| The War North of Rome - June 1944-May 1945
(2002)
|
| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Italy |
| Publication Date |
3/1/2002 |
| Format |
Hardcover (8.9
x
6.5
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Castle Books |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Description |
| By the time the Allied forces vanquished the enemy in Italy, Russian soldiers were already dancing on Hitler's grave. Nevertheless, the young men north of Rome fought as bravely and suffered as much as troops on any front in WWII. Their record of courage and sacrifice is described here in this fascinating account. |
| Personal Details |
| Acquire Date |
6/10/2010 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
D763.I8 .B76 2001 |
| Dewey |
940.54/21457 |
| ISBN |
9780785814009 |
| Cover Price |
$27.95 |
| No. of Pages |
421 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
I'd really rather give this book 2.5 stars. Until about half way through, I'd have rounded down to 2 but it got better and so I now round it up to 3.
The campaign in Italy, Churchill's "soft underbelly", featured some of the harshest fighting American soldiers faced in the war. Most people know we fought there, certainly, but the story pretty much ends for most people with the capture of Rome. Not because nothing interesting happened after that, but because we invaded Normandy a couple of days later.
This book tells the story from Rome to the end of the war. The Allied forces in Italy were the most diverse of the war, including American, British, New Zealander, French, Polish, Brazilian, South African, and even Italian troops. The terrain favored the defenders, who fought with vigor until forced to retreat to the next prepared defensive positions.
The scope of events pretty much require Brooks to tell the story at the level of the larger units - Divisions, Regiments, Battalions. This means much of the book, particularly in the beginning, is sometimes more like reading railway time tables than tales of combat. He often resorts to paragraphs telling us "unit A moved here, while unit B moved there." He seldom gives us any hint of the relationship between here and there or why those places were attacked instead of some others. This would have been aided with a few good maps, but sadly the only maps provided are at much larger scales and don't include the vast majority of places named in the text.
Also, early in the book, I had the sense that Brooks was using a limited number of sources. For the German side, he mostly refers to Kesselring's A Soldier's Record and Senger's Neither Fear Nor Hope. Luckily, he found many more sources on the Allied side.
Includes sources, index, bibliography, and a few maps. |
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