World War II - Operation Shingle: Beachhead Anzio Part 1 (1963) - Videos

Operation Shingle (January 22, 1944), during the Italian Campaign of World War II, was an Allied amphibious landing against Axis forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. The operation was commanded by Major General John P. Lucas and was intended to outflank German forces of the Winter Line and enable an attack on Rome. The resulting combat is commonly called the Battle of Anzio.The Anzio and Nettuno beachheads are located at the northwestern end of a tract of reclaimed marshland, formerly the Pontine Marshes, now the Pontine Fields (Agro Pontino). Previously uninhabited and uninhabitable due to mosquitos carrying malaria, the region was turned into cultivatable land in the 1930s under the command of the dictator, Benito Mussolini, who built canals (over which the battle was fought) and pumping stations to remove the brackish water from the land, divided it into personal tracts and built stone houses for the new colonists from north Italy. He also founded the five cities destroyed by the battle....

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