The Battle of Aprilia was fought from 25 January to 20 February 1944 during the Battle of Anzio.
Following the Allied landings at Nettuno and Anzio on 22 January, Allied units pushed inland over the next few days to a depth of seven miles against scattered but increasing German resistance. On 24 January, the British 1st Infantry Division began to move up the Anzio-Albano Road toward Campoleone, and, with the help of the US 45th Infantry Division, they were able to capture the town of Aprilia, which they nicknamed "the Factory" because of its cluster of brick buildings. Major General John P. Lucas hoped to make Aprilia a defensive stronghold, but his forces found the Axis well-established in the village. The Germans forced the British back with a counterattack, but the town was eventually taken in bitter urban fighting that involved the taking of houses one-by-one.
While General Lucas cautiously halted his forces' advance and waited for reinforcements, the German general Albert Kesselring transferred troops from Yugoslavia, France, and other parts of Italy to reinforce his defensive positions. In February, he decided to launch Operation Fischfang against the Allied beachhead, and the main attack was to follow the Aprilia-Anzio road, the shortest route to Anzio. While the German force was a hodgepodge of rapidly thrown together units that were short on ammunition, training, qualified leaders, and reserves, the German 4th Parachute Division and German 65th Infantry Division were sent in to pinch off the Campoleone salient and recapture the Factory at Aprilia. The British held, despite suffering 1,400 casualties. Their dangerously exposed position prompted Lucas to order their withdrawal to one mile north of the Factory and Carroceto on the night of 4–5 February. While the salient was eliminated, the Germans failed to break the Allied line or retake Aprilia, as the soggy Albano Road area was inhospitable to German armor and infantry alike. On 7 February, the Germans renewed their attacks in the weakened British 1st Division sector, pushing the British from Aprilia and Carroceto in two days of bitter fighting. On 11 February, the Americans launched a failed attempt to outflank the Germans holding Aprilia, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans in costly hand-to-hand fighting. The British 1st Division was then removed from the line and replaced by the British 56th (London) Infantry Division and the US 45th Infantry Division.
The British were soon reinforced by the American 45th Infantry Division, which was assaulted by the Germans on 16 February. The attacks of the German 3rd Panzergrenadier Division and 715th Infantry Division were repulsed with heavy losses, but three German regiments and 60 tanks exploited a gap between the American 179th and 157th Infantry Regiments and drove a major wedge in the Allied line. On 16–17 February, the Allies plugged the gap with antiaircraft guns and US 1st Armored Division units, and the Allies launched their largest air support mission of the war to that point. On 18 February, the Germans launched a more intense assault on the 45th Division, destroying one battalion of the 179th Infantry before pushing the remainder back to Lucas' final defensive line. That same day saw the death of Royal Fusiliers lieutenant Eric Fletcher Waters, the father of Roger Waters, during the fighting for Aprilia. The Allies held their own in spite of heavy losses, and Allied air and artillery superiority eventually turned the tide, forcing the end of the German offensive on 20 February. 5,389 Germans were killed, wounded, and missing during their five-day counterattack.
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