Carl Schwamberger wrote: ↑07 Apr 2021, 19:59
Its been over three decades since I've looked at this. Drawing from the older histories of the Italian campaign such as WGF Jackson my take is the battles surrounding the Anzio beached were important to attritioning down Kesellrings armies. Not just in men & tanks, but in ammunition, & transportation exposed and lost in supplying those counter attacks. In the context of the situation from January to June I don't think Diadem would have worked without the bloody attrition of all aspects of the German forces in Italy.
There may be some confusion in western works about the German reporting of their strength figures, particularly when they refer to 'fighting strength'.
AOK 10 had a 'fighting strength' of 81,932 men on 23rd April, AOK 14 had 76,873 on 10th May.
From the British OH:
"As April was not a taxing month in the field, the Commanders and troops of
AOK 10 were in confident mood after their successful defence of the Garigliano and Cassino fronts, and those of
AOK 14 had settled to stalemate in the Anzio beachhead. Reinforcements were of variable quality but they were arriving in satisfactory numbers numbers, and equipment in satisfactory quantity. On 7th April von Vietinghoff [GOC AOK 10] declared that his divisions were among the best in the German army and that they had received more reinforcements than any others. There were of course some worries, particularly for the administrative staff and units who were struggling to keep the L. of C. working in spite of constant air attack. Yet supplies arrived, and, on 29th April for example, Westphal [COS to Kesselring] proposed to make a special issue of ammunition to bring
AOK 10's stocks up to three 'issues' for most of its field guns. On 30th April Kesselring told
AOK 10 and
AOK 14 that the fuel available to their mobile reserves was to be brought up to five consumption units so that the formations concerned could move off at short notice. Thus fuel and ammunition were there .."