An attack across the Mussolini Canal was the first objective of the 504

The war in Central Italy had turned into a meat grinder of allied men and material. Central Italy is Mountainous terrain and the Fall and Winter rain turns the roads into mud which caused the allies to slow into a disadvantageous grind. General Clark planed to circumnavigate this quagmire in, "Operation "Shingle". This was to be an amphibious operation with the objective of driving on the Alban hills, cutting enemy communications south of Rome allowing the Fifth Army to breach the Gustav Line and drive on the Liri Valley. The 504th mission at first was to be a vertical envelopment of the enemy in a sector behind the coastal town of Anzio, which is 28 miles South of Rome.

The 504th had been separated from the 82nd Airborne Division at the special request of Winston Churchill and General Mark Clark. The remainder of the 82nd was deployed to Northern Ireland late in October after the liberation of Naples. They were to train for the Normandy jump. It was thought that the 504th could rejoin the 82nd after the Anzio operation. The 504th was formed into the 504th Parachute Combat Team, commanded by Colonel Reuben H. Tucker. The Combat team was composed of the 504th, 376th Parachute Artillery Battalion and Company C of the 307th Parachute Engineers.

Dawn the morning of January 22nd found the men of the 504th standing on "Red Beach" Anzio the objective assigned to the team. Aside from a LST sinking off the port bow of the lead 504th craft all went very smoothly. Things were not to go as smoothly for the remainder of the 504th's stay on Anzio Beachhead. The quiet was shattered with the roar of 88's and the diving of Me-109's out of the sun machine guns blazing onto the paratroopers. A hit had struck LCI 20 G Companies boat. The regiment took up position on the right flank of the beachhead in the area of bridge number two and numbers five over the Mussolini Canal. First Battalion successfully took bridge number five. Col Williams committed A Company along with a platoon of tanks and 57 mm guns manned by the 376, the enemy was sent fleeing across the canal bridge number five was now secured.

The 504th then settled down around the Mussolini Canal after the indecision of Lt. Gen. John P. Lucas who failed to capitalize on initial gains and allowed the assault to develop into a stalemate. Axis Sally called it "The largest self-supporting prisoner-of-war camp in the world." The 504th continued to probe and engage the enemy suffering heavy losses. As a result of actions of the regiment they gained outpost positions on the other side of the Mussolini Canal. After a week of holding and attacking along this front from bridge number five south to the sea, the 504 were relieved in that sector. The 3rd Battalion was attached to the First Armored Division and sent to the Northern (British) flank of the beachhead, while the remainder of the Combat Team was sent North of bridge number Five to participate in an attack scheduled to take place in the Third Division sector.

The 3rd Battalion, after several days in reserve with the 1st Armored Division was committed with the British First (Guards) Division in the Carreceto sector. German artillery fire in this sector was unusually intense and it was here that the enemy launched his main drive to push the beachhead into the sea. After one of the heaviest artillery barrages ever experienced by 504 men, the Germans began their attack in the early hours of February 5, 1944. On successive days British units were cut off from the 3rd Battalion, which was forced to withdraw to the famous "Factory" in Mussolini's wonder-town of Aprilia. Enemy railroad guns and dive-bombers then concentrated their efforts on the 3d Battalion garrison. The paratroopers suffered several casualties, and by the time enemy infantry moved in, the companies had been reduced in strength to between 20 and 30 men.

Fierce hand-to-hand fighting ensued, in which the paratroopers by sheer determination and courage, were able to repel repeated German onslaughts. Rather than remain in the exposed positions in which they now found themselves, they withdrew to a railroad underpass several hundred yards behind the "factory" and established defensive positions. H Company was ordered to attack and attempt to rescue of a British General who had been captured. After bloody fighting, they recaptured the General, only to find themselves cut off from friendly forces. I Company was then ordered to attack and make contact with H Company. The 16 men remaining in the company carried out this mission successfully and a semblance of order was restored to this sector the backbone of the German attack had been broken. It was for this outstanding performance in the period 8-12 February; the 3rd Battalion was given one of the first Presidential Citations in the European Theater of Operations.

The 1st Battalion was simultaneously involved in action with the Third Division. On January 30, they jumped off in an attack that was to take them to the Cisterna River. Near the first bridge objective over the Mussolini Canal, strong enemy forces engaged them. The reserve company was committed and the enemy driven back across the stream, first blowing the bridge behind him and thus saving the paratroopers the trouble. Much enemy material in the form of halftracks, 75mm howitzers, small arms, and vehicles was either captured or destroyed in this attack. Eighty prisoners were taken with very heavy casualties inflicted upon the enemy. 504th losses wee comparatively light.

