by firing on small planes, Devers and Eaker flew low over the monastery and saw what they believed to be a radio aerial and enemy soldiers moving in and out. Wilson reluctantly agreed to its bombing. On 15 February Devers watched waves of American bombers level the monastery with Alexander, Clark, Freyberg, and Eaker. However, follow-up attacks that day and over the next eight days, failed to take the position, much less break the Gustav Line. Devers visited Anzio on 16 February and agreed with Alexander that Lucas should be relieved. Clark did so on 22 February. The continuing failure to advance in Italy prompted the Combined Chiefs of Staff to postpone Operation Anvil, the on-again-off-again proposal for Allied landings along the coast of Southern France coinciding with Overlord. Clark told Devers that another attack on the Gustav Line could not be mounted until May, and VI Corps could not be withdrawn from Anzio until it succeeded. However, planning continued for Anvil, which had begun in mid-January by AFHQ's Force 163 in Algiers. Initially, Clark was to lead the assault, with Lucas taking over Fifth Army. Devers did not have much faith in either of them, even before Lucas's relief. Lyman Lemnitzer later recalled that Fifth Army staff feared that Devers would relieve Clark every time both met. Marshall insisted that Anvil required an experienced commander, and with Patton gone, Clark was the only one in the theater. Then, Devers received a cable that IV Corps headquarters was on its way to the theater. It was commanded by Major General Alexander Patch, who had a distinguished combat record by leading the soldiers and Marines of XIV Corps in the Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific; before that, he had commanded the 47th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Division when Devers was commanding the 9th. With Marshall's concurrence, Devers appointed Patch to replace Patton as commander of the Seventh Army and Force 163 on 2 March. While Patch and his staff planned the operation, Devers ensured that the supplies that had been accumulated for it were not dissipated. A successful Allied offensive in May finally broke through the Gustav Line, and Rome fell to Clark's Fifth Army on 4 June. On 13 June, Devers ordered Larkin to shift priority for supplies from Fifth Army in Italy to Seventh Army. Two days later, Wilson ordered VI Corps to be withdrawn from the front