Expect the unexpected could well have been the byword of Anzio. Everything came our way from unmanned tanks, one man submarines, E-boats, land and sea mines to radio controlled bombs. This was in addition to the steady shelling and air raids.

m the air attacks. Jerry usually came in from the north dropping blue-white flares which lit up the anchorage like a full moon. Then he went to work like a surgeon, the larger bombers staying high picking off the larger ships, and sowing the sea with those deadly mines, while the smaller dive bombers and fighters wove in and out strafing and skip bombing.

Taking advantage of the confusion of the raid were the E-boats and one man submarines. A burning ship brought these in as well as the artillery from the hills. Our little PC boats which patrolled the outer perimeter could often be seen firing point blank at these intruders.

In the morning as the haze from the smoke pots and burning ships lifted, small wooden mine sweepers (Many of them were built at Snow's Shipyard in Rockland, Maine.) swept the area. I recall an incident when one almost a mile away detonated one of these mines and shook the ship from stem to stem while raising a column of water hundreds of feet into the air.

There must have been more than two types of artillery used by the Germans. I attributed the small whistling ones with the sharp crack to the 88, while the whoosh-whoosh and heavy boom to the Anzio Express, a 280 mm railway gun.

Radio controlled bombs happened now and then. They usually came in lone plane raids during the day. One afternoon I had just came back from the beach and was sitting down to my evening meal when a huge explosion rocked the anchorage. By the time I got my tray secured so the rolls of the ship wouldn't dump it, I was alone in the mess hall. I climbed up a nearby

escape hatch. A Liberty ship to our starboard was burning fiercely. From the various post war accounts, I have learned the ship was the Elihu Yale. She had been hit by a radio controlled bomb. It had been a fearful explosion and the accuracy was uncanny. Fortunately, Naval intelligence was able to pick up the radio signals as the bombs and escorting plane warmed up at an airport outside Rome, and the number of successes were limited.

Three uniformed Italians were in the mess hall one morning when we went down for chow. One was in a litter along the bulkhead. He was badly hurt and said nothing. One sat at the mess table with an arm in a sling and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain. The third seemed to be the leader and spoke some English. He was uninjured. He told us he came from outside Milan, and was one of Mussolini's "Black Shirts." I made note of the fact that Italy had been out of the war since last September . He shrugged his shoulders and gave the impression that what he had done was quite honorable.

For many years I had attributed these light blue uniforms to Italy's air arm. They appeared just after an air raid. I have never been able to confirm this. I have found a reference in "Anzio," by Wynfred Vaughn -Thomas, to a torpedo boat raid on February 18th under the leadership of Prince Borghese. Therefore it is more probable that these were the ones with whom I spoke.