A rich account of the campaign Winston Churchill called "a story of
high opportunity and shattered hopes, of skillful inception on our
part and swift recovery by the enemy, of valor shared by both."The
Italian theater, writes Clark (War Studies/Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst), has long fallen in the shadows of Overlord and what the
British call the North West European Campaign, to the extent that
most moderns cannot name a single battle-except, perhaps, Anzio, an
effort to land Allied troops and secure central Italy. As Gen. Mark
Clark boasted, his VI Corps would thus be "the first army in
fifteen centuries to seize Rome from the south." His ambitions were
realized, but only after a long winter's fighting along a "mere
sixteen miles of front" into which more than 300,000 men were
crowded, with the Germans and Allies roughly equivalent in number.
But the Germans were, Clark demonstrates, for the most part better
led; the American frontline commander, John Lucas, was singularly
ineffective. He recognized his own disinclination to bold action,
but only when Lucian Truscott replaced him did the Allied forces
break through a tightly coordinated, bitterly held German defensive
line. For all the strategic and tactical planning in the world,
battles are a collection of odd moments, and Clark ably recounts
several memorable ones: Hitler calmly receiving the news that
Kesselring's armies were being thrown back; an American parachutist
complaining that the Luftwaffe-targeted rear was less safe than the
front, "where we had to endure only machine guns, machine pistols,
rifle, mortar, small antitank gun, 75, 105, 88, and occasional 150
and 170 mm fire"; and Churchill complaining of the whole
enterprise, "I thought we should fling a wild-cat ashore and all we
got was an old stranded whale on the beach," among many
others.Clark does much to disprove the Italian campaign's
reputation as a sideshow. Highly readable, and of much interest to
students of WWII history. (Kirkus Reviews)
This is the story of the Anglo-American amphibious assault and
subsequent battle on the Italian west coast at Anzio which was
launched in January 1944 in a bold attempt to outflank the
formidable German defences known as the 'Gustav Line'. ANZIO - THE
FRICTION OF WAR outlines the strategic background to the offensive
before detailing the landing, the development of an Allied
defensive position, the battles in and around the perimeter, the
stalemate, the breakout and the capture of Rome on 4 June 1944.
While assessing the events at Anzio with the eye of an experienced
military historian, Lloyd Clark also examines in detail the human
response to the battle from high command to foot soldier. He also
emphasises the German story - the first time this has ever been
done.
General
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