10/06/2026
Bazooka men of the 1st Special Service Force advancing through the Pietralata rail yards in the outskirts of Rome, Italy on June 4, 1944.
The 1st SSF spearheaded the U.S. II Corps, Fifth Army’s advance into the city from the southeast and east, moving as the vanguard unit alongside Task Force Howze (built around 3rd Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division) up Highway 6 and the Via Prenestina. Attached to the unit was one battalion each from both the 350th and 351st Infantry Regiments, 88th Infantry Division and several M4 Shermans.
The 1st SSF began moving out through Rome’s eastern suburbs early on the morning of June 4th. Initial contact with German troops was made in Centocelle where anti-tank fire destroyed two tanks and prompted both advance companies of the 1st SSF to dismount and engage. While this was playing out, the 1st Regiment, with H Company, 3rd Battalion leading, began attacking towards the suburb of Tor Pignatara (west of Centocelle) around 6:15AM with tanks in support. Within an hour this force reached the city limits and almost immediately came under concealed anti-tank fire.
G and I Companies were sent to find a way around while five tanks were sent forward to seize the bridges over the Tiber River (the original objective) before the Germans could destroy them. The tanks advanced about 100 yards before German anti-tank guns ambushed them and destroyed two of them. Abandoning this approach, the surviving tanks withdrew and rejoined G and I Companies on the flanking mission, which in the meantime had succeeded in gaining ground on the northern side and forcing the Germans back there. They were eventually joined by the 2nd Regiment and a battalion from the 3rd Regiment.
With this reinforced group, the armored infantry column set out for the Tiber bridges during the late afternoon. In actuality the advance into the heart of Rome was more so the case of smaller groups of the task force encountering small groups of German forces and attempting to bypass them and force breakthroughs from different streets rather than a unified push. Ultimately the first elements of Task Force Howze secured a bridge along the Tiber by 7:15PM.
