The Battle of Anzio: The History of the Allies' Controversial Amphibious Landing during the Italian Campaign of World War II

The immense difficulties Sicily's rugged terrain caused to the Allied forces, and the successful delaying actions fought by small numbers of well-led German soldiers, inspired Hitler and his generals to garrison Italy as an obstacle to British and American advance. A relatively limited number of Wehrmacht troops used the endless series of mountain ridges and defensible hilltop towns to slow the offensive to a crawl, tying down large numbers of Western troops.

Under Albert Kesselring's expe...