The Anzio War Cemetery

This is the closest war cemetery to both the centre of Anzio and the Operation Shingle landing beaches. It's full name is "The Commonwealth  War Graves Commission Anzio War Cemetery". It is only 1km from the town centre directly  adjacent to an Italian communal cemetery. The, larger, CWGC Anzio Beach Head Cemetery  is about 5 miles north and the , even larger, American cemetery is in the nearby town of Nettuno. The Anzio War Cemetery exclusively contains graves of those killed in the imediate locality , in contrast to the other two cemeteries which also contain burials which were relocated from later operations  in the wider Italian campaign.

The Anzio War Cemetery  is said to have a special  relationship with the local population which is probably influenced by its proximity  to the civilian cemetery directly  adjacent. The site for this cemetery was selected not long after the Anzio landings which formed Operation  Shingle and the burials here date from the period immediately following the landings.

Anzio War Cemetery contains 1,056 Commonwealth burials The cemetery was designed by  the British architect Louis de Soissons and is the subject of a well known poem by Micheal Elliot-Binns which starts with the lines :

Outside the civilian cemetery

With its cypresses and shrines

The pitiful rectangles of dust

Are dressed in military lines.

A visit here can be for many reasons. For those interested in military  history the the presence of the graves of soldiers from several now defunct or merged local regiments is of particular interest. These include the  Sherwood  Forresters Regiment (recruited from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) ( https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/crich-stand&ved=2ahUKEwig8fmE5amJAxWtREEAHTsLESgQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw37iWpR07rAYsNuKV1tsqAg), the, strangely  named, Loyal  Regiment (recruited from North Lancashire) and the Royal Berkshire  regiment , whose 10th battalion,  which served at Anzio after being renamed from the 50th Holding Battalion largely made up, at the time of its formation,  of soldiers who were medically unfit or, in army terms, homeless , having just returned  from overseas service.