OPERATION SHINGLE

Rear Admiral F J Lowry in November 1946. In the foreground
the "Atomic Angel Cake" celebrates the conclusion of "Operation Crossroads"
the US atomic testing programme at Bikini Atoll.

On January 22nd, 1944 Amphibious Task Force 81 commanded by Rear-Admiral F J Lowry USN, landed the VI Corps, commanded by Major General John Lucas on beachheads to the north and south of Anzio.

The VI Corps, an element of General Mark Clark's 5th Army, comprised the US 3rd Infantry Division and 1st Division, British Army.

This contentious manoeuvre was another of Churchill's strikes "against the soft underbelly of Europe" and was designed to deploy a force behind the Gustav Line where, German General, Kesselring's forces had inflicted heavy casualties on the Allied armies in battles in and around Cassino bringing their painstaking advance toward Rome to a halt.

Immediately, for his part, Lucas was less than happy with the manpower and equipment resources he had been allocated for the task. The Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff remained divided on the quickest way to end the war. On the one hand, the Americans favoured the "direct" route to Berlin - across the English Channel. On the other hand, the British, perhaps mindful of Dunkirk, favoured a continuation in the Mediterranean Theatre.

By mid-1943 there were several factors that seemed to support the British approach. It was critical to Allied morale that the momentum provided by the recent defeat of Rommel's army in North Africa be maintained. In addition it was evident the cross channel force could not be assembled before spring 1944. The question begged, were the victorious Allied armies to sit around until then? Churchill was persuasive. An attack against Sicily and the Italian mainland could well prove a fatal blow to Axis unity. Churchill again prevailed and, indeed, with the Italian capitulation on the eve of the Allied amphibious landings at Salerno (September 1943), his insight appeared well founded.

But now the Italian winter, Allied command ineptitude and bickering and, not the least, German resolve conspired to exact a deadly toll on both the US 5th and the British 8th armies.

So it was, with the Allied-German front-line in stalemate and with Allied amphibious, logistical, air and naval support forces stretched to the limit, General John Lucas found himself contemplating the spectre of being in command of "another Gallipoli". Lucas was all too aware of the futile, Churchill inspired, 1915 landing of ANZAC and British troops in the Dardenelles.

TF 81 Lowry's flagship USS Biscayne (above) with screening destroyer escort USS Frederick C Davis (below)

USS Frederick C Davis [DE 136]
Torpedoed in North Atlantic April, 1945 by U-546 with the loss of 100 lives.

Task Group 81.2 - Ranger Group Captain E. Turner RN.
Comprising:
British LCI(M)s Royal Ulsterman and Princess Beatrix.
Transport Winchester Castle.
Landing Ship Tank (LST)-410 .
In addition there were three Landing Craft Tank (LCT)s, three Submarine Chasers (SC)s and one Landing Craft Infantry (Heavy) (LCI-H).

HMS Princess Beatrix

This force, under Rear-Admiral Lowry, was divided into six sub-groupings.

TG 81.3 - Red Beach Group
comprising:
12 LSTs, 31 LCIs, 22 (US) LCTs and 1 LCG, 1 LCF, 1 LCT(R), 4 Patrol Craft (PC)s, 6 (British) SCs.

A typical Landing Ship Tank [LST 4]

A typical Landing Craft (Rocket) [LC(R) 73]
These craft opened the bombardment at the beachhead. Note the port side rocket launching racks.

A typical US patrol craft. [PC 1603]

A typical US submarine chaser. [SC 1022]

Submarine chaser SC-1029 picked up between 100 and 120 of the Spartan survivors.

HM LST 383

USS Plunkett [DD 431] Bombed and damaged with the loss of 53 lives.

USS Strive [AM 117]

USS Brooklyn

USS Mayo [DD 422]
Mayo suffered a number of casualties and was badly damaged when she hit a mine on January 22nd. She was subsequently towed to Naples by the British tug Prosperous whereupon she was repaired and later sent to the Pacific where she was in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender in September, 1945.

USS Hopi [AT - 71]