The 1st Parachute Corps were initially dispatched from Rome to bolster the Winter Line along the Garigliano River, but were urgently transferred to oppose the Allied beachhead at Anzio as part of Operation Shingle.

[1] By 18 January 1944, under orders from Field Marshal Alfred Kesselring, their role specifically involved protecting the coastal sector near Rome.

[2] The 1st Parachute Corps were made headquarters in charge of the operation to defend the coastal area of Anzio for three days until passing command to Colonel General Eberhard von Mackensen, commander of the Fourteenth Army in northern Italy.

And at 0830 on the 22nd, Kesselring directed General Heinrich von Vietinghoff to transfer the headquarters and all combat troops that could be spared of the I Parachute Corps to the Anzio area as quickly as possible.

At 1700, the I Parachute Corps established a defensive line at the Anzio beachhead and took command of all arriving troops, by which point it was clear a major landing was taking place.