The soldiers scattered to hide in the buildings. Whenever the vehicles attempted to move, the two Tiger tanks fired their 88mm cannon and machine guns at the lightly armed vehicles. They were easily driven off by concentrated machine gun and small arms fire. The tanks, however, were not so easily diverted. One of the M-8 armored cars positioned itself at a corner in a desperate attempt to hit one of the tanks with its 37mm cannon.
The remaining tank crewmen retaliated with random cannon and machine gun fire. But the embankment and wall provided sufficient cover; the shells flew ineffectively over their heads. The patrol spent most of 4 June trying to break contact.
Some Italian partisans even joined in the fight. As luck would have it, the partisans saved the day. When Radcliffe saw another tank joining the fray, he alerted his men to abandon their vehicles and then evade the enemy through the labyrinth of houses and walled yards of the city. But that tank stopped short of the patrol next to a three-story house.
Just as the German tank commander opened his hatch to get a better view, a third floor window opened above him and a hand slowly emerged clutching a hand grenade. A muffled explosion followed shortly and smoke rose from the tank hatch. Seizing the opportunity, the jeeps and armored cars broke out of the trap. They needed a few hours of sleep before trying to enter the city again. His third wound came as the Force seized the Margherita Bridge. Rapidly the situation in the city changed as the Germans and Italian Fascists fled northward.
They would fight another ten months to drive the Germans from the northern mountains. There, they enjoyed three weeks of rest and recuperation.
Much of the Italian campaign was focused on the capture of the capital and assumed that with its fall, the war in the peninsula would end. This was not the case. The campaign was far from over. Tough fighting continued all the way up the Italian boot until the Germans surrendered on 2 May In all three cases the capture of an enemy capital did not end a campaign or war, merely protracted it.
Still, it was an important part of the offensive strategy. Colonel Edwin Walker, 3rd Regiment commander, would be his successor. This article would not have been possible without the support of Colonel Retired T. Mark Radcliffe. Standing aside the turret of this M-8 armored car, a member of Radcliffe's patrol raises the flags of the United States and Canada so that they may be documented by the accompanying photographers. National Archives The Race to Rome.
Jones, Jr. On 23 May , the units in Anzio began to break out and head to Rome. II Corps shoulder patch. Tank Destroyers. In the center of the photo is an M-4 Sherman tank hit by a German 88mm self-propelled gun. Several competing task forces wanted to be the first into the Italian capital.
The patrol cut demolition charge wires before entering Rome. Although Rome was liberated, the Germans were not decisively defeated. After the fall of Rome German forces fell back to the so-called Gothic Line of defence, running across Italy just north of Florence. The Allies did not breach this line until September The Allied front then stalled again until a breakthrough in April when their final assault broke German resistance and led to capitulation on 2 May.
The Italian campaign had tied down more than 20 German divisions - while the Allies concentrated on the battle on the western front. Although some have argued it was the Germans tying down the Allies. But the Italian campaign was not in itself decisive and in the end victory in Europe was won only through direct attacks on Germany itself.
Conditions in Rome were not as bad as in some parts of Europe. However, food supplies were now extremely low, as most of the citizens remained in Rome during the occupation. In addition to this, the population had increased due to a large number of refugees who were now living in the city.
He chose not to take the most obvious approach, which would have been to surround the German soldiers who had already started retreating from the south. Instead, he chose to strike out from the Anzio beachhead. This tactic was not just unconventional — it actually went against the orders of General Sir Harold Alexander, the British officer in overall charge of the operation. However, the approach proved to be effective and, in the end, the Allied armies met with little resistance from the German occupiers, who were scattered around the city and had already begun their withdrawal.
The people of Rome had been told to stay indoors and on the first day of the campaign they followed orders. However, by the second day, it was clear that victory was in sight and the people thronged the street to welcome the advancing Allied Troops, cheering, singing and throwing bunches of flowers at the army vehicles as they arrived.
Realizing that the battle to maintain its grip on the Italian capital was lost, Hitler ordered his troops to withdraw from the city in the early hours of the following morning. Despite this victory, the Battle for Italy was not yet over.
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