ABSTRACT
The Allied strategic concept for the Italian campaign in 1943-1944 was to keep the Germans fighting in Italy, thus drawing German combat power away from the planned landings in northern France, Operation Overlord, and away from the Eastern Front where the Soviet Union was hard-pressed. The objective for the Anzio landing was the Alban Hills, dominating the roads between the Gustav Line and Rome. The new mission for Operation Shingle, as ordered by Lieutenant General Clark, was to seize and secure a beachhead at Anzio and to advance on rather than advance to the Alban Hills a critical distinction. On 22 January 1944, Lucass VI Corps landed on the beaches of Anzio against little opposition. The only German troops in the area were three companies of engineers and one battalion of panzergrenadiers. The Allied goal in Italy had been to keep the Germans fighting, robbing the defences of northern France of troops and equipment.
