The battle of anzio was a battle of the italian campaign of world war ii that took place from january 22 1944 beginning with the allied amphibious landing known as operation shingle to june 5 1944 ending with the capture of romethe operation was opposed by german forces in the area of anzio and nettuno the operation was initially commanded by major general john p lucas of the us . About six months before d day in january 1944 a united force of 36000 soldiers launched one of the first attacks on continental europe at anzio a small coastal city thirty miles south of rome but the advance stalled and the allies were unable to exploit initial german weakness that could have led to a decisive strike to liberate the undefended italian capital. Battle of anzio 22 january 5 june 1944 world war ii event on the coast of italy south of rome intended as a daring outflanking move that would open up the way to the capture of rome the anzio landings degenerated into world war ii deadlock the allies unable to drive forward from their bridgehead and the germans without the means to push the invaders back into the sea. In january 1944 about six months before d day an allied force of thirty six thousand soldiers launched one of the first attacks on continental europe at anzio a small coastal city thirty miles south of rome the assault was conceived as the first step toward an eventual siege of the italian capital. Anzio battle of 1944 in the skillfully defended terrain of southern italy the allies in november 1943 during world war ii were advancing so slowly that they decided to go around the german defenses by sea hoping to speed progress to rome source for information on anzio battle of 1944 the oxford companion to american military history dictionary