ANZIO AND MONTE CASSINO
After Naples fell on October
1, 1943, the Allies decided that the best way to
proceed north was not on land, because of
terrain was easily defensible by the Germans, but
by going around the enemy with amphibious operations
at Anzio and Nettuno, forty miles south of Rome.
The battle for Anzio began on January 22,1944 and
was to go on for four months. Living conditions
for the troops at Anzio were deplorable. Men slept
in deep pits, slit trenches or caves. Trenches often
filled with underground water. The area was under
constant bombardment from German long range artillery.
The original landing of 40,000 Allied troops seemed
virtually unopposed, yet four weeks later an allied
force of 120,000 was fighting desperately against
the forces of field Marshall Albert Kesselring,
who was determined to stop any advance on Rome.
Prior to the Anzio landing,
in a month and a half, the US Fifth Army suffered
16,000 casualties. The Anzio assault was designed
to establish an Allied position well to the rear
of the southern German line. By mid-February the
Germans launched all all-out offensive on the beachhead.
General Mark Clark, concerned that the Allied
forces might be driven back at Anzio, determined
to step up the pressure on Cassino.
The Abbey of Monte Cassino
stood on high ground, overlooking Route 6, the main
highway between Naples and Rome. The highway cut
through a mountain gap directly below the monastery.
To secure Cassino would mean breaking the German
Gustav Line where their army had dug itself in across
the Italian peninsula. It was also hoped that increasing
military action around Cassino would help to alleviate
pressure on Anzio. Both of these actions meant an
overload of patients for the 32nd Station
Hospital at Caserta. Patients from Anzio were taken
by boat to Naples where there was a central hospital.
The most serious were kept there. At Caserta we
were not only receiving the wounded, but also the
many men who had been victims of severe respiratory
infections, hepatitis, and fungal diseases of the
feet. The rain had been incessant, and the men were
soaked to the skin and exhausted from lack of sleep.
Uniforms were dirty and often in tatters. Pneumonia
was endemic. Hepatitis patients were confined to
bed for a six week period. We were also taking care
of routine problems for 5th Army Headquarters
at the Caserta palace.
