June 13, 1944 — New orders can only mean one thing, amphibious training
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June 12, 2024
June 14, 1944 — Dad has enough time to write a long letter to his best friend
June 14, 2024Although few officers or men in the 3d Division knew it, our future part in the war had long been scheduled. Rome was merely a breathing period.[1]
The seeming lap of luxury into which the 3rd Infantry Division had been suddenly dumped was to prove only a resting place between campaigns—and a very short one at that. The doubts that it was too good to be true shortly materialized.
Orders were received June 13 that the Division would move south of Castel Prezinano, near the Lido di Roma on the Tyrhennian Coast about twenty miles from Rome, preparatory to returning to Naples.
The order crystallized in most minds as having but one significance—amphibious training. What else?
The Division had never failed to commence practicing for landing operations in its several withdrawals from combat, and battle-wise veteans of Casablanca, Sicily, and Southern Italy summarized the prevalent feeling in very few words: “Where the hell’s it going to be this time?”
The move commenced June 14 and was completed June 16.[2]
[1] Taggart, 191.
[2] Taggart, 191.
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