Italian Campaign
|
A Soldier's Memoirs...
January 22nd, 1944. The initial hours of the landing were certainly the bloodless for us. We slowly advanced up the 'soft underbelly' of Europe and I’ll tell ya it wasn't as easy as many had predicted. To prevent our progress up northern Italy, the Germans have assembled the Gustav Line up in the Appennine Mountains. The landings at Anzio were an outstanding success and by noon we were 4 miles inland. At the end of the day, the Allied loss was only 13 killed, 97 wounded and 44 missing. February 1st. The Germans have many soldiers stationed near Anzio. We plan to have a counterattack and move out at sunset. We’ve just now started the ambush and soon faced tremendous odds including armored units from the Hermann Goering Division. Being unequipped to fight off armored vehicles, we had to retreat. Unfortunately the casualties were high with 767 dead. Only me and 5 others have safely returned to the Allied lines. May 15th. After starting another attack on the Gustav Line and through previous failures this one was finally a success and we broke through. From here we raced to Anzio but met little German opposition because many Nazi soldiers have been reserved and stationed in Rome. We instead joined the advance with another attempt in order to breakout of Anzio. June 25th. Well I’ve made it back home safe. The Anzio landing proved to be costly in lives lost. Good news though, more German casualties than Allies, although I'm just glad to be distant from all the carnage of the Allies in Anzio. |
|
Anzio veteran
Orme Payne
"There was some sense of urgency and patriotism, but I think more it was a sense of adventure..." Orme Payne is a Canadian Veteran who fought in the battle of Anzio. He was a part of the 5th (Canadian Armoured) Division and left to go to Italy in October, 1943. In January, he and others from his division went off to fight on the Adriatic front. Their mission was to break through the Hitler Line then march up to the Liri Valley to spring the Americans out of Anzio. Orme's next mission would be to crack the Gothic Line in the Apennines. His division was quite successful and broke right through with minimal casualties. After that the Division advanced to Po Valley which was the last gun postion stationed at Lake Comacchio. His mission had ended and Orme reluctantly returned home where he had some trouble adjusting. He married not too long after and now resides in Port Moody. |
Works Cited
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/history/pish
http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/1582:orme-payne/
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/history/pish
http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/1582:orme-payne/