| Original caption: “Germans say these are American prisoners — Caption for this German photo, supplied by a Swedish agency, says it shows American prisoners behind barbed wire after their capture at Aprilia in the Anzio beachhead area south of Rome. The photograph was sent by radio to New York from Stockholm by the Swedish source.” The model “Fascist Town” of Aprilia, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anzio, was ordered by Prime Minister and Dictator Benito Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) on April 25, 1936, to be built on reclaimed land. The forest was denuded and the marsh drained. Italians from all over came to settle on small estates of 4 to 12 hectares (10 to 30 acres). “It had the appearance of a fortress.” It was so new, it wasn’t even on most maps. It consisted of only 25 or 30 buildings. The United Kingdom Royal Army 1st Infantry Division occupied Aprilia on January 24, 1944. They called the town la fabbrica (“the factory”), but the town only manufactured misery and death from January to May 1944. Nazi German counterattacks forced the Allies back. Aprilia fell to repeated British assaults again in early February. The Nazi Germans took Aprilia back in the evening of February 3. The 1st Infantry Division was spent, unable to hold even its fallback defensive line. Aprilia was dubbed “Smelly Farm” by the British due to its large manure pile and, later, the putrid odor of dead and decaying livestock. The Nazi Germans claimed 900 were taken prisoner. Major General John P. Lucas (January 14, 1890 – December 24, 1949), Commander, VI Corps, pulled the 1st Infantry Division and brought in his reserves from the United States Army 45th “Thunderbird” Infantry Division. Had both regiments attacked, they might have retaken it. Instead, 1 regiment received the mission. The regiment delegated the job to a battalion. The battalion in turn assigned the task to a rifle company. Supported by another rifle company and by 2 companies of tanks, the designated assault company attacked, but could do little. When the leading tank in support moved through an underpass and drove boldly toward Aprilia, It fell prey at once to a direct shell hit. The 2nd tank in column managed to go 200 yards farther before being blown up, the victim of a mine. Though a handful of infantrymen fought their way into Aprilia behind a screen of smoke, the troops found themselves opposed by a battalion of Germans emerging from deep cellars, which had protected them from American artillery fire. The Americans were driven out. Another attempt to recapture Aprilia on the following day also met with defeat. With 8 tanks lost in 2 days and several others damaged, with the assaulting rifle company reduced to 3 officers and 40 men. General Lucas called off the struggle. A major effort, he decided, would be necessary to take back the Factory. And this, he judged, was hardly feasible at the moment. With this, the fighting diminished. Both sides took a respite. Lucas, considered too timid, was sacked and replaced by General Lucian K. Truscott Jr. (January 9, 1895 – September 12, 1965). The Nazi German assaults initially slackened in mid-February; they were building up for a major counterattack on February 15. The 157th Infantry, 45th Division called in artillery strikes on their own position to stop panzers. Despite horrific casualties, soldaten jumped into American foxholes to fight hand-to-hand. Elements of the 157th fell back to an overpass and caves to fight until they were killed or captured. The Caves were encircled. The 45th Infantry Division had hold to prevent the beachhead from being split in 2. American artillery and air attacks were relentless. Hans Schuhle (???? – ????), of the 7th Company, Lehr Regiment, recalled the relentless shelling and bombing during his unit’s attack. “The terrible fire had already completely demolished us before the attack and our morale was destroyed. With guns, we were threatened by our officers and non-commissioned officers and forced to leave our shelters and go into the attack. “The enemy artillery became even stronger and we could find shelter only in the shell holes…I found myself with an American in the same hole…We stared into each other’s eyes, neither of us reacting. I then understood that the American infantry were under the fire of their own artillery.” Afterward Schuhle took the American prisoner and marched him back to his own lines, disregarding an order from an officer to kill the GI. The next day, Schuhle realized his regiment “did not exist anymore.” This was the Lehr Regiment’s 1st time in battle; even Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the German commander in Italy, later acknowledged the unit should never have led such an assault. Pulled off the line, the remnants of the Lehr spent the next 2 days carrying dead Germans back to casualty-collection points. After multiple attacks that brought the Nazi Germans right up to the mouth of the caves, the 157th Infantry, reinforced by British infantry, was ordered to evacuate on February 22. Very few made it back to Allied lines. 2nd Battalion lost 700 of 900 men. The rest were killed or captured, along with the men too wounded to move back at the Caves. Captain Peter C. Graffagnino (February 14, 1916 – January 18, 1984), the surgeon, had insisted on staying with them and also became a prisoner. He was captured attempting to move litter patients across open ground under a Red Cross flag. Regardless, the 157th Infantry and the rest of the 45th Infantry Division had held. The Anzio beachhead would not be thrown back into the sea. It would take until late May for a breakout to occur. Hans-Paul J. Leibschner (April 8, 1925 – September 3, 2015) recalled seeing Americans captured: “Before you are taken prisoner you are often involved in close fighting, often hand to hand fighting…and then to be taken prisoner it’s like your whole world collapsing on you. You are in such a different, unknown and frustrating situation, that you simply don’t know if you are coming or going. People were usually almost deranged, as if they could not believe or make sense of what had just happened to them…There was no spirit of defiance left at that point although it might return later, after twenty-hour hours…People are very glad to be out of it and to be alive. I never experienced any trying to escape.” Allied Prisoners of War taken at Aprilia were held behind German lines in open air cages such as the 1 depicted in this photo. Then they were taken by train or truck to Durchgangslager (Dulag – “interrogation camps”), where the most useful technique was to have a pleasant conversation with the captured soldier. The American tendency for overexaggeration rendered some intelligence questionable; with thousands of men to be processed, it was also not always timely. The men were then sent by truck or train to Prisoner of War camps in Germany. That journey could be somewhat perilous; if the captured GIs did not receive much food and did not have adequate latrine facilities, that was the least of their problems during travel. Some Prisoners of War were murdered by a German civilian or military populace furious over repeated Allied bombings. Once they reached an Offizier-Lager (Oflag – “Officer camp”) or Stammlager (Stalag -“Base camp”) they had a 99 percent survival rate, compared to 50 percent for Japanese Prisoner of War camps in Asia and the Pacific. This photo, relayed from Stockholm, was circulated nationally in March 1944. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0671.jpg |
| Image Size | 130.78 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1000 x 714 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 1, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Aprilia |
| State or Province | Lazio |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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