[HN Gopher] Strike at the Knee: Review of the Savage Storm: The ...
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       Strike at the Knee: Review of the Savage Storm: The Battle for
       Italy 1943
        
       Author : apollinaire
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2024-02-13 06:39 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lrb.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lrb.co.uk)
        
       | AlbertCory wrote:
       | I've been reading WW II books since forever. Italy was basically
       | a gift to Hitler -- it's a country made for defense. But I'm not
       | sure the Balkans, like Churchill wanted, would have been any
       | better. And Stalin would have been very unhappy about it.
        
         | ianburrell wrote:
         | The Allies had enough troops and supplies later in the war that
         | made sense to attack everywhere to force Germany to commit
         | troops. The Germans had 27 divisions in Italy in 1944. The
         | Allies could have been more aggressive like not letting German
         | forces escape at Anzio. But could have been less aggressive in
         | attacking defensive lines wasting troops for slow advance.
         | 
         | Also, the 15th Air Force operating from Italy brought lots of
         | Eastern Europe in range of bombers.
        
           | AlbertCory wrote:
           | True enough. I don't have a better alternative, as an
           | armchair strategist.
           | 
           | The Italian campaign _was_ a meat grinder.
        
         | cafard wrote:
         | Michael Howard (who served in Italy) wrote a book I remember as
         | _The Mediterranean Strategy of the Allies During WW II_. Quite
         | interesting.
         | 
         | The Balkans would have been hard to get at without having Italy
         | in hand. Where would one have attacked, when the British
         | couldn't take and hold the Dodecanese?
        
       | cjrp wrote:
       | Highly recommend James' podcast with comedian Al Murray, "We Have
       | Ways of Making You Talk". Very interesting and approachable
       | episodes.
        
       | cafard wrote:
       | Farley Mowat, later known for _Never Cry Wolf_ served in the
       | battle at Ortona, and wrote a most interesting book about his war
       | service, _And No Birds Sang_. (This could well be mentioned in
       | the article, but I haven 't evaded the paywall.)
        
       | neonate wrote:
       | http://web.archive.org/web/20240212053612/https://www.lrb.co...
       | 
       | https://archive.ph/DQOwz
        
       | davidw wrote:
       | > On 1 August 1943 an air raid on Rome claimed the lives of a
       | thousand civilians and injured twice as many. A fortnight later,
       | another thousand died in Milan, where 3000 buildings were
       | flattened or damaged
       | 
       | I sometimes think about how these "great conflicts" reduce
       | multitudes to mere statistics. 1000 here, 1000 there. But they
       | were all people with families and children or parents and jobs
       | and friends.
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-13 23:01 UTC)