Replies

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The 3d Division and the 1st, 3d, and 4th Ranger Battalions under Col. William O. Darby were responsible for the initial attack on Cisterna. The 1st and 3d Rangers were to spearhead the assault by infiltrating the German lines and seizing and holding Cisterna until the 4th Rangers and 15th Infantry, 3d Division, arrived via the Conca-Cisterna Road. Meanwhile, at 0200, 30 January, the 7th Infantry, 3d Division, was to push on the left to a point above Cisterna and cut Highway 7, while the 15th Infantry passed to the right of Cisterna and cut the highway south of town. As a diversion the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment would attack along the Mussolini Canal. Unknown to the Americans, their assault was aimed directly at the center of the area where thirty-six enemy battalions were massing for their 1 February counterattack.

The Rangers moved out at 0130 to the right of the Conca-Cisterna Road and by dawn were within 800 yards of Cisterna. But German soldiers of the 715th Motorized Infantry Division discovered the lightly armed Ranger force during the night and sprang a devastating ambush at first light. Heavy fighting broke out and the Rangers were pinned down quickly by an enemy superior in arms and numbers. Efforts by the 4th Rangers and 15th Infantry to rescue the beleaguered units failed, and by noon armored units of the Hermann Goering Division had forced the Rangers into the open. The Americans had only grenades and bazookas for antitank weapons, and as they attempted a fighting withdrawal in small and scattered groups they were cut down mercilessly. Of the 767 men in the two battalions, only 6 eventually returned to Allied lines.

In spite of the disaster that befell the Rangers, the 7th and 15th Infantry regiments continued their attacks toward Cisterna, one soldier recalling that the defenders clung stubbornly to their entrenched positions while launching locally heavy counterattacks. Sgt. Truman O. Olson, a light machine gunner with Company B. 7th Infantry, took part in one sixteen-hour assault on entrenched enemy positions in which one-third of his company became casualties. Having seized a toehold, the survivors dug in while Sergeant Olson and his crew took their one available machine gun and placed it forward of the line to bear the brunt of an expected enemy counterattack. Although he had been firing without respite all day, Olson stuck grimly to his post throughout the night while his gun crew was killed, one by one, by accurate and overwhelming enemy fire. Weary from over twenty-four hours of continuous battle and suffering from an arm wound, Olson manned his gun alone, meeting the full force of a 200-man enemy dawn assault supported by mortars and machine guns. After thirty minutes of fighting, Olson was severely wounded, but he refused evacuation. For an hour and a half after receiving a second and subsequently fatal wound, he continued to fire his machine gun, killing at least twenty of the enemy, wounding many more, and ultimately forcing the attackers to withdraw. For his actions Sergeant Olson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

While some progress was made by 3d Division units in the face of noticeably stronger enemy resistance, by nightfall on 31 January the Americans were still one mile from the village, battling stubbornly forward but unable to break through. On the following day fighting was equally inconclusive, and by noon it had become obvious, after three days of costly attacks and counterattacks, that the Americans could not capture Cisterna, still 1,500 yards away. Heeding intelligence reports delivered on 2 February, which indicated the arrival of new German units in the Anzio area and an imminent enemy counterattack, Truscott, on the orders of Clark and Lucas, again told his command to dig in.

The other prong of the Allied attack launched by the British 1st Division and CCA, 1st Armored Division, toward Campoleone and the Alban Hills initially fared little better. Rain-soaked terrain, fierce enemy fire, and ubiquitous minefields slowed CCA's advance, and by nightfall on 30 January the unit was still struggling to reach its line of departure. The British succeeded in advancing two miles the first day, but they also failed to breach the German defenses. General Lucas changed plans for the second day of the attack and ordered the British to breach the enemy line along the Albano Road at Campoleone for exploitation by CCA. During the next two days the Allies reached Campoleone, penetrated the German main line, and opened a two-mile-wide gap. But the exhausted Allied troops were unable to exploit their success, and the drive ground to a halt.

The failure of the Allied breakout attempt, stymied by stiff resistance, convinced Alexander, Clark, and Lucas that an enemy counterattack must be in the offing. Reinforcements were rushed to Anzio, including 1,800 men of the American-Canadian 1st Special Service Force, elements of the British 56th Division, and additional antiaircraft and artillery units, raising the total number of Allied soldiers in the beachhead to 100,000.

