Big Pigeon - Pottawattamie County, Iowa
  • Pigeon Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources >
      • Free Sites
      • Pay Sites
      • Print Resources
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
      • Resources - Denmark >
        • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Family
    • Photos - Recent
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • PottCo
    • Early History >
      • Missouri River
      • Native Americans
      • Colonial Period
    • Pott. Co. History
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Area Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • Pott. Co. Addendum
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Iowa History
      • American History
  • WWII Home
    • Big Pigeon and WWII
  • WWII Roster
    • Roster Records >
      • Roster-A
      • Roster-B
      • Roster-C
      • Roster-D
      • Roster-EF
      • Roster-G
      • Roster-H
      • Roster-IJ
      • Roster-K
      • Roster-L
      • Roster-M
      • Roster-NO
      • Roster-P
      • Roster-QR
      • Roster-S
      • Roster-TUV
      • Roster-WXYZ
    • Roster Appendices >
      • Other In-Service Deaths
      • Post-Separation Deaths
    • Roster Residences >
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Cass Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Montgomery Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Other SW Iowa Counties
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • StatesBorderingIowa
      • Other States
    • Roster Fatalities >
      • War with Japan
      • Battle of the Atlantic
      • Mediterranean Theater
      • European Theater
      • Stateside Deaths
    • Roster Notes >
      • The Air Dead
      • The Sea Dead
      • Awards for Valor
      • Roster Demographics
      • Iowa Casualties & Dead
    • Roster Photos >
      • Roster Photos - Contents
      • Photos of Individuals
      • Land War with Japan
      • Air War with Japan
      • Sea War with Japan
      • Land War with Germany
      • Air War with Germany
      • Sea War with Germany
      • Stateside
      • Memorials
      • Cemeteries
    • Roster Outliers >
      • Pott. Co. Discrepancies
    • About the Roster >
      • Roster Planning
      • Members Not in St. Paul's
    • Roster Attic >
      • Recent Roster Additions
      • Roster Additions Log
  • WWII US
    • WWII Operations
    • WWII Overview
    • WWII Commanders
    • WWII Web Sources >
      • Web Sources - Personnel
      • Web Sources - Japan
      • Web Sources - Germany
    • WWII Personnel >
      • WWII Casualties
      • WWII Deaths
      • WWII Burials
      • Service Numbers
    • WWII Ground Forces >
      • High Level Organization
      • Infantry Organization >
        • Infantry Equipment
      • Ground Forces - Japan
      • Ground Forces - The MTO
    • WWII in The Air
    • WWII at Sea
    • WWII at Home
    • Civilian Victims
    • Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
    • World War I >
      • Iowa In World War I
  • Japan
    • WWII - Japan Overview
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Dutch Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • New Guinea & Solomons
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Solomons Naval War
      • Solomon Is., Guadalcanal
      • SE New Guinea, Papua
      • NE New Guinea, Lae to Madang
      • Solomon Is., New Georgia
      • Solomon Is., Bougainville
      • Bismarck Archipelago
      • Western New Guinea
    • North Pacific >
      • Alaska
      • Attu & Kiska
      • Pacific Lend-Lease Routes
    • Central Pacific >
      • Gilbert Islands
      • Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Palau Islands
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • Land Battle of Okinawa
      • Naval Battle of Okinawa
    • China-Burma-India >
      • China - 1941-45
      • India - 1942-45
      • Burma - 1941-45
      • Crossing the Hump
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Strategic Air War - Japan
      • Japan Vanquished
    • US Naval War w/ Japan >
      • US Submarine Force
      • Third & Fifth Fleets
    • US Air Force War w/ Japan >
      • Fifth Air Force
      • Seventh Air Force
      • Thirteenth Air Force
    • The Pacific Base Areas
  • Germany
    • WWII-Germany Overview
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • MTO Overview >
        • MTO Background
      • North Africa >
        • Operation Torch
        • The Race to Tunis
        • Tunisia
      • Italy >
        • Sicily
        • Italy Leaves the Axis
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • To the Gustav Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • Cassino/the Gustav Line
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • The Po Valley
      • MTO Air War
      • MTO Sea War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • ETO Overview >
        • ETO Background
      • ETO Orders of Battle >
        • ETO Unit Subordination
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • ETO, 6 June 1944
        • Normandy, June 1944
        • ETO, 30 June 1944
        • Normandy, July 1944
        • After D-Day
      • Liberation >
        • Operation Cobra
        • ETO, 1 August 1944
        • Brittany
        • Normandy
        • Northern France & Belgium
        • ETO, 25 August 1944
        • Southern France
      • War of Attrition >
        • ETO, 15 September 1944
        • Netherlands 1944
        • Rhineland 1944 >
          • V Corps at the West Wall
          • Aachen
          • Hürtgen Forest
          • Operation Queen
          • Queen/Hürtgen
          • Last 1944 Offensives
        • Lorraine/Alsace 1944 >
          • Lorraine/Third Army
          • Lorraine/Seventh Army
          • Alsace/Seventh Army
        • ETO, 15 December 1944
      • Ardennes/The Bulge >
        • Before the Bulge
        • The Bulge Begins
        • The Bulge Grows
        • Ardennes, 25 December 1944
        • The Bulge Contained
        • The Bulge Eliminated
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
        • Ardennes/Bulge Overview
      • Alsace 1945 >
        • Alsace, Nordwind
        • Alsace, Colmar Pocket
      • Siegfried Line 1945 >
        • ETO, 26 January 1945
        • Operation Blackcock
        • First US Effort
        • Roer River Dams
        • VIII Corps to Prüm
        • XII Corps to Bitburg
        • XX Corps to Trier
      • To the Rhine >
        • ETO, 1 March 1945
        • Ops. Veritable & Grenade
        • Operation Lumberjack
        • Operation Undertone
        • Patton's Probing Attacks
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Beyond the Rhine
        • ETO, 4 April 1945
        • Central Germany
        • Southern Germany
        • Germany Surrenders
      • ETO Air War
      • ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
Picture
Picture
Italy
Picture
Picture
​bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany  > The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 16 May 2022.
​The lengthy Battle of Anzio resulted from a poorly-implemented plan to bypass the Gustav Line via a large amphibious landing south of Rome.
The Setting:
On the accompanying map, Rome is located on the upper left and Cassino, the key point in the German Gustav Line, on the lower right.

