Anzio, Italy, was the site of a four-month battle between Allied troops and the Germans during World War II (1939–45). On January 22, 1944, more than 36,000 Allied troops and thousands of vehicles made an amphibious landing at Anzio, which is situated on a peninsula jutting into the Tyrrhenian Sea. But German soldiers, led by Field Marshal Albert Kesserling (1885–1960), were able to surround the Allied forces, containing them along the shoreline into May of that year. Fighting was intense, with an estimated 60,000 casualties, about half on each side. On May 25, 1944, the Germans withdrew in defeat, enabling the Allies to march toward Rome (33 miles to the north-northwest). The taking of Anzio was a tactical surprise on the part of the U.S. and British, and their eventual victory there was a turning point for the Allies in the war.