In January of  1944, the Allies thought that they had found a way to crack the Gustav Line south of Rome. The bloody battles in Italy had the Allies stalled and desperate to move around the entrenched Nazi forces. From December of 1943 to June of 1944, almost 100,000 allied soldiers were casualties. Most of them, from two assaults intended to break the Gustav Line.
On January 22nd, the Allies launched “Operation Shingle” as a part of the attempt to break out from the beachheads at Anzio. US Ranger Battalions headed to Cisterna as a a part of the overall assault force. What they did not know was that Army Intelligence had misread things, and the lightly held outposts that they expected were already abandoned. Instead, standing in the way was the German 715th Parachute Infantry and the powerful Herman Göring  Division.
Under strength and undertrained with numerous replacement troops, the Rangers soon found themselves surrounded and in full on combat with the best troops the Nazi’s had to send….
I Survived the Battle of Cisterna: The Story of PFC James Palmer

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