Rome Taken!': The Liberation of Rome,[June 4] 1944

source-https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rome-taken-liberation-rome-1944
Subtitle-The Allied capture of Rome in June 1944 marked the fall of the first Axis capital but was ultimately overshadowed by the D-Day landings in Normandy.

snip-"On June 4, 1944, the US Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark Clark entered Rome, making it the first Axis capital to fall to the Allies. While the campaign exacted a high price, the Allies would push German forces over 110 miles north of Rome by June 21 and reach the Arno River by July 23. Despite those achievements, the concurrent Normandy Campaign quickly overshadowed Allied actions in Italy and took priority for personnel and equipment.

On June 3, 1944, German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commanding Army Group C, declared Rome an open city. He ordered his forces to break contact and withdraw north of the city. Some German units, however, remained to contest Rome’s suburbs as American units advanced. After fighting through German defenses, during the night of June 4–5, elements of five American infantry divisions (the 3rd, 34th, 36th, 85th, and 88th), the 1st Armored Division, and the US–Canadian 1st Special Service Force (FSSF) advanced through Rome. The city was officially in the hands of the Fifth Army by June 5, and throngs of ecstatic Romans filled the streets to welcome columns of American soldiers. That day, major elements of the Fifth Army continued their advance through the city to engage German units along a 20-mile front on the Tiber River."




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