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Anzio - 1944 - Jan. 23rd, 2003
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-A-Anzio/

The German Counter-attack

Despite these additions, the Fourteenth Army outnumbered the Allies at Anzio by 4 February. But the German force was a hodgepodge of rapidly thrown together units. All were critically short of ammunition, training, qualified leaders, and reserves. Allied air attacks had disrupted communications, hampered troop and supply movements, and caused morale problems. From the outset Mackensen had doubted the available force could eliminate the Anzio beachhead, but he prepared a forceful counterattack nonetheless.

The 4th Parachute and 65th infantry Divisions of the I Parachute Corps were to pinch off the Campoleone salient and recapture the Factory at Aprilia. The same units would then break through to the sea along the Albano Road. Elsewhere the LXXVI Panzer Corps, consisting of the 3d Panzer Grenadier, 715th Motorized Infantry, 71st Infantry, Hermann Goering, and 26th Panzer Divisions would attack south of Cisterna along the Mussolini Canal and attempt to breach the Allied perimeter and advance on Nettuno and Anzio.

The counterattack opened with an artillery barrage on 3-4 February, followed by armored and infantry assaults which smashed into the partially prepared British 1st Division defenses in the Campoleone salient. The British held, despite suffering 1,400 casualties, but their dangerously exposed position prompted Lucas to order their withdrawal to one mile north of the Factory and Carroceto on the night of 4-5 February, a retreat of about 2.5 miles. Although the salient was eliminated, the Germans failed to break the Allied line or retake the Factory. The undulating and soggy Albano Road area was just as inhospitable to German armor and infantry as it had been to Allied forces the week before.

However, the critical situation the Germans created in the Allied center convinced Lucas to form a beachhead defense line running from the Moletta River in the north, through the fields of the central sector, to the Mussolini Canal in the south. He issued orders to all Allied troops that this was the final line of resistance to be held at all costs—the shallow beachhead precluded any further retreat.

The Germans renewed their attacks on 7 February in the weakened British 1st Division sector and, in two days of bitter fighting, pushed the British troops from the Factory and Carroceto. Although battered and exhausted, they managed to maintain a coherent line and were reinforced on 10 February by the 1st Armored Regiment, CCA, 1st Armored Division (itself at 50 percent strength), the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the 179th and 157th regiments of the U.S. 45th Infantry Division. Ordered to counterattack and retake Aprilia on 11 February, the 179th Infantry and 191st Tank Battalion began a two-pronged attack seeking to outflank the Germans holding the Factory. In two days of costly, hand-to-hand fighting, the Americans failed to retake the lost ground, but inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Lucas still expected further attacks in the weakened central sector and removed the British 1st Division from the line, replacing it with the British 56th and U.S. 45th Infantry Divisions. As an added precaution, VI Corps artillery was strengthened and Allied tactical air attacks were stepped up.

Spurred by the elimination of the Campoleone salient, the Germans continued their counterattack on 16 February by moving down the Anzio-Albano Road on a four-mile front. The brunt of the assault hit the 45th Division sectors held by the 157th and 179th Infantry regiments. The initial attacks by the 3d Panzer Grenadier and 715th Motorized Infantry Divisions were beaten back with heavy losses, allowing only minor penetrations, while the 180th Infantry rebuffed lighter attacks. Just before midnight, however, enemy persistence paid off. A gap was created between the 179th and 157th Infantry, which was promptly exploited by three German regiments supported by sixty tanks. By dawn the Germans had driven a two-by-one-mile wedge in the center of the 45th Division and were poised to break the Allied line, threatening the entire beachhead. Compounding the already critical situation, the 179th Infantry attempted to withdraw in full view of the enemy the following afternoon and suffered heavy casualties. All through 16-17 February the Allies scrambled to plug the gap with hastily redeployed 90-mm. antiaircraft guns, naval gunfire, and units of the 1st Armored Division. The XII Tactical Air Command flew 730 ground support sorties and later claimed that the total weight of bombs dropped and the number of bombers employed was the greatest ever allotted up to that date in direct support of ground forces.

