Operation Shingle

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Operation Shingle

Date	January 22, 1944
Location	Anzio and Nettuno, Italy
Result	Operation successful; VI Corps established beachhead; Battle of Anzio followed.

Combatants

United Kingdom,

Commanders

Strength

50,000 soldiers
5,000 vehicles

100,000 soldiers

Casualties

29,200 combat casualties (4,400 killed, 18,000 wounded, 6,800 prisoners or missing)

27,500 (5,500 killed, 17,500 wounded, and 4,500 prisoners or missing)

Operation Shingle (January 22, 1944), during the Italian Campaign of World War II, was an Allied amphibious landing against Axis forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. The operation was commanded by Major General John P. Lucas and was intended to outflank Nazi Germany forces of the Winter Line and enable an attack on Rome. The resulting combat is commonly called the Battle of Anzio.

1 Introduction
2 The plan
- 2.1 Availability of naval forces
3 Allied Force Composition
4 The Southern Attack
5 Initial Landings
6 After the landings
7 The Response of Nazi Germany forces
8 Trivia
9 Bibliography
10 Battles of Operation Shingle
11 See also
12 External links

[edit] Introduction

At the end of 1943, following the Allied invasion of Italy, Allied forces were bogged down at the Winter Line, a defensive line across Italy south of the strategic objective of Rome. The terrain of central Italy had proved ideally suited to defence, and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring took full advantage. A number of Allied proposals were made to break the stalemate, but Winston Churchill's idea for "Operation Shingle" was accepted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. A major attack in the South by the U.S. Fifth Army, commanded by General Mark Clark, would draw Germany's depleted forces away from the area around Rome, and from the hills between Rome and the coast. This would make possible a surprise landing by Fifth Army's U.S. VI Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. Lucas in the Anzio/Nettuno area, and a rapid advance into the Alban Hills to cut German communications and "threaten the rear of the German XIV Panzer Corps" under General Frido von Senger und Etterlin.

[edit] The plan

Planners argued that if Kesselring (in charge of German forces in Italy) pulled troops out of the Gustav Line to defend against the Allied assault, then Allied forces would be able to break through the line; if Kesselring did not pull troops out of the Gustav Line, then Operation Shingle would threaten to capture Rome and cut off the German units defending the Gustav Line. Should Germany have adequate reinforcements available to defend both Rome and the Gustav Line, the Allies felt that the operation would nevertheless be useful in engaging forces which could otherwise be committed on another front. The operation was officially cancelled on December 18, 1943. However, it was later reselected and executed.

Mark Clark did not feel he had the numbers on the southern front to exploit any breakthrough. His plan therefore was relying on the southern offensive drawing Kesselring's reserves in and providing the Anzio force the opportunity to break inland quickly. However, his written orders to Lucas did not really reflect this: Lucas was to "seize and secure a beachhead in the vicinity of Anzio...." when he was "to advance to the Alban Hills". It is likely that the caution displayed by both Clark and Lucas was to some extent a product of Clark's experiences at the tough battle for the Salerno beach head and Lucas' natural caution stemming from his lack of experience in battle.

Lucas did not have full confidence in either his superiors or the operational plan. A few days prior to the attack, he wrote in his diary, "Unless we can get what we want, the operation becomes such a desperate undertaking that it should not, in my opinion, be attempted." and "[The operation] had a strong odour of Gallipoli and apparently the same amateur was still on the coach's bench." The "amateur" can only have referred to Winston Churchill, architect of the disastrous Gallipoli landings of World War I, and personal advocate of Shingle.

[edit] Availability of naval forces

One of the problems with the plan was the availability of landing ships. The American commanders in particular were determined that nothing should delay the Normandy invasion and the supporting landings in southern France (Operation Dragoon). Operation Shingle would require the use of landing ships necessary for these operations. Initially Shingle was to release these assets by January 15. However, this being deemed problematic, President Roosevelt granted permission for the craft to remain until February 5.

Only enough tank landing ships (LSTs) to land a single division were initially available to Shingle. Later, at Churchill's personal insistence, enough were made available to land two divisions. Allied intelligence thought that five or six German divisions were in the area although U.S. 5th Army intelligence severely underestimated the German 10th Army's fighting capacity at this time, believing many of their units would be worn out after the defensive battles fought since September.

[edit] Allied Force Composition

Allied forces in this attack consisted of 5 cruisers, 24 destroyers, 238 landing craft, 62+ other ships, 40,000 soldiers, and 5,000+ vehicles.

The attack consisted of three groups:

[edit] British Force

This force attacked the coast 10 km north of Anzio.

1st Division
46th Royal Tank Regiment
2 Special Service Brigade (partial)
- No.9 Commando
- No.43 Commando (RM)

[edit] Northwestern U.S. Force

This force attacked the port of Anzio. There had been plans to use the 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion in an airborne attack north of Anzio, however these plans were scrapped.

1st Ranger Battalion
3rd Ranger Battalion
4th Ranger Battalion
509th Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB)
83rd Chemical Battalion
93rd Evacuation Hospital

[edit] Southwestern U.S. Force

This force attacked the coast 6 km east of Anzio.

3rd Infantry Division

[edit] The Southern Attack

The Fifth Army's attack on the Gustav Line began on 16 January 1944 at Monte Cassino. Although the operation failed to break through, it did succeed in part in its primary objective. General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, commanding the Gustav Line, called for reinforcements, and Kesselring transferred the 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions from Rome. For more details of these actions, see Battle of Monte Cassino.

