Two days later on June 6, 1944, the D-Day about the Normandy invasion overshadowed the news of the Liberation of Rome, where my dad’s 85th Infantry Division was involved on June 4, 1944.
This week - June 4-6, 2024
“In these days I’ve seen many commemoration events about D-Day… I've been disappointed for years because the Italian campaign is underestimated by researchers, film makers, and others. On 5th June 1944, Allied forces took Rome after a lot of time passed between battles in Sicily, Cassino, Anzio, and other places!… no interest by the international community” wrote Italian Giacomo Gigula on the Facebook Group page -”85th Infantry Division Custer” on June 6, 2024. He paused, “This is my opinion, it does not want to disrespect the soldiers fought in Normandy and their families.”
“There were a few modest ceremonies but no parades to commemorate the anniversary of the day the Allied troops led by General Mark Clark of the U.S. Fifth Army marched into Rome and liberated the city from German occupation on June 4, 1944,” wrote Laura Itzkowitz, a Rome-based journalist, in her “The New Roman Times” issue - Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Rome.
Do you know that the capture of Rome was the first Axis capital to fall in WWII?
The 1988 New York Time article, “The Forgotten Front: For Soldiers Who Took Rome, Glory Was Fleeting,” stated, “On June 5, 1944, American infantrymen captured Rome, the first Axis capital to fall in World War II. It was ''a famous victory'' that almost immediately was overwhelmed by the bigger news on June 6 of the D-day landings in northern France.”
“On the day Rome fell, the banner headline in the first edition of Stars and Stripes, the American Army paper put out by soldier-correspondents, read, ''WE'RE IN ROME.''
“The next day, the one-word headline referred not to Italy but to Normandy: ‘INVASION’.''
Do you know that, before D-Day, there were four battles of Monte Cassino, the desperate six-month struggle in the mountains of central Italy that left more than 350,000 men dead or wounded?
Since the start of DIADEM on 11 May, the Fifth Army (my dad’s Army) had suffered a total of 17,931 American casualties: 3,145 killed, 13,704 wounded, and 1,082 missing 30 percent of the total casualties suffered by the Americans since Salerno in September 1943. French and British Fifth Army casualties numbered 10,635 and 3,355 respectively. The Eighth Army counted casualties of 11,639, bringing total Allied losses during the campaign to over 43,000. German losses were estimated at 38,000, for both Tenth and Fourteenth Armies, not including 15,606 prisoners of war. (Source: Rome 1944)
Do you know that the Vatican and Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) persuaded German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring to declare Rome an ‘Open City’, and the latter accepted the offer on June 3, 1944?
Definition of “Open City” is a city that, during a war, is officially declared demilitarized and open to occupation, and that will consequently not be defended, in order to spare it, under international law, from bombardment or other military attack.
Celebrations as Rome was liberated
"Citizens of Rome," the Allied leaflets declared, "this is not the time for demonstrations. Obey these directions and go on with your regular work. Rome is yours! Your job is to save the city, ours is to destroy the enemy."
Do you know that the Allied forces in the Italian Campaign (May 1944) included Algerians, Americans, Brazilians, British, Canadians, Indians, Italians (royalists), New Zealanders, Moroccans, Poles, Senegalese, South Africans, and Tunisians?
On D-Day, Allied forces consisted primarily of American, British and Canadian troops but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish naval, air or ground support.
Do you know that Pope Plus XII greeted Allied soldiers in person?
Pope Plus XII, surrounded by Allied soldiers, expressed his gratitude for the liberation of Rome | Photo by U.S. Army Signal Corps
On that evening, the Pope spoke to the thousands of Italians who had gathered in the square - "In recent days we trembled for the fate of the city. Today we rejoiced because, thanks to the joint goodwill of both sides, Rome has been saved from the horrors of war."
Do you know that the 85th Division (my dad’s) and 88th Division were the first two United States Army divisions composed entirely of draftees to see combat in World War II?
Do you know that, after D-Day, the Allies who fought in Italy became known as "D-Day Dodgers"?