The Germans launched a more intense assault against the 45th Division at dawn on 18 February and destroyed one battalion of the 179th Infantry before pushing the remainder of the unit back a half mile farther to Lucas' final defensive line by midmorning. Fearing that the 179th Infantry was in danger of giving way, Lucas ordered Col. William O. Darby to take command of the unit and allow no further retreat. The regiment held, later counting 500 dead Germans in front of its positions. Elsewhere, the 180th and 157th regiments also held their positions in spite of heavy losses during three days of German attacks. By midday, Allied air and artillery superiority had turned the tide. When the Germans launched a final afternoon assault against the 180th and 179th regiments, it was halted by air strikes and massed mortar, machine gun, artillery, and tank fire. Subsequent enemy attacks on 19 and 20 February were noticeably weaker and were broken up by the same combination of Allied arms before ground contact was made The crisis had passed, and while harassing attacks continued until 22 February, VI Corps went over to the offensive locally and succeeded in retaking some lost ground.

The Germans could ill afford the loss of the 5,389 men killed, wounded, and missing during their five-day counterattack. Enemy troop morale plummeted, and many units lost their offensive capability. The 65th Infantry Division's combat strength had dropped to 673 effectives by 23 February, and one regiment of the 715th Motorized Infantry Division numbered fewer than 185 men. Allied casualties numbered some 3,496 killed, wounded, or missing in addition to 1,637 nonbattle casualties from trench foot, exposure, and combat exhaustion. Allied commanders at Anzio often claimed that losses would have been lower if soldiers were periodically rotated away from the lines, but replacements simply were not available. All 96,401 Allied soldiers were required to hold the 35-mile perimeter against an estimated ten German divisions in the Fourteenth Army, totaling 120,000 men by 12 February.

At midnight, 28 February, German artillery signaled the commencement of the new attack. But VI Corps and 3d Division artillery responded in mass, returning twenty shells for each one fired by the Germans, expending 66,000 rounds on 29 February alone. When the enemy infantry advanced at dawn at a half-dozen points along the 3d Division front, only one attack made any progress, penetrating 800 yards northeast of Carano before being halted with heavy losses. The other attacks fared less well amid a hail of American artillery and mortar fire. Attacking on too broad a front, the Germans lacked the overwhelming strength needed to break through anywhere, and by the end of the day they had barely dented the American line. Over the next several days, the well-entrenched Americans, supported by closely coordinated artillery, armor, and air support, shattered subsequent German attacks. Even though the 7th and 15th Infantry regiments and the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion often were hard pressed and suffered heavy losses between 1 and 4 March at the hands of the 715th and the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Divisions, all three units held their positions and beat back successive enemy assaults. The Germans continued to seek a breakthrough, but their efforts gradually weakened. Mackensen realized that the Fourteenth Army had spent itself in a costly and futile offensive after a last German assault failed on 4 March.

The final five-day German counterattack cost 3,500 men killed, wounded, and missing, plus thirty tanks destroyed. It had failed to eliminate the beachhead, and 3d Division counterattacks quickly reclaimed all territory. From then, the Germans went over to the defensive, clearly incapable of mounting any further serious offensive action.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 05:
1718 Thomas Chippendale England, furniture maker (baptized)
1723 Adam Smith Kirkcaldy Scot, economist (Wealth of Nations) (baptized)
1819 John Couch Adams co-discover (Neptune)
1823 George Thorndike Angell Mass, lawyer (ASPCA)
1825 Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry Georgia, educator (Rep-Ala, 1857-61)
1878 Francisco (Pancho) Villa Mexico, revolutionary/guerrilla leader
1883 John Maynard Keynes Cambridge England, economist/math/journalist
1887 Ruth Benedict US, anthropologist (Patterns of Culture)
1895 William Boyd Ohio, cowboy (Hopalong Cassidy)
1900 Dennis Gabor inventor (holography (3D laser photography))
1905 Art Donovan NFL defensive tackle (Balt, NY Yanks, Dallas)
1928 Robert Lansing SD Calif, actor (12 O'Clock High, Equalizer, Automan)
1934 Bill D Moyers Hugo Okla, news commentator (Bill Moyers' Journal)
1937 Waylon Jennings Littlefield Tx, country singer (Dukes of Hazzard)
1938 Marion Chapman smallest known premature baby to survive (280 g)
1939 Ken Follett spy author (Eye of the the Needle)
1946 Stefania Sandrelli Viareggio Italy, actress (The Key)
1959 Michael Winans gospel singer (The Winans)

Deaths which occurred on June 05:
221 -BC- Chu Yuan China's poet drowns
755 St Boniface, apostle of Germany, murdered
1864 Gen William E "Grumble" Jones killed at Piedmont
1900 Stephen Crane, author (Red Badge of Courage), dies
1916 Horatio H Kitchener British General (Sudan), dies at 65
1988 Clarence M Pendleton chairman of comm on Civil Rights (1981-88) dies
1993 Conway Twitty, country singer (Linda on My Mind), dies at 59

