Two Allied divisions landed. There were two or three times that many German defenders.
The Germans found out about the landings at 03:00 on January 22. At 05:00 the Germans ordered the "Kampfgruppe" of 4th Parachute Division and the Hermann Göring Panzer Division to defend the roads leading from Anzio to the Alban Hills. The Germans had 40,000 troops in defensive positions.
Three days after the landings, the beach was surrounded by three divisions: The 4th Parachute Division to the west, the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division to the center, the Hermann Göring Panzer Division to the east.
Von Mackensen's 14th Army took command of the defence on January 25. Parts of eight German divisions were put around the beach. Five more divisions were on their way to the Anzio area.
The arrival of U.S. 45th Infantry Division and U.S. 1st Armored Division, brought Allied forces total on the beach to 69,000 men, 508 guns and 208 tanks by January 29. The total defending Germans had risen to 71,500.
The Allies attacked on January 30. One group moved to Cisterna. A second group went northeast towards Campoleone.
By early February German forces in Fourteenth Army had 100,000 troops.
Allied forces by this time were 76,400
German forces launched a full attack at 23:00.
On February 16 the Germans launched a new attack. Both had 20,000 casualties each since the first landings. Also on February 18 while returning to Anzio the light cruiser was struck by two torpedoes and sunk with a loss of 417 men.
Both sides realised that no result could be achieved until the spring. The Germans built a new defence line, the Caesar C line. The Allies planned an attack in May. This would include attacking the Gustav Line, which was called Operation "Diadem".
In March, the 2nd Italian SS "Vendetta" Battalion and 29th Italian SS Rifle Battalion were sent to fight against the Allied forces at the Anzio/Nettuno beach. U.S. 34th Infantry Division arrived at Anzio in the same month. In May, U.S. 36th Infantry Division had arrived at Anzio. By late May, there were 150,000 Allied troops.
There were five German divisions. The Germans had prepared defenses, but they lacked officers.
The Allied planning for their attack was detailed. British 5th Division and 1st Division were to attack along the coast. The U.S. 45th Infantry, 1st Armored and 3rd Infantry Divisions would attack the German 362nd and 715th Infantry Divisions.
At 05:45 on May 23, 1944, 1,500 Allied artillery pieces started bombing. Then Allied infantry and armour moved forward. The first day's fighting was hard: 1st Armored Division lost 100 tanks and 3rd Infantry Division had 955 casualties. The Germans 362nd Infantry Division lost 50% of its fighting strength.
In the afternoon of May 25 Cisterna was captured by the 3rd Division. In the evening, the Allies turned ninety degrees to the left. On the new attack little progress was made until 1st Armored arrived on May 29. On June 2 the Caesar Line broke and the 14th Army pulled back through Rome. Hitler ordered no defence of Rome.
After the war, some experts said the Anzio plan was not good. It used just two infantry divisions with no armour.
"Operation Diadem" (during which U.S. 5th and British 8th Armies had 44,000 casualties) failed in its goal of destroying the German 10th Army.
Abdul Quader Molla
Abdul Quader Molla (; 14 August 1948 – 12 December 2013) was a politician in Bangladesh. He was convicted of war crimes committed during the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh. He is the assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in the country. He was scheduled to be executed by hanging on 11 December 2013 at 0:01. Later, the execution was postponed until 10:30 of the day.
He is the former executive editor of "The Daily Sangram". He stood twice unsuccessfully for parliament in 1986 and 1996. He was contesting the seat Faridpur-4 for Jamaat-e-Islami.
Molla was executed on 12 December 2013.
WaveBird Wireless Controller
The WaveBird Wireless Controller is a wireless game controller for the Nintendo GameCube video game console. It uses radio frequency signals to communicate with the controller. It is powered by standard AA batteries. It was released in 2002. Its name is a reference to Dolphin, which is what the GameCube was named during development.
The WaveBird controller has the same design as the normal GameCube controllers. It is a little bigger and heavier than the normal GameCube controllers. It has a dial for selecting the channel a person wants the controller on, an on/off switch, and an orange LED light which is used to show that the controller is turned on. The WaveBird does not have the rumble feature that the normal GameCube controller has, as that would make the battery last for a shorter amount of time.
Like the normal GameCube controller, the WaveBird can be used with the Wii. It can be used for GameCube and Virtual Console titles, as well as with some Wii games and WiiWare titles. The WaveBird became more popular after the Wii's release because of how it can control those games wirelessly.
Battle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan was part of Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II.
The capture of the Philippine Islands was important to Japan's goals. Japan wanted to control the Southwest Pacific, capture the resource-rich Dutch East Indies, and protect its Southeast Asia side.
It was the largest surrender in American and Filipino military history. It was the largest United States surrender since the pre-Civil War's raid on Harper's Ferry.
Japanese carrier planes attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941. Japanese aircraft also bombed the main bases of the American Far East Air Force near Manila, and the headquarters of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines. Many American planes were destroyed. The U.S. Asiatic Fleet withdrew its ships from its naval base in Cavite and retreated south. Only the submarine force was left to fight the Japanese.
From 8 to 10 December, Japan captured airfields at Batan Island, Aparri, and Vigan City. Army Air Force B-17s attacked Japanese ships. U.S. planes damaged two Japanese transports, the flagship "Nagato", a destroyer and sank one minesweeper.
The main attack was on 22 December 1941. The 14th Japanese Imperial Army attacked, led by Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma.
After capturing the beaches, the Japanese launched a major attack.
The American commander, General Douglas MacArthur, realized that the beach defense plan had failed. On 26 December, he said that War Plan Orange-3 (WPO-3) was now being used. This was a plan to defend only Bataan and Corregidor. The plan of WPO-3 was to delay Japanese forces until the U.S. Pacific Fleet could get to the Philippines.
Manuel L. Quezon, the president of the Philippines, his family and government staff were moved to Corregidor. MacArthur's headquarters were also moved to Corregidor.
Gen. MacArthur wanted to move his men to defensive positions.
When the Japanese attacked, the untrained Philippine Army troops defending the beach were beaten. The U.S. decided to fight at Layac to slow down the Japanese troops. Later, from 1 to 5 January 1942, the U.S. fought to allow its troops to withdraw to Bataan.
WPO-3 had two defensive lines across Bataan.
On 9 January, Japanese forces under Lt. Gen. Susumu Morioka attacked the eastern side of the Abucay-Mauban line. They were beaten by the U.S. The Japanese advanced to the Salian River valley. U.S. troops fought off the attackers. At another battle to the west, a Japanese force got past the Abucay-Mauban line. The U.S. stopped their advance. On 15 January, 1st Regular Division was bombed, but they held the line. The Japanese moved through a gap. The Abucay-Mauban line had to be abandoned on 22 January.