[edit] Initial Landings

The landings began on January 22, 1944.

Although resistance had been expected, as seen at Salerno during 1943, the initial landings were essentially unopposed, with the exception of desultory Luftwaffe strafing runs.

By midnight, 36,000 soldiers and 3,200 vehicles had landed on the beaches. 13 Allied troops were killed, and 97 wounded; about 200 Germans had been taken as POWs. The 1st Division penetrated 3 km inland, the Rangers captured Anzio's port, the 509th PIB captured Nettuno, and the 3rd Division penetrated 5 km inland.

In the first days of operations the Command of the Italian resistance movement had a meeting with the Allied General Headquarters: it offered to guide the Allied Force in the Alban Hills territory, but the Allied Command refused the proposal.

[edit] After the landings

It is clear that Lucas's superiors expected some kind of offensive action from him. The point of the landing was to turn the German defences on the Winter Line taking advantage of their exposed rear and hopefully panicking them into retreating northwards past Rome. However, Lucas instead poured more men and material into his tiny bridgehead, and strengthened his defences.

Winston Churchill was clearly displeased with this action. "I had hoped we were hurling a wildcat into the shore, but all we got was a stranded whale," he said.

Lucas's decision remains a controversial one. Noted military historian John Keegan wrote, "Had Lucas risked rushing at Rome the first day, his spearheads would probably have arrived, though they would have soon been crushed. Nevertheless he might have 'staked out claims well inland.'" As noted above, Lucas did not have confidence in the strategic planning of the operation. Also, he could certainly argue that his interpretation of his orders from Gen. Mark Clark as quoted above was not an unreasonable one. With two divisions landed, and facing two or three times that many Germans, it would not have been unreasonable for Lucas to consider the beachhead insecure. But according to Keegan, Lucas's actions "achieved the worst of both worlds, exposing his forces to risk without imposing any on the enemy." Lucas was relieved of his command on 23 February, to be replaced by General Lucian Truscott.

[edit] The Response of Nazi Germany forces

Kesselring was informed of the landings at 0300 hours on January 22. At 0500 he ordered the 4th Fallschirmjäger and replacement units of the Hermann Göring Division to defend the roads leading from Anzio to the Alban Hills. In addition, he requested that OKW send reinforcements from France, Yugoslavia, and Germany. Later that morning, he would order Generaloberst Eberhard von Mackensen (Fourteenth Army) and Gen. von Vietinghoff (Tenth Army - Gustav Line) to send him additional reinforcements.

The German units in the immediate vicinity had in fact been dispatched to reinforce the Gustav Line only a few days earlier. All available reserves from the southern front or on their way to it were rushed toward Anzio; these included the 3rd Panzer Grenadier and 71st Infantry Divisions, and the bulk of the Luftwaffe's Hermann Goering Panzer Division. Kesselring initially considered that a successful defence could not be made if the Allies launched a major attack on the 23rd or 24th. However, by the end of the 22nd, the lack of aggressive action convinced him that a defence could be made.

Three days later the landings, the beachhead was surrounded by a defence line consisting of three Division: The "4th Fallschirmjager Division" to the west, the "3rd Panzer Grenadier Division" to the centre in front of Alban Hills, the "Hermann Goring Fallschirm Panzer Division" to the est.

The Wehrmacht's Fourteenth Army, commanded by Gen. von Mackensen, assumed control of the defence on 25 January. Elements of eight German divisions were employed in the defence line around the beachhead, and five more divisions were on their way to the Anzio area. Kesselring ordered an attack on the beachhead for 28 January, though it was postponed to 1 February.

Lucas initiated a two-pronged attack on 30 January. While one force cut Highway 7 at Cisterna before moving east into the Alban Hills, a second was to advance northeast up the Albano Road.

On February 3, the Nazi Germany forces started to make a counterattack with the maximum strength on February 16, engaged two Army Corps, the 10th Armee and the 14th Armee, but the Allied Forces was able to resist to this counterattack.

The Nazi Germany forces built a new defence line, the Caesar C line, behind the fight line of beachhead. After the breakthrough of May 31 on Artemisio Mount of Alban Hills by the 36th American Infantry Division, the 10th Armee retreated in good order to Tivoli and the 14th Armee retreated over Rome without to occupy the town, so the Battle of Anzio was ended.

[edit] Trivia

Pink Floyd's bassist Roger Waters' father Eric Fletcher Waters was killed during Operation Shingle at Anzio. Pink Floyd recorded a song specifically about Anzio, called When the Tigers Broke Free which is about his fathers death.

The current Contoller of BBC Radio 1 [[Andy Parfitt's] father, John Raymond Parfitt was part of the British force landing at Anzio. He was shot in the head and badly wounded on or near his birthday in early February

Angelita was the name of a little girl, a war orphan abandoned child, found by soldier Christopher S. Hayes of Royal Scots Fusilers. She became the platoon mascott, but few days after a grenade killed her. Anzio's people erected a monument in Angelita's memory, unveiled in the International Year of the Child (1979).

[edit] Bibliography

Gerhard Muhm : German Tactics in the Italian Campaign , http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/gerhardmuhm2.htm
Gerhard Muhm : La Tattica tedesca nella Campagna d'Italia, in Linea Gotica avanposto dei Balcani, (Hrsg.) Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993