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 HAINES COLLINS H.---MOORESTOWN NJ.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 IBANEZ DI REYES---SAN DIEGO CA.
1968 MC MANUS TRUMAN JOSEPH---MANSFIELD CT.
1971 CAVAIANI JON R.---MERCED CA.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1971 JONES JOHN R.---EL PASO TX.
1972 KRANER DAVIS STANLEY---WENDEL CA.
1972 PAYNE KYLIS THEROD---BALTIMORE MD.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
8239 -BC- presumed origin of Mayan Era of Creation
0070 Titus & his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem
0754 Friezen murders bishop Boniface & over 50 companions
1661 Isaac Newton admitted as a student to Trinity College, Cambridge
1783 Joseph & Jacques Montgolfier make 1st public balloon flight
1794 Congress prohibits citizens from serving in foreign armed forces
1805 1st recorded tornado in "Tornado Alley" (Southern Illinois)
1806 1st trotter to break 3 minute mile (Yankee)
1833 Ada Lovelace (future 1st computer programmer) meets Charles Babbage
1849 Danish National Day-Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy
1855 Anti-foreign anti-Roman Catholic Know-Nothing Party's 1st convention
1861 - Federal marshals seize arms & gunpower at Du Pont works DE
1863 CSS "Alabama" captures the "Tailsman" in the Mid Atlantic
1863 Battle of Franklin's Crossing, VA (Deep Run)
1864 Battle of Piedmont, VA (Augusta City)
1872 Republican National Convention meets (Phila)
1876 Bananas become popular in US, at Centennial Exposition in Phila (I like bananas, because they have appeal)
1884 William Sherman refuses Republican presidential nomination saying "If nominated, I will not run. If elected I will not serve"
1885 J Palisa discovers asteroid #248 Lameia
1910 J Helffrich discovers asteroids #699 Hela & #700 Auravictrix
1912 US marines invade Cuba (3nd time)
1917 10 million US men begin registering for draft in WW I
1926 Indians triple-play Yankees & win 15-3
1933 US goes off gold standard
1934 1st formal meeting of The Baker Street Irregulars (NYC)
1937 A Bohrmann discovers asteroid #1455 Mitchella
1940 1st synthetic rubber tire exhibited Akron Oh
1940 Battle of France begins in WW II
1944 1st B-29 bombing raid; 1 plane lost due to engine failure
1945 USA, UK, USSR, France declare supreme authority over Germany
1946 Fire at LaSalle Hotel cocktail lounge kills 61 (Chicago Ill)
1947 Sec of State George C Marshall outlines "The Marshall Plan"
1950 US Supreme Court undermines legal foundations of segregation
1952 Jersey Joe Walcott beats Ezzard Charles for heavyweight boxing title
1956 Fed court rules racial segregation on Montgomery buses Unconstitutional
1957 NY narcotics investigator, Dr Herbert Berger, urges AMA to investigate use of stimulating drugs by athletes
1963 State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
1964 Davie Jones & King Bees debut "I Can't Help Thinking About Me", group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie
1967 Murderer Richard Speck sentenced to death in the electric chair
1968 Sirhan Sirhan shoots Bobby Kennedy, who dies the next day
1969 Race riot in Hartford Connecticut
1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment opens in Stockholm
1975 Suez Canal reopens (after 6 Day War caused it to close)
1976 Teton Dam in Idaho burst causing $1 billion damage (14 die)

1977 1st personal computer, the Apple II, goes on sale

1977 Coup in Seychelles (National Day)
1980 Soyuz T-2 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
1981 Center of Disease Control reports of a pneumonia affecting gays (AIDS)
1984 Indira Gandhi orders attack on Sikh's holiest site (Golden Temple)
1986 Former National Security Agency employee Ronald Pelton was convicted in Baltimore of spying for the Soviet Union. The verdict came one day after former Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage on behalf of Israel.
1987 "Nightline" presents it's 1st "Town Meeting" the subject is AIDS & the show runs until 3:47 AM
1988 Longest champagne cork flight is 177' 9" in NY
1988 Australian solo yacht sailor Kay Cottee sailed into Sydney Harbor to become the first woman to circle the globe alone and unassisted.
1989 Billy Smith, last original NY Islander, retires
1991 Space Shuttle STS 40 (Columbia 12) launched
1993 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces were killed in a series of attacks in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
1997 Harold J. Nicholson, the highest-ranking CIA officer ever caught spying against his own country, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for selling defense secrets to Russia after the Cold War.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Columbia : Thanksgiving Day
Denmark : Constitution Day (1849, 1953)
Massachusetts : Teachers' Day (Sunday)
Ireland : Bank Day (Monday)
Bahamas : Labour Day (Friday)
New Zealand : Queen's Birthday (Monday)
Western Australia : Foundation Day (1838) (Monday)
World : Meteorology Day
National Frozen Yogurt Week (Day 6)
National Iced Tea Month

