At a quarter to midnight on the 21st, Komm. Gen. Mittelitalien had announced that next day all fighter and ground attack Gruppen would be at the disposal of Jafü for fighter operations. The 74 sorties subsequently flown by Luftflotte 2 included a freie Jagd north of Rome which did meet any hostile aircraft. A scramble against formations approaching Upper Italy and to patrol the Bologna-Firenze railway was similarly uneventful. Whether SG 4 took part is not known but III./JG 53 was grounded by the weather.

On the ground, Allied troops took Terracina, leaving them just 25 miles from a link-up with the Anzio beach head.

This was the day that Anglo-American forces finally broke out from Anzio-Nettuno, the Luftwaffe putting up 210 sorties in all, including a sweep between Rome and the beach head. Spitfires saw eight Fw 190s north of the Italian capital but there was no contact. The III./JG 53 reported action against Marauders but there were no ground attack operations. SG 4 was being reinforced though, seven Fw 190s in factory markings leaving Osoppo for Piacenza at 19.05 hours.

The Germans' intention was to mount a combined operation by all the ground attack and fighter Gruppen, concentrating on the area of the Anzio breakout and Fw 190s and Bf 109s were encountered separately and in mixed formations throughout the day by Allied fighters.

The first action came at 06.50 hours when a reported 10 Fw 190s and four Bf 109s made an ineffectual pass at P-47s of the 79th FG. Ten minutes later over the beach head, Spitfires of 324 Wing were in a fight with 20-plus Fw 190s and a pair of Bf 109s, claiming damage to two Focke-Wulfs and a Messerschmitt. Neither the Americans nor the British reported any losses from these combats but Hptm. Wilhelm Steinmann of 1./JG 4 claimed a P-47 at 07.02 hours which may have been the 79th FG machine reported as lost to unknown causes.

At 10.00 hours, 324 Wing met 25 Fw 190s over Lake Bracciano, claiming one damaged for no loss. At 12.10, the same unit sighted six Bf 109s but did not make contact. The next recorded engagement was not for another six hours: 232 Squadron, returning from a bomber escort mission, “sighted 15 Me 109 which turned tail very rapidly but did not escape scot free W/O DONNELLAN shooting one down in flames.” The Bf 109s were from III./JG 53 which had scrambled at 17.46 and reported a battle with 8–10 Spitfires "at very low level" over Monte Amiata (about 45 km. north east of Grosseto) which brought no success but saw two German pilots bale out slightly wounded.

The I./SG 4 had claimed two Spitfires shot down around Mentana shortly after midday, by Major Werner Dörnbrack of the Gruppenstab and Ofw. Bachmann of the 1. Staffel but the MATAF daily summary mentions no action at the relevant time, so it is possible that these claims relate to one of the earlier engagements. Even then they would seem to have been mistaken.

Komm. Gen. Mittelitalien reported a total of 159 sorties during the day: 42 by ground attack aircraft, 109 by fighters and eight on tactical reconnaissance.

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