Salerno to Cassino - Paperback

by Martin Blumenson (Author)

(Includes maps) The focus of the American and British war effort in 1943 was on the ancient lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea where in May victory came at last in Tunisia and where in July Allied armies began a five-week campaign to conquer Sicily. The invasion of Italy in September sharpened that focus as Allied troops for the first time since 1940 confronted the German Army in a sustained campaign on the mainland of Europe. The fighting that followed over the next eight months was replete with controversial actions and decisions. These included apparent American peril during the early hours in the Salerno beachhead; a British advance from the toe of the peninsula that failed to ease the pressure at Salerno; the fight to cross a flooded Rapido River; the bombing of the Benedictine abbey on Monte Cassino; and the stalemated landings at Anzio. The author addresses these subjects objectively and candidly as he sets in perspective the campaign in Italy a'1d its accomplishments. It was a grueling struggle for Allied and German soldier alike, a war of small units and individuals dictated in large measure by inhospitable terrain and wet and cold that soon immersed the battlefield. The methods commanders and men employed to defeat the terrain and a resourceful enemy are instructive now and will continue to be in the future, for the harsh conditions that were prevalent in Italy know no boundary in time. Nor do the problems and accomplishments of Allied command and co-ordination anywhere stand out in greater relief than in the campaign in Italy. The role of United States forces in earlier operations in the Mediterranean has been told in previously published volumes of this series: Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West and Sicily and the Surrender of Italy. A volume in preparation, Cassino to the Alps, will carry the operational story through the last year of the fighting. The strategic setting is described in detail in Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943-1944.

Author Biography

Martin Blumenson, a graduate of Bucknell University, received M.A. degrees in History from Bucknell in 1940 and from Harvard University in 1942. Commissioned in the Army of the United States, he served as a historical officer of the Third and Seventh Armies in the European theater during -World War II. After the war he taught history at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) and at Hofstra College. Recalled to active duty with the U.S. Army in 1950, he commanded a historical detachment in Korea, served with the Office of the Chief of Military History, and was the Historian of Joint Task Force SEVEN. From 1957 to 1967, he was a civilian historian in the Office of the Chief of Military History. He is now engaged in independent research and writing. His published works include Breakout and Pursuit (Washington, 1961) in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, The Duel for France (Boston, 1963), Anzio: The Gamble That Failed (New York, 1963), Kasserine Pass (Boston, 1967), two essays in Command Decisions (Washington, 1959), and numerous articles in military and historical journals. Several of his works have been published as well in London and Paris editions. A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, he is Visiting Professor of Military and Strategic Studies at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, for the academic year 1969-70.