Charles DeGaulle, Leader of the Free French, Sends the Gratitude of the French People to Allied Commander in Italy General Harold Alexander on the Taking of Rome

ALSs of DeGaulle from during World War II are extremely rare, this being our first ever

The Allies’ northward advance up the Italian peninsula to Rome was an important part of the plan to create a southern front and draw German troops to Italy to oppose them, even as the landing on D-Day approached. This would also liberate portions of Italy, and make the reclamation of France all the more likely. To bypass the German line in their way, the Allies landed some 50,000 seaborne troops, with 5,000 vehicles, at Anzio, only 33 miles south of Rome, on January 22, 1944. The landing surprised the Germans and met, at first, with very little opposition; but the force at Anzio spent so much time consolidating its position there that the Germans were able, with their reserves, to develop a powerful counteroffensive against it on February 3. The beachhead was thereby reduced to a very shallow dimension, while the German defenses at Monte Cassino held out against a new assault by Mark Clark’s 5th Army.

British general Harold Alexander decided to shift most of the 8th Army, now commanded by General Sir Oliver Leese, from the Adriatic flank of the peninsula to the west, where it was to strengthen the 5th Army’s pressure around Monte Cassino. The combined attack, which was started in the night of May 11–12, 1944, succeeded in breaching the German defenses at a number of points between Cassino and the coast. Thanks to this victory, the Americans could push forward up the coast, while the British entered the valley and outflanked Monte Cassino, which fell on May 18. Five days later, the Allies’ force at Anzio struck out against the Germans; and by May 26 it had achieved a breakthrough. When the 8th Army’s Canadian Corps penetrated the last German defenses in the Liri Valley, the defenses began to collapse. Concentrating all available strength on his left wing, Alexander pressed up from the south to effect a junction with the troops thrusting northward from Anzio. The Germans in the Alban Hills could not withstand the massive attack. On June 5, 1944, the triumphant Allies entered Rome. The next day, the Allies landed in Normandy on D-Day.

Charles de Gaulle was head of the Free French and based in London. To him, the taking of Rome had a three-fold benefit – it would strengthen the Allied grasp in southern Europe, weaken the Germans, and make a liberation of France more possible.

DeGaulle must have been elated, and this gave hope to the French. He wrote Alexander to congratulate him. Autograph letter signed during the war, London, start of June 1944, to General Harold Alexander. “I send you, in my name and the name of the French Armed Forces, my strong and cordial congratulations on your great victory in Rome. I beg you to convey these sentiments also to Generals Clark and Leese.”

ALSs of DeGaulle from during World War II are extremely rare, this being our first ever. And with this content, it’s a true treasure.