This is a letter I wrote to my parents in early summer, 1944.
Sending Address: 1647 S. Gary Ave., Tulsa, OK
Dear Mom & Dad,
I am quite proud to tell you that the Allied powers have just captured Rome. The Italian Capital! I kept your advice to heart, Dad, about how wrong the Germans and Mussolini were with their morality, and I was able to help get the Americans so much closer to their goal. This photo shows an Allied tank headed through the streets of Rome taken shortly after the capture.
Dear Mom & Dad,
I am quite proud to tell you that the Allied powers have just captured Rome. The Italian Capital! I kept your advice to heart, Dad, about how wrong the Germans and Mussolini were with their morality, and I was able to help get the Americans so much closer to their goal. This photo shows an Allied tank headed through the streets of Rome taken shortly after the capture.
I truly am sorry that I wasn't able to write to you guys before now, but some pretty grueling things have been going down here in Italy. Once we landed in Salerno in September of last year, we were able to capture the Italian towns of Naples and Foggia. The mountainous terrain and the small width of the peninsula gave us difficulties, but we persevered. We attacked German stations at the Volturno River and the Gustav Line in October. However, because of the cold and snow, we were delayed for several months during the winter. Once we were up and running again, we landed at and planned to make an assault on Anzio Beach.
For about four months, our forces had been trapped on Anzio. Under guard by the Germans, who were waiting in trenches by the Apennine mountain range, we were just waiting in horrible conditions for what seemed like forever. There were frequent air raids, and by the time we escaped, our side had experienced slightly over 59,000 American casualties from Anzio. Just Anzio! Some Allied leaders had begun to wonder if the invasion itself was worth doing in the first place. I was thinking that as well, since we had been marching for months on unstable Italian terrain in horrible weather, only to be fighting a war of attrition, much like the trench warfare during the first World War. We continued to be a thorn in the side of the Germans, requiring much of their resources and attention. Eventually, by May, we had broken through the German defenses.
Before then, it was not much different. The Germans seemed to be everywhere and have superior strategies to ours, despite us outnumbering them in men. We had made our landings on the Italian coastline, and our mission was to cover the entire peninsula as quickly as possible. I, along with my fellow Allied soldiers, knew we had to cover as much ground as we could before too many Germans arrived. We didn't get far. The British and American forces ended up becoming separated by the Sele River. Believing that this division could be used to German advantage, we felt pressured to join up again before that could occur. Once we had, it seemed like we needed to take quick offensive action. We luckily spotted a German squad who were pausing to check their maps. They were caught completely by surprised when we attacked.
While I am proud of my fellow soldiers and leaders of their successful attempt to capture Rome, I am starting to think that General Clark made a mistake in having us go there. He directed us there, instead of Cassino, from which the German forces were retreating. This ruined our opportunity to end this invasion quickly, because it allowed them to escape. It doesn't look like the war, or at least this invasion, will be over anytime soon for that reason. Once we had taken Rome, on June 4, 1944, two of our own Allied units stationed there were sent to Normandy for attack scheduled to happen two days later.
From here on out, I don`t know exactly what`ll go down here in Italy. No matter what new weapon the Axis creates or how many soldiers they throw at us, we will do what the American military was born to do: fight to the last man. And also whatever policy that the British military tells their recruits. I`m guessing that we will be able to get the Germans (at least those in Italy) to surrender somehow. Allied leaders have already begun to make plans for a campaign to break the Gothic line in the Appennine Range, so that`s a start. Whatever the future holds, I just want you to know that I love you, Mom & Dad, more than anything.
Sincerely, Your son,
Terrence Kramer