Cassino '44

Five Months of Hell in Italy

James Holland

$36.99

Paperback

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English

Bantam
01 October 2024

History; European history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Second World War

The astonishing story of one of the most brutal and hard-fought battles of the Second World War in Italy, told by one of most reader acclaimed and insightful historians in the UK

'It should become a standard work on this campaign' Telegraph 'James Holland is now our foremost authority on the Italian campaign' John C. McManus 'A heart-pounding narrative of the brutal Allied fight to take Rome... This is history at its finest' James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist 'Holland writes with eloquence and power about the harsh realities of a brutal battle that grabbed the world's attention and helped to decide the future of Italy' Professor Michael S. Neiberg

There are no such thing as an easy victory in war but after triumph in Tunisia, the sweeping success of the Sicilian invasion, and with the Italian surrender, the Allies were confident that they would be in Rome before Christmas 1943.

And yet it didn't happen. Hitler ordered his forces to dig in and fight for every yard, thus setting the stage for one of the grimmest and most attritional campaigns of the Second World War.

By the start of 1944, the Allies found themselves coming up against the Gustav Line- a formidable barrier of wire, minefields, bunkers and booby traps, woven into a giant chain of mountains and river valleys that stretched the width of Italy where at its strongest point perched the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

It would take five long bitter winter months and the onset of summer before the Allies could finally bludgeon their way north and capture Rome. By then, more than 75,000 troops and civilians had been killed and the historic abbey and entire towns and villages had been laid waste.

Following a rich cast of characters from both sides - from frontline infantry to aircrew, from clerks to battlefield commanders, and from politicians and civilians caught up in the middle of the maelstrom - James Holland has drawn widely on diaries, letters and contemporary sources to write the definitive account of this brutal battle. The result is a compelling and often heart-breaking narrative, told in the moment, as the events played out, and from the perspective of those who lived, fought and died there.

By: James Holland
Imprint: Bantam
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 37mm
Weight: 781g
ISBN: 9780857505545
ISBN 10: 0857505548
Pages: 672
Publication Date: 01 October 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy '44, he is also the author of nine works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts. He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels. With Al Murray, he has a successful Second World War podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which also has its own festival, and is a research fellow at St Andrew's University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940 and on Instagram as @jamesholland1940.

Reviews for Cassino '44: Five Months of Hell in Italy

James Holland is now our foremost authority on the Italian campaign. He knows the ground intimately and expertly. In this gripping, beautifully written book, Holland breathes fresh life into the grim story of Cassino. Told from the perspectives of all the participants, packed with new insights and quality scholarship, Cassino 1944 makes a major contribution to our understanding of the fighting in Italy. Highest recommendation! -- John C. McManus, PhD, author of To the End of the Earth: The U.S. Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945 James Holland has given us another gripping historical narrative. This one unfolds from the grandeur of a palace turned wartime headquarters to a soon-to-be infamous Italian abbey that came to symbolize the complexities of the often-overshadowed Italian campaign. Holland writes with eloquence and power about the harsh realities of a brutal battle that grabbed the world’s attention and helped to decide the future of Italy -- Professor Michael S. Neiberg, author of When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance Astonishingly thorough and meticulously researched; it should become a standard work on this campaign…A formidable achievement * Telegraph * In his new book Cassino '44, celebrated historian and bestselling author James Holland has crafted a heart-pounding narrative of the brutal Allied fight to take Rome. Using a kaleidoscope of voices and sources, including a wealth of letters and diaries, Holland not only drops readers into the action but illuminates the tragic impact of war on the civilians. This is history at its finest! -- James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Black Snow, Rampage and Target Tokyo