Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 193
January 22, 2019
Courage Under Fire – US Hospitals at Anzio
LSTs landing US troops at Anzio, 22 January 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
Courage under fire.
When we hear that phrase, we picture a soldier in the trenches, a sailor manning his guns, or a pilot dodging enemy fighter planes. But how about nurses and physicians?
In one of my novels, On Distant Shores, the hero serves as a pharmacist in the US 93rd Evacuation Hospital in World War II. On January 23, 1944, the 93rd Evac landed at Anzio, Italy, one day after American and British forces had landed. The armies succeeded in surprising the Germans and faced very little opposition. Due to overcautious leadership and insufficient reinforcements, the forces waited and consolidated the beachhead before driving inland. That proved to be a deadly delay.
While the Allies waited, the Germans shored up their defenses. For the next four months, the Allies would remain trapped on a narrow beachhead, and over 4000 American and British soldiers would die.
US Hospital Area at Nettuno, near Anzio, Italy, 1944 (US Army Medical Department)
To care for the 11,000 wounded—and the sick—four US Army hospitals served on the beachhead at Nettuno, just south of Anzio, close to the ocean. Although evacuation hospitals were usually set up out of artillery range, the front lines at Anzio were less than ten miles from shore. The khaki hospital tents were marked by enormous red crosses on a white circle, but artillery fire did land on the hospital site—both accidental and deliberate fire.
US 56th Evacuation Hospital after an air raid, 1944 (US Army Medical Department)
The Luftwaffe battered these hospitals too in multiple air raids. On February 7, 1944, a German fighter pilot, fleeing from US fighters, jettisoned his bombs for greater maneuverability—while over the 95th Evacuation Hospital. Twenty-eight patients and hospital personnel were killed. Ironically, later that day the pilot was treated at the same hospital after he was shot down.
During the four-month period, dozens of patients, physicians, and medics were killed—and six nurses. When the US Fifth Army made noise about evacuating the nurses, the women made even more noise. They insisted on staying with their patients, and the Army relented.
US hospital digging in at Anzio, spring 1944 (US Army Medical Department)
So they endured. They learned the “Anzio Shuffle,” a duck-walk to stay low and avoid shells. They leaped into slit trenches half full of water during air raids. They lived, and often slept, in their helmets. And they cared for their patients, performing surgery while bombs fell. Several were killed while shielding patients.
The water table was too high to dig in the hospitals, but as spring dried out the ground, the hospitals dug down. Conditions were so dangerous that some patients deserted the hospitals for the relative safety of the front line, where at least the soldier could shoot back.
US hospital dug in at Anzio, Spring 1944 (US Army Medical Department)
In July 2011, I was able to visit Anzio. The beaches are now covered with resort hotels, Italian families on holiday, and cobalt blue beach chairs. Little remains to commemorate the Battle of Anzio—a single room crammed with artifacts in a local museum and the American cemetery.
Beach at Nettuno, Italy, looking north to Anzio, July 2011 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)
But I remember. I am inspired by these men and women who endured, who sacrificed, and who cared. They truly demonstrated courage—and grace—under fire.
Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy, July 2011 (Photo: Sarah Sundin)
Today in World War II History—Jan. 22, 1944
US DUKWs landing troops at Anzio, Italy, 22 January 1944 (US National Archives)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 22, 1944: US and British troops land at Anzio, Italy, and establish a solid beachhead; the towns of Anzio and Nettuno are secured.
US War Refugee Board is established to resettle European Jews in the US.
January 21, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 21, 1944
Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill is shown the wreckage of a German Junkers Ju 188 bomber shot down by the RAF over Essex on the night of 21 March 1944 (Imperial War Museum CH 12537)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 21, 1944: The “Little Blitz” begins (Operation Steinbock), a renewed German air offensive on England: 447 German bombers attack London at night, the largest air raid since July 1942.
In Italy, Allied ships bombard Civitavecchia to deceive Germans about the next day’s landings at Anzio.
January 20, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 20, 1944
US casualties being brought back from the Rapido in Italy, January 1944. (US Army Center of Military History)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 20, 1944: US Fifth Army makes first attempt to cross the Rapido River in Italy with heavy casualties, forms a small bridgehead north of Sant’ Angelo.
January 19, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 19, 1944
US poster, WWII
75 Years Ago—Jan. 19, 1944: ANZAC Conference begins in Canberra, Australia: Australia and New Zealand discuss postwar relations with US and UK.
British X Corps makes 14 failed attempts to cross the upper Garigliano River in Italy, thus failing to protect left US Fifth Army flank for Rapido crossings the next day.
US government returns railways to control of owners after wage dispute is settled.
January 18, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 18, 1944
Poster for US Fourth War Loan Drive, 1/18/44-2/15/44
75 Years Ago—Jan. 18, 1944: US Fourth War Loan Drive begins, runs through February 15; sales made in pharmacies are designated for C-47 ambulance planes. Read more: World War II War Bonds.
US Navy PBY Catalinas based in Morocco carrying Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) gear begin barrier patrols across the Straits of Gibraltar to detect U-boats transiting submerged at night.
Metropolitan Opera House in New York City holds its first jazz concert, featuring Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge, and Jack Teagarden.
January 17, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 17, 1944
British X Corps shuttling ambulances across the Garigliano River, January 1944 (US Army Center for Military History)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 17, 1944: British X Corps crosses lower Garigliano River in Italy, officially beginning the Battle of Cassino.
US Army and Marines secure Arawe area on New Britain in the Solomons.
January 16, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 16, 1944
Cdr. Frank Erickson, USCG & Dr. Igor Sikorsky, Sikorsky Helicopter HNS-1 C.G. #39040, 14 August 1944 (US Coast Guard photo)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 16, 1944: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower assumes command of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces) in London for Operation Overlord (D-day).
Japanese make final counterattack on New Britain in the Solomons, but fail.
Lt. Stewart Graham of the US Coast Guard becomes the first person to make a helicopter takeoff and landing aboard a ship underway—in a Sikorsky HNS-1 on British cargo ship Daghestan in the North Atlantic.
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, 31 Dec. 1943 (US National Archives)
January 15, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 15, 1944
Lt. Gen. Ira Eaker (USAF Photo)
75 Years Ago—Jan. 15, 1944: Lt. Gen. Ira Eaker assumes command of Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (US Twelfth & Fifteenth Air Forces, as well as RAF, Italian, and French air units in the Mediterranean).
The Allied Winter Line campaign in Italy is complete as the Germans retreat over the Rapido River to the Gustav Line.
New songs in Top Ten: “My Ideal” and “Star Eyes.”
January 14, 2019
Today in World War II History—Jan. 14, 1944
US recruiting poster for the Navy Seabees, WWII
75 Years Ago—Jan. 14, 1944: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower arrives in London for planning for Operation Overlord (D-day).
Eligibility for the draft is restored for Japanese-American Nisei, causing mixed reactions in internment camps.
US Navy Seabees in camps in US get a sneak preview of John Wayne’s movie The Fighting Seabees.
War Relocation Authority Center at Manzanar, CA, 3 July 1942 (US Government photo, photographer: Dorothea Lange)
