In the early hours of 22 January 1944 a convoy of 374 ships disembarked the 1st British Division on the coast running from Tor Caldara to Tor San Lorenzo just north of Anzio, while the 3rd American Division landed on the beaches between Nettuno and Torre Astura, named Peter Beach and X Ray Beach by the Allied forces. On January 22, 1944, at 2AM, the fleet of the 6th Allied Army Corps, under the orders of General John Porter Lucas, equipped with 253 amphibious units and 140 war units, the landing on the coast of Nettuno and Anzio began. A massive military operation that turned out to be far more difficult than expected. The landing of Anzio - Nettuno, also known as Operation Shingle, was remembered as one of the most dramatic phases of the Second World War fought on Italian territory. The idea was to bypass the German defense line Gustav - which blocked the advance a little further south, near Cassino - and free Rome.

The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle)

The World War II Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial site in Italy covers 77 acres, rising in a gentle slope from a broad pool with an island and cenotaph flanked by groups of Italian cypress trees. Beyond the pool is the immense field of headstones of 7,845 of American military war dead, arranged in gentle arcs on broad green lawns beneath rows of Roman pines. The majority of these individuals died in the liberation of Sicily (July 10 to August 17, 1943); in the landings in the Salerno Area (September 9, 1943) and the heavy fighting northward; in the landings at Anzio Beach and expansion of the beachhead (January 22, 1944 to May 1944); and in air and naval support in the regions.

The Beach Head War Cemetery (not to be confused with the Anzio War Cemetery) is located 5 km north of Anzio town and is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It houses 2,316 soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Second World War from the Commonwealth. 1,917 graves belong to soldiers from the United Kingdom. 68 Canadians form the second largest group, followed by soldiers from South Africa (25) Australia (6), India (5) and New Zealand (4).