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- Battle of Anzio during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

Battle of Anzio



   The Battle of Anzio began on the 22nd of January 1944 with the Allied amphibious landing in Italy, codenamed Operation Shingle and ended on the 5th of June 1944 at the capture of Rome.

 

15th Jan 1944 Orders

16th January, 1944 Preparations for beach landings

16th Jan 1944 On the Move

17th Jan 1944 Assault Made

18th Jan 1944 Assault Made

19th Jan 1944 Attack Made

20th Jan 1944 In Action

22nd January 1944 Battle of Anzio

22nd January 1944 Air cover over battle area

22nd Jan 1944 Landings

22nd January 1944 Battle of Anzio

23rd January 1944 Battle of Anzio

24th January 1944 Battle of Anzio

25th January 1944 Battle of Anzio

26th Jan 1944 Ready to Move

27th Jan 1944 Shelling

28th Jan 1944 Aircraft Active

29th Jan 1944 Recce

30th Jan 1944 Attack Made

30th January 1944 Battle of Anzio

31st Jan 1944 Attack Made

1st of February 1944 Conference and meetings

2nd Feb 1944 Positions Occupied

2nd of February 1944 Action

3rd February 1944 Battle of Anzio

3rd Feb 1944 Counter Attacks

3rd Feb 1944 In Action

3rd of February 1944 Conference

4th Feb 1944 Heavy Shelling

4th of February 1944 Counter attack

5th Feb 1944 Heavy Shelling

6th of February 1944 Air raid

7th February 1944 Battle of Anzio

7th Feb 1944 Heavy Shelling

7th of February 1944 Air raids

8th Feb 1944 Enemy Active

8th of February 1944 Enemy attack

9th Feb 1944 Break Through

16th February 1944 Battle of Anzio

18th February 1944 Battle of Anzio

18th February 1944 Battle of Anzio

18th Feb 1944 In Action

21st Feb 1944 Padre  

THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944

Reverend G B Fairhurst, Padre of the 2/5th Queen's Regiment, talking to two of the men in his battalion and an American soldier in the Anzio bridgehead, 20-21 February 1944. © IWM (NA 12082)



21st Feb 1944 Padre

21st Feb 1944 Air Raid

22nd February 1944 Change of Command

23rd Feb 1944 Withdrawal

29th February 1944 Battle of Anzio

2nd March 1944 Attack Made

3rd March 1944 Ops

7th March 1944 Ops

11th March 1944 Supply Route

23rd March 1944 Dug in

14th April 1944 Endless patrols

16th April 1944 114 Squadron Airman killed

19th April 1944 Dog-fight over Anzio

1st May 1944 Move North

15th May 1944 Battle of Anzio

22nd May 1944 Holding the Line  

THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944

D Company, 1st Battalion,Green Howards occupy a captured German communications trench during the offensive at Anzio, Italy, 22nd May 1944. IWM (NA 15297)



22nd May 1944 Holding the Line

23rd May 1944 Breakout from Anzio

25th May 1944 Breakout from Anzio

26th May 1944 Breakout from Anzio

30th May 1944 Breakout from Anzio

4th June 1944 Entry into Rome

4th June 1944 Shot down over Anzio


If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.





Those known to have fought in

Battle of Anzio

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



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Want to know more about Battle of Anzio?


There are:69 items tagged Battle of Anzio available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Ronald Sydney Turner 2nd Btn. North Satffordshire Regiment (d.8th Feb 1944)

Ronald Turner served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch.

Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.

Dan



PO. William Kennedy HMS Nigeria

My grandad served on Nigeria and Albrighton during WW2, his name was William Kennedy and I know that he was involved with signals and was a petty officer. He didn't really share much of his experiences with me as I was probably too young at the time. I know he was torpedoed twice and was also invloved in the Anzio landings. I have recently read with huge interest Jack Edwards "Twenty-Two Hundred Days To Pulo We" and recommend it to anyone else interested in HMS Nigeria during WW2. If anyone can help me by sharing info on links, websites, or anything else that would help me track down a record of my Grandads history in the Navy then I would be most grateful.

Duncan Kennedy



Richard Lawson Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

My dad, Dick Lawson was prisoner at Stalag 9c Bad Sulza. He worked in the Salt mines at minegan and was released by the Americans in 1945. He served with the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry and is still alive, living near Croydon and going strong. We are looking to contact anyone who was in Stalag 9c after the Anzio Landings in 1944.

Paul Lawson



Able Sea. Thomas "Ron" Hall Gunner HMS Manchester

Thomas (Ron) Hall was born in South Shields, Co. Durham on 11 April 1917, the family home being in Hebburn-on-Tyne. Although christened Thomas, he was always known as Ron by his RN friends and his wife's family - no-one knows why! At the age of 16 he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Sailor. After training at the shore base HMS Ganges, he was sent for gunnery training at HMS Excellent, Portsmouth.

At the outbreak of war, he was serving on HMS Glasgow, but was transferred to HMS Barham, where he was wounded in May 1941. Barham had been assisting with the withdrawal of Allied forces from Crete, during which time she was subjected to almost constant German attacks. The gun turret in which Thomas was serving was hit, and he was the only one to emerge from the wreckage.

Posted ashore in Alexandria on 2nd July for rehabilitation, his next ship would be the Cruiser HMS Carlisle. On 9th April 1942, Thomas joined HMS Manchester, which had been assigned the role of escort to convoy WS-21S - better known as Operation Pedestal - the convoy which would save Malta from starvation and surrender. On 13th August, whilst rounding Cape Bon, Manchester was crippled by Italian torpedoes and was later scuttled off Kelibia Roads, Tunisia. Thomas survived and was taken prisoner and interned by the Vichy French at Laghouat in Algeria.