A successful landing in the Anzio area, on the lower left, might force a German withdrawal from the Gustav Line.


Rome Area Roadmap - Anzio & Cassino
Rome Area Roadmap - Anzio (bottom left) & Cassino (bottom right)
  • On 22 January 1944, Allied forces began landing on the beaches near Anzio and Nettuno south of Rome.
  • ​The landing by US and British forces, comprising the US Fifth Army's VI Corps, achieved surprise and initially the Anzio operation appeared promising.
  • ​However, the German army soon contained the Anzio Beachhead. Throughout its lifetime, the entire Anzio Beachhead was subject to German artillery fire.

 In mid-February, a German counterattack regained a portion of the beachhead.
​

In May, a breakout north from the Anzio Beachhead followed the Operation Diadem breakout of the Gustav Line in the Cassino area.


Anzio Beachhead - Mid-February
Anzio Beachhead - mid-February
After the Anzio breakout, the three American divisions shown on the above map (3rd Infantry, 36th Infantry - Texas, and 45th Infantry - Oklahoma) were withdrawn from combat to prepare for their next mission. On August 15, they formed the nucleus of the American Seventh Army, which along with the French First Army landed on the southern coast of France.
Sources for Big Pigeon's The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio webpage:
  • Anzio, 22 January-24 May 1944 (The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II, The U.S. Army Center of Military History, Clayton D. Laurie, illustrated brochure, CMH 72-19) - https://history.army.mil/html/books/072/72-19/CMH_Pub_72-19.pdf.
  • Salerno to Cassino (scalable maps) (United States Army in World War II, Mediterranean Theater of Operations series, Martin Blumenson, 1993, CMH #6-3) - http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-Salerno/index.html#index.

Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - The MTO > Italy > The Battle of Anzio:
  • Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
02-02 - The MTO > Italy > The Battle of Anzio: (eight dead, updated 31 Dec 2022)
​† Hansen, Matthias Peter, SN 39-839-172, US Army, Humboldt Co., CA
  • 30th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div., VI Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 31 Jan 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Heckman, John Phillip, SN 37-118-341, US Army, Audubon Co.
  • Battery C, 437 Anti-Aircraft Bn. (Automatic Weapons), VI Corps, Fifth Army; DOW 15 May 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Landon, Arnold Dale, SN 20-706-405, US Army, Cass Co.
  • Co. K, 168th Inf. Regt., transferred to Antitank Co., 133rd Inf. Regt., both 34th Inf. Div. VI Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 22 May 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Morrow, Marjorie Gertrude, SN N-733475, US Army, Audubon Co.
  • US Army Nursing Corps, 95th Evacuation Hosp., Anzio; KIA 7 Feb 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy, shrapnel ruptured femoral artery; German plane jettisoned ordnance over the Anzio Beachhead hospital complex, 28 died; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Mustard, James Eldon, SN 37-426-156, US Army, Jasper Co.
  • Co. 6, 2nd Regt., First Special Service Force (a joint US-Canadian special operations brigade known as the Devil's Brigade), VI Corps, Fifth Army; DOW 18 Feb 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Reinig, Walter Henry, SN 37-035-972, US Army, Shelby Co.
  • 7th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div., VI Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 31 Jan 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Rethmeier, William F. "Jack", SN 37-663-816, US Army, Crawford Co.
  • Co. H, 179th Inf. Regt., 45th Inf. Div., VI Corps, Fifth Army; DOW 30 May 1944 near Campoleone, S of Rome, Lazio, Italy; Anzio Beachhead Breakout - The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
† Thoreen, William F., SN 37-074-553, US Army, Pott. Co.
  • Battery C., 171st FA Bn., 45th Inf. Div., VI Corps, Fifth Army; KIA 28 Mar 1944 Anzio Beachhead, Lazio, Italy; ​The MTO > Italy > Battle of Anzio.
Proudly powered by Weebly