The D-Day Dodgers are the men and women of the Allies that missed the Normandy Landings on June 6th, 1944.
Jerry brought the band down to cheer us on our way
Showed us the sights and gave us tea.
We all sang songs, the beer was free.
We are the D-Day Dodgers, way out in Italy.
The Volturno and Cassino were taken in our stride
We didn't have to fight there. We just went for the ride.
Anzio and Sangro were all forlorn.
We did not do a thing from dusk to dawn.
For we are the D-Day Dodgers, over here in Italy.
On our way to Florence, we had a lovely time.
We ran a bus to Rimini right through the Gothic Line.
On to Bologna, we did go.
Then we went bathing in the Po.
For we are the D-Day Dodgers, over here in Italy.
Once we had a blue light that we were going home
Back to dear old Blighty, never more to roam.
Then somebody said in France you'll fight.
We said never mind, we'll just sit tight,
The windy D-Day Dodgers, out in Sunny Italy.
Now Lady Astor, get a load of this.
Don't stand up on a platform and talk a load of piss.
You're the nation's sweetheart, the nation's pride
We think your mouth's too bloody wide.
We are the D-Day Dodgers, in Sunny Italy.
When you look 'round the mountains, through the mud and rain
You'll find the crosses, some of which bear no name.
Heartbreak, toil, and suffering gone
The boys beneath them slumber on
They were the D-Day Dodgers, who'll stay in Italy.
So listen all you people, over land and foam
Even though we've parted, our hearts are close to home.
When we return we hope you'll say
"You did your little bit, though far away
All of the D-Day Dodgers, way out there in Italy."
'When they call us D-day Dodgers - which D-day do they mean, old man?'
Do you know that the men of the Italian Campaign were bothered by the lack of recognition that the Italian Campaign was given to them during their lives?
In 2019, Mark Cole wrote, “I did hear plenty of comments by my grandfather grumbling about news coverage of forces in France taking front pages while successes in Italy took back pages.”
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In 2019, Rachelle Shelley Adler Donley said that her father, Private First Class Martin Adler of Company D of the 339th Regiment of the 85th Division, (at the age of 95) “is feeling his age, he admits it bothers him.”
Rachelle also wrote, “My dad recently admitted after denying it for so long, that the lack of recognition given to the Italian campaign bothers him. He gets angry for those that gave all. Their actions are not given the credit due for victory over the axis. His nightmares continue to this day from what he and his brothers in arms endured.”
Martin Adler with the Naldi children — Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana — in the autumn of 1944. |Credit...Matteo Incerti, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Do you know that, in 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill termed Italy ‘the soft underbelly of Europe’?
Far from being the ‘soft underbelly of Europe’, Italy became one of the war’s most exhausting campaigns.
The reason that the Italian Campaign was so difficult is that “Mountainous Italy was a hard place to fight and mistakes were made by both sides.”
Do you know that my dad’s 85th Division had NO mountain training in the USA before departing to Europe on January 1, 1944?
My dad and his 85th Division spent almost two years on the desert training in order to prepare them to fight the Germans in North African desert. The 85th Division became the first US division to complete desert training during the hot months of June, July & August (1943).
In 2017, I conducted a poll on the Facebook Group page -”85th Infantry Division Custer”:
Did your 85th ID man hike on the higher hills or mountains again after the war?
31% - Nope, he seemed to refuse hiking on the mountains again.
26% - Hmm, I don't recall.
18% - Of course, he loved to walk/pace on the flat land, such inside a shopping center.
18% - He loved to hike at any higher place.
6% - Dad loved to walk every where.
1% - He hiked in Italy or Switzerland after the war, but not yet in the U.S.A.
Troops of the 85th Division enter the gates of Rome. (National Archives)
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"Continue to water the seed of peace planted in the hearts of others!," wrote my Minturno (Italy) WWII tour guide, Mario Mirco Mendico (pictured), at the Minturno War Cemetery on May 17, 2024
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My Substack subscriber, Patris, amended:
“American soldiers have died all over the world opposing dictators and fascists like Hitler and Mussolini.
