How a US Soldier`s ‘Human Target Trick’ Killed 19 Germans in a 200-Yard Charge at Anzio

May 24th, 1944. Second day of the Anzio breakthrough. Sergeento Sylvester Antlak crouched in mud churned wheat fields southeast of Sister Deatoria, watching two German MG42 machine gun positions 200 yd away. 27 years old, son of a Polish miner from Belmont County, Ohio. Three purple hearts already earned across North Africa, Sicily, and the Italian mainland. The Germans had 1.

200 rounds per minute between those two positions. And Tlac had a Thompson M1 A1 submachine gun, 4.5 kg, 20 rounds of 45 ACP. Effective range may be 150 m on a good day with bursts. The MG42 could reach out past 1,000 m. The terrain offered zero cover. Flat reclaimed marshland, drained pontene swamps converted to wheat fields and the Mussolini’s land reclamation schemes.

Not a tree, not a structure, not a ditch deep enough to hide a man. Company B of the 15th Infantry Regiment was pinned. Any movement drew fire. The mathematics was simple. Stay here and wait for German artillery to find the range or move and get cut down by overlapping machine gun fire. And Tollac studied the problem. The first position sat 200 yd out, 10 Germans and one MG42.

The second position another 100 yards beyond that. If someone could reach the first position and silence it, the company could advance. If no one tried, they would all die in this field. Anzio had been a trap for 4 months. On January 22nd, 1944, Allied forces landed at Anzio, expecting to bypass the Gustav line and threaten Rome from the rear.

Instead, Major General John Lucas hesitated after the landing. The Germans did not hesitate. Within days, Field Marshal Albert Kessler had ringed the beach head with steel. The third infantry division, the Rock of the Man, found itself trapped on a narrow strip of beach. 125 days under constant artillery fire, German 88 mm guns on the Alburn Hills could observe and target every movement.

Men lived in dugouts and drainage ditches. Supplies came in at night. Casualties went out the same way. The beach head became a meat grinder. On January 30th, the disaster at Cesterna proved how thoroughly the Germans controlled the terrain. 767 Rangers attacked the town. German forces encircled them. Six came back.

The name Sisterna became synonymous with death. The Germans defending the area were not second rate coastal defense troops. They were veterans. The third Panza Grenadier Division, the 362nd Infantry, the fourth Falrama Division, elite paratroopers who had held ground from North Africa to Italy. They knew how to fight and they knew this ground.

The terrain around Sisterna gave every advantage to the defender. The Agro Pontino, the reclaimed Pontine marshes, stretched flat in all directions. Mussolini had drained the swamps between 1932 and 1939. The land became productive farmland, wheat fields, drainage canals, scattered farmhouses. But the reclamation created a tactical nightmare for attackers.

No natural cover. Long, clear fields of fire. German positions could observe for 500 m or more. Machine guns positioned on slight rises dominated entire sectors. Anyone advancing across open ground would be visible for minutes before reaching an objective. The Germans understood this. They had four months to prepare. They dug in deep.

Reinforced positions with overlapping fields of fire. Pre-registered artillery coordinates on every approach. The Hickler line, the second defensive ring around Anzio, was designed to bleed attackers white before they ever reached the main positions. Sylvester Antoac was born September 10th, 1916 in St.

Claire’sville, Ohio, Belmont County, coal mining country. His father, Teophil Antoac, had immigrated from Poland in the 1890s. Like most Polish immigrants in Eastern Ohio, Teophil worked the mines, coal and iron ore, dangerous work, low pay, but steady. The Antoac family lived in a Polish community where oldworld customs persisted.

Hard work, Catholic faith, respect for authority. Sylvester grew up speaking Polish at home and English in the streets. He was the youngest of five children. By the time he was old enough to work, the depression had hit. Jobs were scarce. On July 14th, 1941, Sylvester enlisted in the army. He was 24 years old. Army serial number 35035020.

He was assigned to the third infantry division, then mobilizing for deployment overseas. The third division had history. Organized in 1917, fought in France during the First World War, earned the nickname Rock of the Man for holding the line during the German offensive in 1918. Now the division was reforming for a new war.

Antoac trained at Camp Picket, Virginia, standard infantry training, marksmanship, close combat, squad tactics. He qualified as expert with the M1 Garand. The Garand was the standard US infantry rifle semi-automatic 8 round onblock clip 3006 Springfield cartridge. Reliable, accurate, a significant advantage over the boltaction rifles most army still carried.

But in addition to the Garand, platoon sergeants and squad leaders often carried the Thompsonsubmachine gun. The Thompson M1A1 was a simplified version of the original Thompson. No compensator, no adjustable sights, just a simple submachine gun designed for close-range firepower. It weighed 4.5 kg empty. The 45 ACP cartridge had tremendous stopping power at close range, but limited effective range beyond 150 m.

