Tour in the footsteps of DDay Dodgers!

The British Soldiers fighting in Italy were called D-Day Dodgers because public perception in Englad was  that the war in Italy was a cake walk and that the war in France was the tough front. Lady Astor, the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, supposedly called the men in Italy D-Day Dodgers because they were avoiding the “real war.” A song called “The Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers” was composed as a response to Lady Astor’s remarks. This song is given in the comic in the final section as the corpses of the men readers have grown attached to are shown.

Memorial Tour to Anzio Beachhead!

The tour of the British Sector starts from the Port of Anzio and then we will visit the area known as "Peter Beach", where the British began their invasion of Anzio, pay respect to the Fallen at the Commonwealth Military Cemeteries, where messages and epitaphs bear testament to the lives lost during the battle of Anzio. We will head North to visit possibly Tor Caldara where there are still in place fox-holes dug by the British Soldiers after the landing and then we will move towards the wadis area where many soldiers lost their lives then  Aprilia known as "The Factory" to finish our tour in the centre of the reconstructed town. The itineray can be customized according to your interests and timeframe,  please contact us for cost and detailed itinerary.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Port of Anzio and Peter Beach
• The Commonwealth war cemeteries
• The area of the wadis and the memorials
• The Flyover and the "Factory"
• Personalised WWII  Itinerary & researches at no extra cost.

When The Tigers Broke Free & the story of  Lt. Eric Fletcher Waters, a Royal Fusilier missing in action.

Detective work by a British war veteran has located the exact spot where the father of Roger Waters was killed in Italy during the Second World War. Roger Waters was just five months old when his father, Lt Eric Fletcher Waters, died aged 31 during fighting between Allied and German forces at Anzio on 18 February 1944. His body was never recovered but his name is commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at nearby Monte Cassino. The pain of not knowing his father inspired Waters to write some of Pink Floyd’s best-known songs.

"When The Tigers Broke Free" - By Roger Waters, Pink Floyd.

It was just before dawn

One miserable morning in black 'forty four.

When the forward commander

Was told to sit tight

When he asked that his men be withdrawn.

And the Generals gave thanks

As the other ranks held back

The enemy tanks for a while.

And the Anzio bridgehead

Was held for the price

Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And kind old King George

Sent Mother a note

When he heard that father was gone.

It was, I recall,

In the form of a scroll,

With gold leaf adorned,

And I found it one day

In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.

And my eyes still grow damp to remember

His Majesty signed

With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.

There was frost in the ground

When the tigers broke free.

And no one survived

From the Royal Fusiliers Company Z.

They were all left behind,

Most of them dead,

The rest of them dying.

And that's how the High Command

Took my daddy from me.

D-DAY DODGERS

(Compiled by Major Hamish Henderson, 51st Highland Division - 1944)

We're the D-Day Dodgers, way off in Italy
Always on the vino, always on the spree;
Eighth Army scroungers and their tanks,
We live in Rome, among the Yanks.
We are the D-Day Dodgers, way out in Italy;(2X)

We landed in Salerno, a holiday with pay,
The Jerries brought the bands out to greet us on the way.
Showed us the sights and gave us tea,
We all sang songs, the beer was free
To welcome D-Day Dodgers to sunny Italy.

Naples and Casino were taken in our stride,
We didn't go to fight there, we went just for the ride.
Anzio and Sangro were just names,
We only went to look for dames
The artful D-Day Dodgers, way out in Italy.

Dear Lady Astor, you think you're mighty hot,
Standing on the platform, talking tommyrot.
You're England's sweetheart and her pride
We think your mouth's too bleeding wide.
We are the D-Day Dodgers, in sunny Italy.

Look around the mountains, in the mud and rain,
You'll find the scattered crosses, some that have no name.
Heartbreak and toil and suffering gone,
The boys beneath them slumber on.
They are the D-Day Dodgers who stay in Italy.