Anzio Express

The Anzio Express was a concealed German artillery piece whose nightly bombardment made it one of the most frightening features of the four-month standoff at Anzio. Its importance in the account lies not only in its destructive reach but in the sound that announced it: a freight-car-like roar overhead, recurring after dark and leaving soldiers unable to know who would be hit next.

Weapon and Concealment

The soldiers gave the artillery piece its nickname. It was kept camouflaged during daylight so Allied aircraft could not locate it, then moved into position after dark, when the planes were grounded. The account places it on a railroad track outside Rome. Its concealment and nighttime movement made the bombardment part of a recurring cycle: the weapon was difficult to find by day, but its shells could arrive again after nightfall.

The Nightly Bombardment

The incoming shell sounded to the soldiers like a boxcar passing overhead in the night sky. The description makes the weapon perceptible first as sound: before its impact could be seen, its immense noise marked the danger and made each firing demoralizing. Soldiers knew that men not far away could be struck and killed so completely that no bodies remained to send home. The possibility of being next gave each barrage a personal immediacy, even when the victims were out of sight.

Life Under Fire

The Anzio Express was part of an unrelenting bombardment rather than an isolated threat. Soldiers spent four months in dugouts, unable to leave during daylight without risking being picked off; at night, men took turns standing out on the perimeter as an outpost about a hundred yards away, trying to let the others sleep. Conventional shelling rattled them during the day, while the Anzio Express intensified the fear after dark. The repeated exposure, the sleepless watch, and the uncertainty of where the next shell would fall turned the weapon into a continuing pressure on the men holding the position.