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Anzio was an amphibious landing on the east coast of Italy, south of Rome. The allies advance on the east coast of Italy was stalled at Monte Cassino. where they suffered very heavy casualties. It was hoped a landing at Anzio would outflank the German defence line, capture Rome and allow the advance north to continue.

While the initial landings were successful, the German forces reacted swiftly and were entrenched in strong positions. The weather also did not help and continuous rain bogged down the build up and breakout from the initial bridgehead.

Supplying the forces ashore became a major problem, solved by using trucks and DUKW's pre-loaded in Naples, loaded onto LST's which sailed overnight to Anzio. The vehicles were then driven ashore direct to supply dumps. Each week 15 LST's made the supply run and landed 750 vehicles carrying 3,750 tons of supplies.

The breakout took 4 months and once achieved, Rome was taken in 2 days.

The Royal Navy lost the cruisers Penelope and Spartan, destroyers Inglefield and Janus, plus about 12 smaller vessels,

Copyright © Ian M King, except where otherwise indicated.