The Thompson was a weapon for urban combat and jungle fighting, not for open field engagements, but it was what Antillac would be carrying. On May 24th, 1944, the Third Infantry Division deployed to North Africa in November 1942, Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. Antelac saw his first combat in Morocco and Algeria, then Tunisia in early 1943, fighting German and Italian forces as the Allies squeezed the Axis armies against the Mediterranean.

Antelac earned his first Purple Heart in Tunisia, shrapnel wound, not serious enough for evacuation. He returned to duty after 10 days. The third division invaded Sicily on July 10th, 1943, Operation Husky. The division fought its way across Sicily against determined German resistance. Antelac was wounded again.

Second Purple Heart, bullet wound to the leg. Again, he returned to duty. The third division hit the Italian mainland at Salerno on September 9th, 1943. Operation Avalanche. The fighting was brutal. German counterattacks nearly pushed the Americans back into the sea. The division held. Then the slow grind up the Italian peninsula began.

Mountain warfare, river crossings, German defenders using terrain to maximum advantage. Every ridge a battle, every town a fight. Antelac was wounded a third time in December 1943 during fighting along the Voluro River. Third Purple Heart. This time a concussion from an artillery near miss. He was promoted to sergeant in January 1944.

His company commander recognized leadership under fire. Antelac had proven himself in three campaigns. He was steady. He did not panic. Men trusted him. On January 22nd, 1944, the third infantry division landed at Anzio. The landing itself was unopposed, but within days, the Germans surrounded the beach head. The division dug in.

4 months of siege warfare followed. Artillery, air raids, constant patrolling, small unit actions, attrition. By May 1944, the Allies were ready to break out. The offensive began on May 23rd at 0545 hours. 1,500 Allied artillery pieces opened fire. The barrage lasted for 40 minutes. Then the infantry advanced.

The third division attacked towards Cesterna. Their objective was to break through the Hitler line and link up with Allied forces advancing from the south after breaking the Gustav line at Casino. The first day cost the division 955 casualties, killed, wounded, missing. The Germans fought for every meter. On May 24th, the attack continued.

Company B, First Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, advanced towards Cesterna. They ran into prepared defenses, machine gun nests, interlocking fire. The company went to ground. Sergeant Antelac assessed the situation. The company was pinned in open terrain. Two German positions blocked the advance.

The first was 200 yd away. the second another 100 yards beyond. Both had MG42 machine guns. The MG42 was one of the most effective weapons Germany produced during the war. 7.92 mm Mouser cartridge beltfed rate of fire between 1.200 and 1.500 rounds per minute. Some versions could fire even faster. The sound was distinctive.

Not the measured burr of other machine guns, but a tearing sound like ripping canvas. American soldiers called it Hitler’s buzzsaw. The high rate of fire made it devastating for area suppression. A short burst could put dozens of rounds into a small area. Accuracy was secondary. Volume of fire created a beaten zone where survival was a matter of luck.

Two MG42s with overlapping fields of fire made the wheat fields around Sisterna a kill zone. Antelac knew the odds. A man running across 200 yd of open ground under MG42 fire had almost no chance. But staying in place guaranteed death eventually. German artillery would range in or the defenders would counterattack.

The only option was to create a breach. Antelac signal to his squad. He stood up, the Thompson in his right hand. He started running toward the first German position, 30 yard ahead of his squad, out in front alone. The distance was 200 yd, 183 m. Antelac covered maybe 20 yards before the MG42 opened fire.

The supersonic crack of 7.92 mm rounds snapping past. Dirt kicking up. Then impact. The first burst hit him in the left shoulder. The force knocked him down. Blood soaked his uniform. Antelac lay in the wheat for 3 seconds. Then he got up. He started running again. The Germans in the machine gun nest saw a man who should have been dead or incapacitated.

They fired again, another burst. Antillac went down a second time. This time the rounds hit center mass, but the angle or his body armor or sheer luck meant no vital organs were struck. He got up again. The squad watching from 50 yards back saw something they wouldnever forget. Audi Murphy was among them.

Murphy would later write about this moment in his memoir to hell and back. Murphy was 20 years old. He would earn his own Medal of Honor before the war ended. But on May 24th, 1944, he was a private watching his sergeant do something impossible. The third burst from the MG42 hit Antelac’s right arm. The impact shattered the bone.

His arm hung useless. The Thompson fell from his grip. Antelac went down a third time. He had covered maybe 150 yards. 50 yards from the German position. The MG42 crew assumed he was finished. They shifted fire to other targets. Antelac picked up the Thompson with his left hand. He wedged the weapon under his left armpit. 4.