With the landing of British and American troops in Morocco and Algeria as part of Operation Torch on 8th November 1942, Thomas and his shipmates were able to return to England in December. After 8 months ashore, Thomas was assigned to the Destroyer HMS Janus, which provided artillery support for the Allied landings at Anzio on 22nd January 1944 under Operation Shingle. Janus was sunk the next day by a German air attack. Thomas was again saved, but the experience of being sunk for a third time would have a lasting effect on his nerves. He was invalided out of the Royal Navy in November 1945, and died in 1973, aged 55.

Ivan



Lt. John Augustus Lowman 15th Army Group

Oflag 79

Oflag 79

John A Lowman in Moosberg Hospital

Wartime Log

Index page of Johns Wartime Log

My father John Lowman was captured in Nettuno at the Battle of Anzio on 4th of February 1944. I have a copy of his Wartime Log.

Robert Lowman



John Rosendale 179th Infantry Regiment

Jack Rosendale nd pal at Anzio

Bamberg under assault

Jack Rosendale near Venafro, Italy, 1943

This is my uncle Jack Rosendale. I’ve been working to get a plaque for the 45th Infantry Division at Dachau which will be installed on May 4th 2025. More of Jack's photos

WW2 U.S. Army Attacks Bamberg, Germany, 4/15/1945

Henry Rosendale



L/Cpl. Robert Walmsley Richardson 46th Btn. C Sqn. 12 Trp. Royal Tank Regiment

Robert Richardson fought in the Western Desert in North Africa in the tank war. He the landed in Sicily on 10th of July 1943, and was in Salerno for Christmas 1943 with training, in anticipation of Anzio. In November 1943 he was at Capua in an operational role. Landed at Taranto with 4th Armoured Brigade, re-embarked from Manfredonia in an operational role, moved up from south of Foggia through Termoli and finaly to Sangro River in a fighting role. The First tanks across river Frigno and were spearhead in San Salvo battle. Les Iliffe was wounded here. It was reputedly the largest tank battle in Italy.

On 22nd of January 1944 he landed at Anzio as assault troops at 1hr after H hour on 22nd. They held the line facing Aprilia after our withdrawal from it until they finally assisted in the breakout and subsequent advance to Rome. Bob's tank was one of the tanks which did point troop in the vanguard and they were the first British troops to reach Rome. Les Iliffe received his second wound at Anzio. He was the only member of Bob's tank to be injured at any time. Other tanks in the troop were not so lucky. Bob then moved into Greece for the civil war

Tank crew were: Beckett, Kennedy, Richardson, Iliffe and Floyd. Replacements were: Tpr Precious, Huddy and Hancock.

Clive Richardson



Pte. David Joseph Race Duke of Wellingtons (West Riding) Regiment

Joe Race in 1943

Joe Race joined The Duke of Wellington's Regiment in late 1943 at the age of 31. He was a Bren Gunner in the above regiment at the Battle of Anzio but transferred to The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry during the campaign. I believe the transfer was due to KSLI suffering heavy casualties and transfers were from other regiments to raise numbers. Joe was wounded in both arms on 24th of February 1944 during the Anzio Battle. He was transferred to Hospital in Algeria before being repatriated to the UK by hospital ship and invalided out of Service.

David Joseph Race



L/Cpl. Thomas John James Rossiter 2nd Btn. Northamptonshire Regiment (d.19th Mar 1944)

Headstone

The grave of Lance Corporal Thomas Rossiter is located in the British War Cemetery in Anzio, Italy. I spotted the grave in November 1990 during a remembrance service which I attended as a then serving member of the Royal Air Force stationed at the NATO Communications School in Latina, Italy. I have photos of the remembrance service and the grave. I recently came across the photos again and decided to research again now that more data exists on the internet. My family are from Northampton hence the interest.

Paul Rossiter



Sgt. James Albert Woolnough MM. Kings Royal Rifle Corps

My father Sgt James Woolnough won the Military Medal at Anzio in 1944. Having lost their C O and pinned down by persistent German machine gun crossfire my father's platoon were unable to reach supplies. My father, leading the platoon, raced forward with a bayonet charge and succeeded in getting through though being badly wounded in the process.

Peter Woolnough







Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.



The Rock of Anzio: From Sicily to Dachau

Flint Whitlock


Anzio was one of the greatest battles of World War II-a desperate gamble to land a large amphibious force behind German lines in Italy in the hope that the war could be shortened by capturing Rome. It also turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. military history. Based on extensive research into archives, photos, letters, diaries, previously classified official records, and scores of personal interviews with surviving veterans of the 45th, The Rock of Anzio is written with an immediacy that puts the reader right onto the battlefield and shows us war through the eyes of ordinary men called upon to perform extraordinary deeds.


A Sailor at War 1939-1945

Ken Welsh


One man's war as seen through the eyes of a volunteer sailor, Albert Welch, who served on the Royal Naval warships HMS Mauritius, HMS Capetown, HMS Widnes and HMS Centurion during World War 2. The book represents the factual history of the ships that Albert served on during this period in the context of his detailed eye witness accounts of major battles, some of which were to become momentous events in world history. Albert’s vividly described, eye witness account is fully illustrated with over 100 photographs, many of which are taken from Albert’s wartime photo albums. This book provides a broad perspective on the war at sea, the home front and visits to exotic foreign ports, contrasting periods of humour, tragedy, danger, boring routine, and the full horror of warfare up close. Above all, it shows the risks these young men took for King and Country and the sacrifices so many of them ultimately made to preserve our freedom today.
More information on:

A Sailor at War 1939-1945







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