Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401230035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ANZIO, ITALY LENGTH: Short
Old soldiers and the people they came to liberate all brought memories to ceremonies Saturday honoring the 50th anniversary of the landing at Anzio, the prelude to some of the most bitter fighting of World War II.
Officials of this seaside resort 38 miles south of Rome, representatives of the government, and U.S., French and British diplomats laid wreaths at memorials and war cemeteries. Bands played, and the mayor spoke.
But like the assault itself, the commemoration of "Operation Shingle" fell under the shadow of a bigger enterprise - ceremonies across Europe in June honoring the 50th anniversary of the much larger and more decisive landing at Normandy in France.
About 800 U.S. veterans and their families are expected in Anzio in June. About 30 vets came Saturday.
The Anzio attack was an attempt to help the Allied army that was stalled to the south, near Monte Cassino, break through the tough German defenses. The very invasion of Italy was aimed at drawing German forces away from the Russian front and from the Normandy landings.
About 68,000 British, U.S. and other Allied soldiers hit the sands. The landing went smoothly and remained a surprise. But the Germans quickly massed a fierce counterattack, and the Allies barely clung to their beachhead in World War I-like trench warfare.
About 22,000 Allied soldiers and 25,000 Germans died before the Allies broke out in May to march on Rome.
by CNB