The Italian Campaign, 1943-45

The Italian Campaign, 1943-45 PDF Author: Gilbert Alan Shepperd
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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The Italian Campaign, 1943-45

The Italian Campaign, 1943-45 PDF Author: Gilbert Alan Shepperd
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description


Sacrifice on the Steppe

Sacrifice on the Steppe PDF Author: Hope Hamilton
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612000029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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When GermanyÕs Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armiesÑthe Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes clear that one allied unit held out to the very end, fighting to stem the tideÑthe Italian Alpine Corps. As a result of MussoliniÕs disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany, by the fall of 1942, 227,000 soldiers of the Italian Eighth Army were deployed on a 270km front along the Don River to protect the left flank of German troops intent on capturing Stalingrad. Sixty thousand of these were alpini, elite Italian mountain troops. When the Don front collapsed under Soviet hammerblows, it was the Alpine Corps that continued to hold out until it was completely isolated, and which then tried to fight its way out through both Russian encirclement and ÒGeneral Winter,Ó to rejoin the rest of the Axis front. Only one of the three alpine divisions was able to emerge from the Russian encirclement with survivors. In the all-sides battle across the snowy steppe, thousands were killed and wounded, and even more were captured. By the summer of 1946, 10,000 survivors returned to Italy from Russian POW camps. This tragic story is complex and unsettling, but most of all it is a human story. Mussolini sent thousands of poorly equipped soldiers to a country far from their homeland, on a mission to wage war with an unclear mandate against a people who were not their enemies. Raw courage and endurance blend with human suffering, desperation and altruism in the epic saga of this withdrawal from the Don lines, including the demise of thousands and survival of the few. Hope Hamilton, fluent in Italian and having spent many years in Italy, has drawn on many interviews with survivors, as well as massive research, in order to provide this first full English-language account of one of World War IIÕs legendary stands against great odds.

Eighth Army in Italy

Eighth Army in Italy PDF Author: Richard Doherty
Publisher: Pen & Sword
ISBN: 9781844156375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Eighth Army was Britain's most famous field army of the twentieth century. This book studies the experience of Eighth Army in the Italian campaign, examining how a force accustomed to the open spaces of North Africa adjusted to the difficult terrain of Italy where fighting became much more a matter for the infantry than for the armor. The book uses official records at various levels, personal accounts – some never before published – and published material to present a picture of an army that, although defined as British, was one of the war's most cosmopolitan formations.

An Analysis of the Italian Campaign, 1943-45

An Analysis of the Italian Campaign, 1943-45 PDF Author: M. H. Anjum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Forgotten Battles

Forgotten Battles PDF Author: Charles T. O'Reilly
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739101957
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Italy's War of Liberation takes issue with the apparently prevalent attitude among Allied commanders during World War II that the Italian military was ineffective. O'Reilly recounts the little-known story of the significant contribution made by the Italian military during the Italian Campaign, including the contribution of relatively unacknowledged Italian Partisan formations that fought in Italy, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Despite the fact that Italians fought on the front lines with the British and American soldiers, and despite the service of the Italian Navy and Air Force, the Allies refused repeated Italian pleas for more involvement in combat. This book not only attempts to correct the record of military history by illustrating the ways in which the Italians were underutilized by the Allies, but it also serves to paint a fair portrait of the Italian military's substantial efforts to defeat Hitler and eradicate Fascism.

The Wehrmacht's Last Stand

The Wehrmacht's Last Stand PDF Author: Robert M. Citino
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700630384
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 632

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Book Description
By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. Three quarters of a century later, the question persists: What kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world’s leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this gripping account of German military campaigns during the final phase of World War II, Citino charts the inevitable path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a “war of movement,” inexorably led to Nazi Germany’s defeat. The Wehrmacht’s Last Stand analyzes the German Totenritt, or “death ride,” from January 1944—with simultaneous Allied offensives at Anzio and Ukraine—until May 1945, the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the field, and the Soviet storming of Berlin. In clear and compelling prose, and bringing extensive reading of the German-language literature to bear, Citino focuses on the German view of these campaigns. Often very different from the Allied perspective, this approach allows for a more nuanced and far-reaching understanding of the last battles of the Wehrmacht than any now available. With Citino’s previous volumes, Death of the Wehrmacht and The Wehrmacht Retreats, The Wehrmacht’s Last Stand completes a uniquely comprehensive picture of the German army’s strategy, operations, and performance against the Allies in World War II.

From Taranto to Trieste

From Taranto to Trieste PDF Author: Jennifer Mallinson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994136060
Category : Italy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Taranto to Trieste is an account of the author¿s fascinating journey to retrace the actual path of the 2nd New Zealand Division in Italy from its arrival in October 1943 until the end of the European war. Although a personal journey with personal reflections, the real story is about the largely off-the-beaten track places which the troops passed through, what they saw and experienced along the way and, in some cases what they missed. To complement the Division¿s story, the historical context and military actions are explained with many maps as well as war-time photographs and colourful quotations from official military histories. As the author says, ¿There are many people of the post-war generation, and their children, with direct connections to the Italian campaign, who would like to know more about the small, mysterious places the Division passed through which appear in diaries, letters and on the back of photographs, but many of which do not appear on maps.¿ The author¿s own photographs, descriptions of the places visited, the landscapes travelled and the roads followed will delight those wanting to follow in the footsteps of the 2nd Division in Italy.

Cassino to the Alps

Cassino to the Alps PDF Author: Ernest F. Fisher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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Eighth Army in Italy, 1943-45

Eighth Army in Italy, 1943-45 PDF Author: Richard Doherty
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473813875
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
Eighth Army, Britain's most famous field army of the twentieth century, landed in Italy in September 1943 and fought continously until the defeat of the Germans in early-May 1945. This book studies the experience of Eighth Army in the Italian campaign, examining how a force accustomed to the open spaces of North Africa adjusted to the difficult terrain of Italy where fighting became much more a matter for the infantry than for the armour. It also compares the qualities of the commanders of Eighth Army in Italy: Montgomery; Leese and, finally, McCreery. The book uses official records at various levels, personal accounts - some never before published - and published material to present a picture of an army that, although defined as British, was one of the war's most cosmopolitan formations. Its soldiers came from the UK, Canada, India, Ireland, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland and South Africa as well as from Palestine - the Jewish Brigade - and from Italy itself.

From the Volturno to the Winter Line (6 October-15 November 1943).

From the Volturno to the Winter Line (6 October-15 November 1943). PDF Author: United States. War Department. General Staff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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