Jnr (for Paul Browns memories); The Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (for the Alanbrooke diaries); Aaron Elson (for Murray Levines memories); George Avery; F. Eugene Liggett; The Citadel Archives and Museum (for Mark Clarks diaries); The US Army Military History Institute (for John Lucass diaries); Bob Graffagnino (for Dr Peter Graffagninos memories); the Second World War Experience Centre (for the papers of Ron Rhodes, H. Bretherick, M.W.L. Wood, James Reeder, Roger Hill, John Herbert, Geoffrey H. Dormer, Raymond Fort and William Dugdale); Claus Wentz (for the papers of Edwin Wentz); Sarah Harris (for the diary of David Harris) and Madeline Robinson (for the diary of Kenneth Wright). Quotes from Whickers War are reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Alan Whicker, 2005; from Wynford Vaughan-Thomass Anzio by Pan Books; from Lt. Gen. L.K. Truscott Jnrs, Command Missions A Personal Story by Presidio; from Homer Bigarts Forward Positions The War Correspondence of Homer Bigart by The University of Arkansas Press; from Sparks The Combat Diary of a Battalion Commander (Rifle), WWII, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division, 1941-1945 by Thunderbird Press; from Robert E. Dodges Memories of the Anzio beachhead and the War in Europe by Vantage Press; from Ross S. Carters Those Devils In Baggy Pants by Signet, and from Ernie Pyles Brave Men by Henry Holt.

I am also grateful to the archivists, librarians, curators and historians at the following institutions: Das Bundesarchiv, Freiburg; the Imperial War Museum, London; the National Archives, London; the Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington; 45th Infantry Division Museum, Oklahoma City; and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, London. Dr Peter Liddle and Cathy Pugh at the Second World War Experience Centre, Leeds; Jane Yates at The Citadel Archives and Museum, and Dr Richard Sommers at the US Army Military History Institute were particularly helpful. The staff at the Central Library of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Andrew Orgill (who also compiled this books index), John Pearce, Ken Franklin, Christina Claridge and Sandra Gower deserve my special thanks. Where else would a senior librarian trawl his files and the internet in search of an obscure book having been given the scantest of information, order it, make you a cup of tea and then, if that was not enough, provide you with the address of an Anzio veteran that you are keen to interview? Thanks also to my colleagues in the Department of War Studies at Sandhurst. The heavy workload at the Academy makes it difficult to find the time to research and write, but I have always been encouraged to do so and with the help of the team found scraps of time in which to complete this book. My Alamein Company group of Commissioning Course 052 also assisted me by coming up with a number of excellent points and asked a series of penetrating questions during our Exercise Anzio Angst. I am also indebted to my agent Charlie Viney for his help and encouragement, and his partner Ivan Mulcahy and Jonathan Conway for their support. I have also been blessed with excellent editorial teams on both sides of the Atlantic: Lorraine Jerram and Emma Tait at Headline, and Brando Skyhorse and Morgan Entrekin at Grove Adantic. Thanks also to Sally Sargeant for her copy edit and Alan Collinson at GeoInnovations for the maps. The errors in this book, however, are mine and mine alone.