Religious Observances
RC, Luth, Ang : Mem of St Boniface, bishop/martyr/apostle to Germany
Ang, RC : Ember Day
Christian] Feast of St Dorotheus of Tyre
Christian : Feast of St Sancho
Christian : Feast of St Tudno

Religious History
1860 The Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augsburg Synod in North America was founded in Wisconsin. In 1962, the Augsburg Synod became one of four branches in American Lutheranism that merged to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA).
1944 German Lutheran theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'Certainly one must try everything, but only to become more certain what God's way is.'
1960 John XXIII published his motu proprio, 'Superno Dei Nutu,' which created the necessary committees and organizational structure for the upcoming Vatican II Ecumenical Council (1962-65).
1961 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'Any fixing of the mind on old evils beyond what is absolutely necessary for repenting of our own sins and forgiving those of others is...usually bad for us.'
1967 The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War began, during which Israel took control of the Sinai Desert, the city of Jerusalem and the west bank of the Jordan River. A cease-fire arranged by the U.N. ended the conflict on June 10th.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Always remember you're unique,...just like everyone else."

Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff

Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
Hippocrates: Because of an excess of light pink gooey stuff in its pancreas.

Dumb Laws...
Rhode Island:
Any marriage where either of the parties is an idiot or lunatic is null and void.

A Cowboy's Guide to Life...
Generally, you ain't learnin' nothing when your mouth's a-jawin'.

USS ANZIO (CVE-57)

Displacement. 9,570 t.
Lenght. 512' 3"
Beam. 65' 2"
Extreme width. 108' 1"
Draft. 20'
Speed. 19.3 k.
Complement. 860
Armament. 1 5", 16 40-mm., 20 20-mm.

CASABLANCA class escort aircraft carrier

Auxiliary aircraft carrier ACV-57 was laid down on 12 December 1942 by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash. under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1094); named ALIKULA BAY on 22 January 1943; renamed CORAL SEA on 3 April 1943; launched on 1 May 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Frank J. Fletcher, wife of Vice Admiral Fletcher; redesignated CVE-57 on 15 July 1943; and commissioned at Astoria, Oreg., on 27 August 1943, Capt. Herbert W. Taylor in command.

On 24 September, CORAL SEA got underway for shakedown in Puget Sound. She arrived at San Diego, Calif., on 8 October to load aircraft and hold flight operations off the California coast. The carrier sailed for Hawaii on 25 October and, upon arrival at Pearl Harbor, joined sister ship LISCOME BAY (CVE-56) for exercises off Oahu. On 10 November, CORAL SEA steamed southwest to join the American forces about to invade the Gilbert Islands. She launched strikes on Makin Island from 20 through 28 November. When Tarawa had been captured, CORAL SEA headed for Pearl Harbor and arrived there on 5 December. She paused to embark passengers and load aircraft for transport to the United States and departed on 8 December. The carrier arrived at Alameda, Calif., on 14 December to take on new planes. She put to sea on 22 December and steamed back to Hawaii. On 28 December, CORAL SEA anchored at Pearl Harbor and began preparations for the impending assault on Kwajalein.

The escort carrier was underway on 3 January 1944 for a series of exercises in Hawaiian waters. After final fitting out, she sailed on 22 January in Task Group (TG) 52.9 and arrived in the vicinity of Kwajalein on 31 January, two days after planes of the Fast Carrier Task Force began pounding airfields on the atoll. CORAL SEA provided direct and indirect air support for the amphibious landings. On 24 February, the ship set course for Eniwetok, but was recalled to Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 March.

After a brief respite, CORAL SEA got underway again on 11 March and proceeded to the Solomon Islands. She anchored at Tulagi on 21 March, topped off with fuel, and loaded stores. Sailing again on 30 March, the escort carrier headed for Emirau Island. From 1 to 11 April she launched planes in support of forces occupying Emirau and returned to Port Purvis on 15 April.

