"...an excellent primer about the operations in and around the Anzio beachhead. Students of operational art, multinational operations, and amphibious warfare will find Staiger’s narrative interesting and thought-provoking." — Military Review

The Allied amphibious operation codenamed Shingle was launched in late January 1944. It was opposed by German forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno. Success depended on the element of surprise, and the speed with which the invaders could build up strength and move inland. This was understood by General Mark Clark, commander of the US Fifth Army, but not fully understood by his subordinate commanders.

This German account focuses on the landing at Anzio as it was the only one that failed to achieve its objective of smashing the German defense and achieving operational freedom of movement. The battle lasted over six weeks, with mistakes made by leadership on both sides, and consequently also great sacrifice by soldiers on both sides. But the operation was not a German success either, and attempts to prevent the creation of a strong bridgehead failed. Ultimately the Allies would reach Rome, and the Allies applied lessons from this battle to facilitate the success of Overlord, launched five months later.

While not complete, as the author did not have access to some of the war diaries of higher levels of German command, this is still one of the best German accounts of Operation Shingle and is here translated into English for the first time.

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface by Matthias Strohn
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 Birth of Operation Shingle
• 2 Plan for Operation Shingle
• 3 The landing
• 4 Defensive measures taken by Army Group C against a landing operation
• 5 The situation on the German side, mid-January 1944
• 6 The Anzio–Nettuno combat zone
• 7 German defensive measures, 22–23 January 1944
• 8 The expansion of the beachhead and German defensive measures, 24–31 January 1944
• 9 German small-scale attacks against the beachhead
• 10 The first German offensive, 16–20 February 1944
• 11 The second German offensive, 29 February– 2 March 1944
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4
• References