5 kg of steel and wood pressed against his ribs. His left hand gripped the pistol grip, his left index finger on the trigger. The Thompson’s recoil was manageable with two hands. With one hand and an improvised brace, every shot would be agony. Antelac did not care. He got up. He started moving forward again, not running now, staggering.

The Germans saw him. They traversed the MG42 back toward him, but Antillac was inside 50 yards now, close enough that the Thompson was effective. He opened fire, short bursts. The 45 ACP rounds struck the machine gun position. Two Germans fell. The others saw a man covered in blood, one arm destroyed, still advancing, and still firing.

10 Germans threw down their weapons and shouted, “Camarad!” Antelac stumbled into the first position. The MG42 was silent. 10 Germans stood with their hands up. Antillac’s squad reached him. A medic moved to treat his wounds. Antillac waved him off. He pointed toward the second German position, 100 yards distant, the second MG42 nest that still blocked the advance.

The medic protested. Antelac’s shoulder was gashed deep. His right arm was shattered. He was losing blood. He needed evacuation. Antelac refused. He reorganized the men around him. He pointed at the second position again. Then he started walking toward it. The Thompson, still wedged under his left arm, blood dripping from his shoulder and arm.

The Germans in the second position saw him coming. They opened fire. Antelac covered 75 yd, nearly 3/4 of the distance between positions. Then a burst from the second MG42 hit him. This time there was no getting up. Sergeant Sylvester Antelac fell in a wheat field in Italy. He did not move again, but his squad did. Inspired by what they had just witnessed, the men of Company B charged.

They overran the second position. The Germans broke. Company B advanced. The breakthrough at Anzio continued. By the end of May 24th, American and Allied forces had penetrated deep into the Hitler line. Within days, the link up with forces from the south was complete. The siege of Anzio was over.

The advance on Rome began. Rome would fall on June 4th, 1944, 2 days before D-Day in Normandy. The cost had been high. thousands of American, British, and Allied casualties. But the Italian campaign drew German divisions away from France. It kept pressure on Germany from the south while the main invasion built up in England.

And battles like the one at Cesterna, paid for in blood by men like Antillac, made the broader strategy possible. Audi Murphy wrote about Antillac years later. Murphy used a nickname in his book. He called Antillac Lutski. It was a Polish dimminionative, a friendly name soldiers used for Polish immigrants. Murphy’s description was clinical.

No embellishment, just what he saw. A sergeant who charged a machine gun position across 200 yards of open ground. Who was shot down three times and got up three times. who destroyed one position with a shattered arm and nearly reached the second before he died. Murphy ended the passage with one line. This was how Lutzky helped buy the freedom that we cherish and abuse.

Murphy understood what Antilac had done. Not heroism in the abstract. Tactical necessity executed with absolute disregard for survival. Antelac solved a problem. The problem was two machine guns. The solution was his life. The Medal of Honor recommendation came through channels quickly.

Company B’s commander filed the initial report. Battalion and regimenal commanders endorsed it. division headquarters forwarded it to fifth army. The citation was approved on October 19th, 1945. General Order number 89, postumous award. The citation language was precise. Sergeant Antillac charged 200 yards over a flat, coverless terrain to destroy an enemy machine gun nest during the second day of the offensive which broke through the German cordon of steel around the Anzio beach head.

Fully 30 yards in advance of his squad, he ran into withering enemy machine gun, machine pistol, and rifle fire. Three times he was struck by bullets and knocked to the ground, but each time he struggled to his feet to continue his relentless advance. The citation continued with one shoulder deeply gashed and his right arm shattered.

He continued to rush directly into theenemy fire concentration with his submachine gun wedged under his uninjured arm until within 15 yards of the enemy strong point where he opened fire at deadly close range, killing two Germans and forcing the remaining 10 to surrender. He reorganized his men, and refusing to seek medical attention so badly needed, chose to lead the way toward another strong point 100 yards distant.

Utterly disregarding the hail of bullets concentrated upon him, he had stormed ahead nearly 34s of the space between strong points, when he was instantly killed by hostile enemy fire. The final tally. 20 Germans eliminated, one machine gun captured, one path cleared for company B to advance. One sergeant from Ohio who paid for it with everything he had.

Sylvester Antelac is buried at the Sicily Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Neuno, Italy. Plot C, row 12, grave 13. The cemetery sits on a bluff overlooking the Mediterranean. 7,700 American dead rest there, men who died in the Sicily and Italy campaigns. The cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

White marble crosses and stars of David in perfect rose. The grounds are immaculate. Visitors from America come every year, fewer now than decades ago. The generation that fought the war is nearly gone, but the graves remain, and the names remain. Antelac’s grave is marked with a simple white cross.