The next day, CORAL SEA left Tulagi to assist in the reconquest of New Guinea. On the 19th, she joined TG 78.2, which was formed to support Allied footholds at Hollandia and Aitape. Her planes joined in strikes on the 22d of April, and, on 26 April, the escort carrier sailed to Seeadler Harbor for replenishment and on 7 May, headed for Espiritu Santo for availability.

Her repair period completed, the ship got underway on 8 June for Kwajalein, the staging point for the invasion of the Marianas. The American forces sortied on 10 June, and CORAL SEA helped to provide air support for landings by the 2d Marine Division on Saipan. She endured numerous Japanese air attacks during the next few days but received only minor damage. The carrier had moved south to Guam on 17 June to begin softening-up operations against that island but returned to Saipan the next day to assist the bogged-down American forces. CORAL SEA and her escorts retired to Eniwetok on 28 June but returned to Saipan on 4 July. Her planes made further air strikes before she put into Eniwetok on 15 July for repairs to her engines. Ultimately, CORAL SEA was ordered back to the United States for a much needed overhaul, and the carrier sailed on 23 July. Two days later, she paused at Kwajalein to unload most of her aircraft and ammunition and then continued via Pearl Harbor for the naval base at San Diego. CORAL SEA received word that her name had been changed to ANZIO as of 15 September.

ANZIO held sea trials off the California coast and was ready to sail for the western Pacific on 16 September and entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for a tender availability. On 8 October, the carrier began a series of training exercises; and, on the 16th, she set out for Eniwetok. There, ANZIO joined a hunter/killer group and carried out an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) mission while she was en route to Ulithi. ON 4 November, she was ordered to assist RENO (CL-96) which had been torpedoed in the Philippine Sea. When ANZIO was relieved by EXTRACTOR (ARS-15), she resumed her ASW patrols and worked at that task through mid-February 1945, when she steamed to Iwo Jima.

ANZIO resumed combat support operations on 16 February. Three days later, she launched a strike to the north on Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands. From 19 February through 4 March, ANZIO followed a schedule of launching her first flight just before sunset and recovering her last just before dawn. During these nocturnal operations, she completed 106 sorties without a single accident. ANZIO departed the Iwo Jima area on 8 March and entered San Pedro Bay at Leyte on 12 March. After 10 days of upkeep, she sailed to join the invasion of Okinawa. After providing air cover for an Okinawa-bound amphibious group, the escort carrier joined other forces in the vicinity of Kerama Retto in seizing that island group to provide an advanced base for the Fleet. The Okinawa attack began on 1 April, and ANZIO remained on line until she retired to Ulithi on 30 April for repairs to her rudder bearings. On 21 May, the carrier resumed ASW operations in the Okinawa area. This role ended 17 June, when ANZIO sailed to San Pedro Bay, Leyte, for upkeep.

ANZIO left the Philippines on 6 July to begin what proved to be her last stint of combat duty. She joined TG 30.8 and positioned herself about 600 miles east of Tokyo. ANZIO made ASW patrols in support of Admiral Halsey's attacks on the Japanese home islands. She received word of the Japanese capitulation on 15 August and sailed for Guam on 19 August. After refitting and training new flight crews, the escort carrier headed for Okinawa. From that point, she was to provide air cover and ASW patrol services for transports carrying occupation troops to Korea. On 8 September, ANZIO anchored at Jinsen, Korea, whence she provided air support for the landings of the occupation force. The escort carrier left Korea on 13 September and returned to Okinawa. On 19 September, she broke her homeward-bound pennant, became a member of a "Magic-Carpet" group, and reached San Francisco on 30 September.

While at San Francisco, ANZIO was modified to provide maximum passenger accommodations. The carrier made two trips to the western Pacific and back, one to Pearl Harbor and one to Shanghai, China, to shuttle American troops home. ANZIO arrived at Seattle, Wash., on 23 December and ended the year at that port.

On 18 January 1946, ANZIO sailed for Norfolk, Va. She paused at San Francisco then continued southward to transit the Panama Canal before finally reaching the east coast. ANZIO was placed out of commission on 5 August 1946 and became a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet berthed at Norfolk. The ship was redesignated CVHE-57 on 15 June 1955. ANZIO was struck from the Navy list on 1 March 1959 and sold to the Master Metals Co. on 24 November 1959.

ANZIO received six battle stars for service in World War II.