Whitlock - The Rock Of Anzio: From Sicily To Dachau, A History Of The U.S. 45th Infantry Division

In memory of my parents

Vere "Tarzan" Williams, K Company, 157th Infantry Regiment 6

First Sergeant Ernest Childers, C Company, 180th Infantry Regiment 8

A Company, 157th Infantry Regiment 10

Thunderbirds getting acquainted with the 37mm anti-tank gun 23

Ernest Childers wearing a ceremonial headdress 27

Major General Troy Middleton 28

A Thunderbird frolicking in the snow 29

45th Division troops on a crowded troop transport 33

Brigadier General Raymond S. McLain, Division Artillery 41

The 45th's landing in Sicily 43

Second Lieutenant Felix Sparks, E Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, with his wife 44

Thunderbirds marching through Caltanissetta 52

A 45th Division scout on one of the Sicilian battlefields 55

Thunderbirds in Messina, 17 August 1943 61

Sergeant Nick Defonte with a civilian in Palermo, Sicily 62

Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring 72

Thunderbirds hitting the Salerno beachhead 84

The strategic tobacco factory near Persano 88

Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers placing the Medal of Honor around the neck of Second Lieutenant Ernest Childers, C Company, 180th Infantry Regiment 103

A Thunderbird watching an Italian soldier and pack mule 114

Major General John P. Lucas, VI Corps commander 125

Aerial view of the Anzio-Nettuno area 143

Anzio harbor 149

Aerial view of the ruins of Aprilia 167

Captain Kenneth P. Stemmons in his defensive position 173

View of the caves in 1996 174

German armor preparing for battle at Anzio 195

View of the Gate of Hell 215

Artist's rendition of the Battle of the Caves 241

First Lieutenant Jack Montgomery, I Company, 180th Infantry Regiment 245

Sniper Alvin "Bud" McMillan and Alex McBryde, K Company, 157th Infantry Regiment 257

A German propaganda leaflet 259

Anzio Annie, one of the Germans' huge railroad guns 262

Captain Anse H. "Eddie" Speairs, C.O. of C Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, with executive officer Lieutenant Don Waugh and First Sergeant Joe Alle 274

Thunderbirds and tanks dug in along the Mussolini Canal 285

A German self-propelled 88 and an American medic jeep 289

Sergeant Van Barfoot, L Company, 157th Infantry Regiment 292

The tomb of Menotti Garibaldi at Carano 298

Lieutenant General Mark Clark touring the imperial City 311

The 45th wading ashore on the French Riviera 317

The joyous residents of Bourg, France, greeting their liberators 321

Thunderbirds crossing the Moselle 326

Major General Robert T. Frederick 330

White phosphorus shells exploding on the fringes of Reipertswiller, France 337

Men of the 180th Infantry Regiment marching through the ruins of a German city 346

Two American tanks blasting the stubborn defenders of Aschaffenburg 348

A trainload of more than 2,000 corpses outside the concentration camp at Dachau 358

Medics inspecting one of the railroad cars outside Dachau 360

Three defiant SS soldiers remained standing after Private William C. Curtin (kneeling) fired a burst of machine gun fire into their ranks 366

Corpses piled in a room next to Dachau's crematorium 367

Corporal Larry Mutinsk of A Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, handing out cigarettes 387

Sergeant Arthur E. Peters, 45th Infantry Division 392

Memorial Day ceremony, May 1945 395

Men of the 45th Division coming home by troop ship 397

Brigadier General Henry J.D. Meyer 400

2.1 Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily 37

2.2 Slogging Across Sicily 51

2.3 The Allied Sweep of Sicily 56

3.1 Operation Avalanche 69

3.2 Stopping the Counterattack 93

4.1 German Defensive Lines 100

4.2 The Volturno/Calore River Assaults 107

4.3 Fifth Army's Crawl up the Boot 111

4.4 The Winter Line 116

5.1 Operation Shingle-The End Run 139

5.2 Anzio-Nettuno Area 145

6.1 The Allies' Move Inland 166

7.1 The Major German Counterattack 189

8.1 Storming the Gate of Hell 221

10.1 Stalemate on Two Fronts 261

11.1 The Beginning of the Breakout 284

11.2 The Rush for Rome 305

12.1 Operation Dragoon-The Invasion of Southern France 319

12.2 The Continuing March 323

12.3 Crossing the Moselle 325

12.4 Reipertswiller Area 332

12.5 The Drive of the XXI and XV Corps into Southwest Germany 344

12.6 From the Rhein to Nurnberg 347

13.1 The Final Push-Nurnberg to Munich 355

13.2 The Approach to Dachau 357

13.3 The Liberation of KL Dachau 363

I am deeply indebted to the many veterans of the 45th Infantry Division who helped me with this project by taking the time to answer my seemingly endless stream of questions and share with me their memories of their wartime service. Many have painful memories of lost buddies, lost limbs, and lost innocence. It is telling of the ferocity of war that the first three veterans I interviewed had each lost a leg in combat.

Although the book has "Anzio" in the title, it covers considerably more ground than that one momentous battle in Italy. In fact, it is a rather complete history of one infantry division, from its inception through its training and more than 500 days of combat to its eventual deactivation at war's end. It is also more than merely a parochial division history; it is a stark and realistic view of war as seen and lived and remembered by those who were there. Men in many other units went through similar experiences, and so it becomes a universal account of men at war, of interest to anyone studying what war does to the human psyche.

Although most of the narrative involves and celebrates the lowly, noble infantryman, each infantryman (and I) acknowledges the vital role played by those in other branches-the artillerymen, the medics, the cooks and clerks and quartermasters, and everyone else who had a hand in victory. Each one I interviewed is fiercely proud to have served his division, and his nation, so well. When the proverbial chips were down, when it would have been easier to run away from the German onslaught that claimed so many lives on so many occasions, it is an inspiration that these brave men held their ground and denied the enemy the victory it paid so dearly to achieve. These Thunderbirds are men to whom this nation should forever be deeply grateful.

Those whom I interviewed or who shared with me their letters, diaries, photographs, manuscripts, and other memorabilia or who performed a great service by introducing me to other 45th Division veterans who they thought would have stories to share are listed below. (An asterisk indicates those who received the Congressional Medal of Honor.)

Edward J. "Don" Amzibel, L Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

Van T. Barfoot, L Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

Clay A. Barnes, Anti-Tank Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

J. Allen "Al" Bedard, HQ Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

Hubert L. Berry, I Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

James R. Bird, A Battery, 160th Field Artillery Battalion

Joseph Bosa, HQ, 171st Field Artillery Battalion

Theodore F. Bottinelli, HQ, 179th Infantry Regiment

Robert E. Brasher, Regimental Band, 179th Infantry Regiment

Robert L. Bryan, HQ Company, 179th Infantry Regiment

Dr. Philip B. Burke, E, H, and HQ Companies, 157th Infantry Regiment

Mortimer "Morty" Carr, HQ Company, 157th Infantry Regiment

Ernest Childers, C Company, 180th Infantry Regiment y