The Secret of Anzio Bay

On January 31, 1944, Lieutenant Michael Mauritz climbed into the cockpit of a Curtiss P-40 fighter and took off on what should have been a routine reconnaissance mission over Italy. But engine trouble forced the young pilot to ditch his plane in Anzio Bay and swim ashore, where he fell into the hands of Nazi soldiers. The Secret of Anzio Bay is the riveting and at times deeply affecting account of what happened to Mauritz after his capture. It is a story that might never have been told had it not been for the recovery fifty-four years later of the fighter plane from the bottom of the bay. The return of Skipper marked the beginning of a series of extraordinary events that would draw Mauritz back to Italy and a very different kind of mission—one from which he could not turn back, for at last he knew that his story must be told. Working from the only journal that he was able to save, Mauritz has painstakingly reconstructed his final months in Italy near the end of the war, the daring escape from a prison camp, the march through Rome, and the arduous trek over the Apennines and across Italy’s boot that would eventually lead to his rescue. But The Secret of Anzio Bay is no ordinary war story. It reveals much more than the plight of one captured American pilot at the end of World War II. It also paints a vivid portrait of the Italian people then and now, their courage and resourcefulness, and the generosity of their spirit. And above all, it offers a fascinating look at human nature during the worst of times: the brutality of seemingly civilized people as well as the civility and compassion of those from whom brutality would be expected. The Secret of Anzio Bay delivers a powerful message to a world now caught up in a different kind of war. It challenges us to recognize and treasure the basic connectedness of all of us, to understand that human solidarity is the key to our survival.