His name, his rank, his unit, the date he died. Nothing about the Medal of Honor, nothing about the 200yard charge, just the facts. But the facts are enough. In 1947, the Army named a transport ship in his honor, the USNS Sergeant Sylvester Antillac, a Boulder Victoryass cargo ship built in Baltimore, launched June 16th, 1945. Too late for the war, but in time for the Cold War.

The ship served during the Berlin Airlift, transported troops to Korea, carried supplies across the Pacific, the kind of unglamorous logistical work that keeps armies moving. The ship served for decades. Eventually, it was retired to the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Susan Bay, California. Hundreds of ships sit there, ghost fleet, waiting for a war that requires their reactivation.

Most will never sail again, but the names on their holes remain. Sergeant Sylvester Antillac, one of the few transport ships named for an enlisted Medal of Honor recipient. On June 28th, 2017, a section of Interstate 70 in Belmont County, Ohio, was officially designated the Sergeant Sylvester Antelac Medal of Honor recipient Memorial Highway.

The highway runs through St. Claire’sville, near where the Antillac family lived, near where Tehil Antilac worked the mines, near where Sylvester grew up before he enlisted in 1941. Most drivers do not notice the sign. They pass at 70 mph. The sign is small, easy to miss, but it is there and the name is there.

A reminder that this ground produced men who went to war and did not come back. The memorial was part of a broader effort by Ohio veterans organizations to honor the state’s Medal of Honor recipients. Ohio produced more than 250 Medal of Honor recipients across all American wars. Antillac is one of them. In 2009, a memorial was erected in downtown St.

Claire’sville. The project was led by Cole Antillac, Sylvester’s grand nephew, an Eagle Scout project. The memorial is a simple stone marker with a bronze plaque. Antelac’s name, his service, the Medal of Honor citation. The memorial sits in a small park not many people visit, but the few who do stop and read, and they remember.

The question military historians ask about actions like Antelax is whether they change doctrine. Did the army learn from what Antillac did? The answer is nuanced. Individual acts of heroism do not usually change doctrine. Doctrine changes through systematic analysis of what works across hundreds of engagements.

But actions like antelacs do reinforce existing doctrine, the importance of aggressive leadership, the value of taking initiative under fire, the necessity of accepting casualties to achieve objectives. These principles were already part of US Army doctrine. Antelac exemplified them. His action became a case study.

Not because it was unique, but because it was so clear. The problem was obvious. Two machine guns. The solution was direct. Assault them. The cost was predictable. High casualties. and Tolac paid the cost himself rather than ordering his squad to do it. That is leadership. Not the abstract concept taught in training, but the concrete reality executed under the fire.

The men who served with Antoac carried that lesson forward. Some of them became officers, some became sergeants. They trained new soldiers. They told the story and the lesson propagated through the army. The Medal of Honor is not given lightly. During World War II, 464 medals of honor were awarded. 324 of them were postuous.

The statistics reveal something important. The actions that earn the Medal of Honor are often suicidal, not reckless, not wasteful, but calculated decisions to accept near certain deathto achieve an objective. And Tolak’s charge was not impulsive. He assessed the situation. He understood the odds. He made a choice.

The choice was his life in exchange for his company’s advance. The Medal of Honor recognizes that choice. The nation says, “This man did something extraordinary, something beyond the call of duty.” The phrase is important, beyond the call of duty. Every soldier has a duty to follow orders, to fight, to support his unit. But some actions go beyond that.

And Tolak had a duty to lead his squad. He did not have a duty to charge two machine gun nests alone. He chose to do it because it was the only option that might work. And it worked. That is what the Medal of Honor recognizes. If this story moved you, hit the like button. Each like tells the algorithm to show this to more people.

Subscribe to the channel. Turn on notifications. We are finding stories like this in archives and combat reports and bringing them back. Stories about men who did impossible things because the situation demanded it. Real men, real battles, real decisions. Drop a comment and tell us where you are watching from.

United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy. Our audience spans the world. You are not just a viewer. You are part of keeping these memories alive. Comment now. Let us know you are here. Tell us if someone in your family served. Share this video. Make sure Sergeant Sylvester Antoac is not forgotten. Today, Interstate 70 runs through Belmont County, Ohio.

The highway passes near where the Antoac family home once stood. Drivers hurry past, heading to Pittsburgh or Columbus. The coal mines are mostly closed now. The industry that brought Tehil Antoac from Poland is gone, but the land remains, and the memorial sign remains. Sergeant Sylvester Antoac, Medal of Honor recipient, Memorial Highway.

Most people do not look, but the sign is there and the name is there. The son of a Polish miner who ran 200 yards across an open field under machine gun fire. Who was shot down three times and got up three times. Who forced 10 Germans to surrender with a shattered arm. Who died trying to reach the second position.

who bought freedom with his life and who will not be forgotten as long as we