In early March the 5th Division, now under Major General Philip Gregson-Ellis, was relieved by elements of the newly-arrived US 88th Division and moved to the Anzio beachhead to relieve the exhausted British 56th Division, which had fought alongside the 5th Division during First Cassino, with Ward's brigade relieving the 56th Division's 168th Brigade on 9 March. Ward's 17th Brigade, now on the defensive, was involved in further heavy fighting in "The Wadis" on the beachheads' left flank. Conditions at Anzio became more alike to the trench warfare of the First World War. Ward was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in April 1944.