For the remainders of their eight weeks stay on the Anzio beachhead 504 men found themselves confronted with a defensive situation, rather than offensive for which they had been trained. It became trench-type warfare similar to WW I. The troopers were not taught and did not enjoy fighting this type of war. However they dug in and did not yield ground. The men of the Regimental Recon Platoon as well as the Battalion Recon troopers rose to the occasion at Anzio during this stalemate. Recon is especially important on this type of battlefield, when you are nose to nose with the enemy. You need intelligence from prisoners and knowledge of sound traffic on the other side of the line in case the enemy is planning an attack. The men of these recon units struck out from friendly lines penetrating the German lines in darkness. They ruled the night striking fear in the hearts of the Germans carrying off prisoners and killing any who resisted. One Pfc. became a legend in the 504 in this type of warfare. His Sgt. Thomas McCarthy Hq1, S2 said of him, "He was simply the best recon man in the business". That man was Theodore H. Bachenheimer. He was a German Jew who had immigrated to the United States from Germany to escape the Nazi's with his family. This strongly built teenage along with his recon pals gave the Germans facing the 504 nightmares.:

Entry found in the diary of a German officer killed at Anzio:

"American parachutists -- devils in baggy pants -- are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere..."

On the Anzio Beachhead, 15 February 1944: They call him "the Daniel Webster of no-man's land" on this beachhead, because he would rather argue a Jerry into surrendering than kill him. He is Private Theodore Bachenheimer, 20 years old and a Master of the German language and a former student of drama at the Los Angeles City College in California. So far he has persuaded eight Germans to surrender. Three Germans who refused to fall for his arguments fell for his rifle. "You should give them a chance to be taken prisoner without resorting to rough stuff too soon", Bachenheimer explained to me. "These three I killed just would not go for my oratory". I wanted to take them prisoners, but they would not listen. We had to fight it out with bullets, instead of words and I won. Sometimes my German language persuasiveness does not go over and the argument breaks off in rifle fire. It was that way to the other night. I told a fellow to stick his hands up and he yelled back in the darkness 'what for'. I gave him plenty of good reasons why, but he was not convinced. He fired at me and missed. I did better and got him. But that was weakness in my oratory, because obviously the German soldier should be glad to give up in this war. Bachenheimer spent the first eleven years of his life in Germany and then went to California, where he became interested in the theatre. He is a naturalized American citizen. He lives at 1460 North Alta Vista, Los Angeles From the Hollywood Times - by Reynolds Packard

Fred Baldino remembers a mission with Ted Bachenheimer:

At Anzio; I got to know Ted Bachenheimer much better as the beachhead was stationary. For over the four months that we were there, Ted seemed to find his niche in Recon. Ted just loved to go out on patrols behind enemy lines--most of the time by himself and he would bring back prisoners. I, as corporal at that time along with fourteen others, went out on a patrol with Ted leading the way. We slowly made our way through a German minefield. I remembered one newcomer to the front saying, "Look we are going through a German cemetery, look at the crosses down there". I told him, "cemetery hell". Those crosses had "Actung Minen" written on them. Somehow we got through that minefield unscathed. Soon we were in German territory and were walking quietly when we heard some 'guttural' voices and we all laid down flat. About 20 yards away we could faintly see about a platoon of German soldiers. They were evidently relieving their outposts with fresh troops. After they passed on, Ted told us to stay put and he walked up to the outpost and asked the two Germans inside the foxhole for a light for his cigarette. When they went to do so, Ted calmly told them they were surrounded and he took them prisoner. We headed back to our own lines and Ted got ahead of us with the two prisoners and we lost sight of him. Meanwhile, someone did not tell our own artillery that we were out there and we started to get artillery shells coming down around us. If that was not bad enough, every 3rd or 4th one was a phosphorus shell. Now we had been under German artillery before but when it comes to firing for effect it is hard to beat the American artillery. Those shells were dropping all around us, but the worst thing that happened was some of the guys got their jumpsuits scorched. On the way back, we came to a ditch along the side of a road and laid down, as we had to wait for two stragglers. As we lay there waiting for them to catch up with us, we heard German boots marching down the road. Probably a noncom checking on his men. We had every intention of letting him walk past, but one of the men took the safety off his M1 Rifle, making a sound of 'click'. The German soldier looked over at the ditch and said 'was ist los'. Well, every man in the ditch let loose with everything they had. Our stragglers, by now on the other side of the ditch, later told us they saw rifle fire was coming out of the Germans' back. Soon it seemed that every outpost in the vicinity was firing his weapon in our direction. Luckily we were lying down in the ditch. After a while we slowly made our way back to our own lines