Pictured above is the HMS-LST 422, the ship that Clifton was aboard during the Battle of Anzio.
The only record of Clifton’s time in Europe as a member of the 83rd Chemical Battalion, Motorized is during his time in the North African area and the coast of Italy.
On January 26, 1944 a fleet of Allied ships was deploying forces along the Italian coast. Clifton was stationed at the Anzio beachhead in the midst of the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The planned landing on the coast was known as Operation Shingle.
The Battle of Anzio, which Clifton was involved in, was a part of this campaign. Its goal was to overcome the German forces in the area to make the capture of Rome possible.
The 83rd Chemical Battalion was a part of the northwestern U.S. forces that targeted the area known as “Yellow Beach.” Their target was Anzio.
Clifton was on board the HMS LST-422 under the command of Lt. Commander Broadhurst. The ship that Clifton was aboard was carrying “trucks, Jeeps, M3 halftracks, ambulances, and other vehicles. She also carried steel barrels of gasoline lashed to the deck, plus a variety of ammunition.”
Pictured above is a map of Anzio beachhead, the location of the Battle of Anzio.