7.+The+Italian+Campaign+and+the+battle,+“Bloody+Anzio”

 Dina Gold Block 1 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN AND THE BATTLE OF "BLOODY ANZIO"   Name: Giulio Vassalluzzo Birth date: August 21, 1925 Interests: Fishing, baseball, and my family Date of Incident: 1943-1945  I have just gotten back home from the war and it was rough. It all started in January 1943, when the Allies continued their campaign from Northern Africa to us in Sicily (Laurie 1; Sarti 1). By the summer of that year they had captured our city of Sicily (Danzer et al. 573; Sarti 1). After the capture of Sicily, the Allies took Mussolini out of power on July 25 and put him in prison (Danzer et al. 573; Laurie 1; Sarti 1). Unfortunately, many of my people thought that the war was over, but really it was just beginning (Danzer et al. 573). On September 8th it was announced that the Italian government had been surrendered, and on September 9th the U.S. and Britain were ready to fight, they sent in the U.S. Fifth Army and a British airborne (Laurie 2). By that time, Hitler was already busy at work. He was determined to win back Sicily, but not on German land, so he sent 16 divisions onto the Italian Peninsula (Laurie 2), and he also disarmed Italian soldiers and took many of them as prisoners of war to war camps (Sarti 1). Hitler and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring had come up with a war plan to create a belt of defense, a little south of Rome, across Italy; the line became known as the Gustav Line (Laurie 2). With the line in place, the country of Italy was divided in two with the Allies occupying the south and Germany occupying the North (Sarti 1). In the North, Germany had set Mussolini free and made him the head of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet government, whose members fought for the Germans (Sarti 2). The Allies continued north, but upon reaching the Gustav Line they were stopped due to bad weather, even though the Germans had gone further North as well since the Italian campaign began (Laurie 2). The Allies continued to try and defeat Germany, and in January of 1944 they fought the battle of Anzio (Laurie 2). This battle became known as “Bloody Anzio” for it was very rough, lasting 4 months and leaving 25,000 Allies troops dead, and 30,000 Axis troops dead (Danzer et al. 573). Finally, in May of 1944, the Allies successfully broke through the weakened German troops (Laurie 2), and the battle ended (Danzer et al. 573). After “Bloody Anzio, German troops had the opportunity to retreat up North of Florence and create another defense line, this one became known as the Gothic Line (Laurie 2). This left no one between the Allies and Rome and on June, 4 1944, Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark liberated Rome (Laurie 2; Sarti 2).  After the liberation of Rome, the Allies continued North and the war continued on, with the Allies trying to break through the German troops, but having only small success, nothing big enough to help the Allies win the war (Laurie 2). Also like the first half of the war, when the winter came the Allies stopped, only this time at the Gothic Line (Laurie 2; Sarti 2). By 1945, both sides were tired, the Allies were short on troops, and the war turned into a battle of wills, who could hold on longer, and they were pretty equal in force making it very frustrating for everyone (Laurie 2). Finally a couple months ago, at the end of April and the beginning of May 1945, German troops surrendered (Laurie 2; Sarti 2), and Mussolini was recaptured shortly thereafter (Sarti 2). I am so happy that it is finally, over, towards the end it was turning more and more into a civil war with Italians choosing sides, and helping their side fight (Sarti 2). Also, both sides suffered so many losses, the U.S. Allie troops lost over 310,000 and the Germans lost over 430,000 troops (Laurie 2). Well, it is over now, and hopefully things will become peaceful again sometime soon. I hope that my children can grow up in more peaceful times and never have to go off to war like I did; war is not fun. Works Cited Danzer, Gerald A, et al. __The Americans__. Evanston: McDougal Littell,2003. Laurie, Clayton D. “World War II on the Italian Front.” __Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945, vol. 8__. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2003. __American History Online__. Facts on File, Inc. Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 20 October 2008. __Maps of the Italian Campaign; June 1944 to May 1945 __. 20 November 2003. 20 October 2008 . <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Sarti, Roland. “World War II and Italy.” __ Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations__. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2004. __Modern World History Online__. Facts on File, Inc. Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 20 October 2008.