The Battle for Rome

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Release : 2010-05-11
Genre : History
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Book Rating : 330/5 ( reviews)

The Battle for Rome - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Battle for Rome write by Robert Katz. This book was released on 2010-05-11. The Battle for Rome available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In September 1943, the German army marched into Rome, beginning an occupation that would last nine months until Allied forces liberated the ancient city. During those 270 days, clashing factions -- the occupying Germans, the Allies, the growing resistance movement, and the Pope -- contended for control over the destiny of the Eternal City. In The Battle for Rome, Robert Katz vividly recreates the drama of the occupation and offers new information from recently declassified documents to explain the intentions of the rival forces. One of the enduring myths of World War II is the legend that Rome was an "open city," free from military activity. In fact the German occupation was brutal, beginning almost immediately with the first roundup of Jews in Italy. Rome was a strategic prize that the Germans and the Allies fought bitterly to win. The Allied advance up the Italian peninsula from Salerno and Anzio in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war was designed to capture the Italian capital. Dominating the city in his own way was Pope Pius XII, who used his authority in a ceaseless effort to spare Rome, especially the Vatican and the papal properties, from destruction. But historical documents demonstrate that the Pope was as concerned about the Partisans as he was about the Nazis, regarding the Partisans as harbingers of Communism in the Eternal City. The Roman Resistance was a coalition of political parties that agreed on little beyond liberating Rome, but the Partisans, the organized military arm of the coalition, became increasingly active and effective as the occupation lengthened. Katz tells the story of two young Partisans, Elena and Paolo, who fought side by side, became lovers, and later played a central role in the most significant guerrilla action of the occupation. In retaliation for this action, the Germans committed the Ardeatine Caves Massacre, slaying hundreds of Roman men and boys. The Pope's decision not to intervene in that atrocity has been a source of controversy and debate among historians for decades, but drawing on Vatican documents, Katz authoritatively examines the matter. Katz takes readers into the occupied city to witness the desperate efforts of the key actors: OSS undercover agent Peter Tompkins, struggling to forge an effective spy network among the Partisans; German diplomats, working against their own government to save Rome even as they condoned the Nazi repression of its citizens; Pope Pius XII, anxiously trying to protect the Vatican at the risk of depending on the occupying Germans, who maintained order by increasingly draconian measures; and the U.S. and British commanders, who disagreed about the best way to engage the enemy, turning the final advance into a race to be first to take Rome. The Battle for Rome is a landmark work that draws on newly released documents and firsthand testimony gathered over decades to offer the finest account yet of one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II.

Anzio

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Release : 2007-12-01
Genre : History
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Book Rating : 246/5 ( reviews)

Anzio - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Anzio write by Lloyd Clark. This book was released on 2007-12-01. Anzio available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A harrowing and incisive “high-quality battle history” from one of the world’s finest military historians (Booklist). The Allied attack of Normandy beach and its resultant bloodbath have been immortalized in film and literature, but the US campaign on the beaches of Western Italy reigns as perhaps the deadliest battle of World War II’s western theater. In January 1944, about six months before D-Day, an Allied force of thirty-six thousand soldiers launched one of the first attacks on continental Europe at Anzio, a small coastal city thirty miles south of Rome. The assault was conceived as the first step toward an eventual siege of the Italian capital. But the advance stalled and Anzio beach became a death trap. After five months of brutal fighting and monumental casualties on both sides, the Allies finally cracked the German line and marched into Rome on June 5, the day before D-Day. Richly detailed and fueled by extensive archival research of newspapers, letters, and diaries—as well as scores of original interviews with surviving soldiers on both sides of the trenches—Anzio is a “relentlessly fascinating story with plenty of asides about individuals’ experiences” (Publishers Weekly). “Masterly . . . A heartbreaking, beautifully told story of wasted sacrifice.” —The Washington Post

Battle For Rome

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Release : 2017-06-20
Genre : Fiction
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Book Rating : 358/5 ( reviews)

Battle For Rome - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Battle For Rome write by Ian James Ross. This book was released on 2017-06-20. Battle For Rome available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In this “well-crafted, atmospheric” war novel set in ancient Rome, an officer battles under Constantine while in the midst of personal turmoil.(Ben Kane, author of Fields of Blood) The Roman Empire is on the brink of civil war. Only Maxentius, tyrant of Rome, stands between the emperor Constantine and supreme power in the west. Aurelius Castus is now a tribune in Constantine's army. But great honor brings new challenges: Castus is tormented by suspicions that his young wife has been unfaithful. And as Constantine becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, he is forced to ask himself whether he is backing the wrong man. The coming war will decide the fate of empire. But Castus's own battle will carry him much further. “Hugely enjoyable. The author winds up tension into an explosion of fast-paced events.” —Conn Iggulden, author of Stormbird ”A thumping good read . . . thoroughly enjoyable.” —Ben Kane, author of Lionheart “This is up there with Harry Sidebottom and Ben Kane.” —M.C. Scott, author of Into the Fire

The War That Made the Roman Empire

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Release : 2022-03-22
Genre : History
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Book Rating : 692/5 ( reviews)

The War That Made the Roman Empire - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The War That Made the Roman Empire write by Barry Strauss. This book was released on 2022-03-22. The War That Made the Roman Empire available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire. Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this “superbly recounted” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.

Fatal Decision

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Release : 2009-06-02
Genre : History
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Book Rating : 472/5 ( reviews)

Fatal Decision - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Fatal Decision write by Carlo D'Este. This book was released on 2009-06-02. Fatal Decision available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Fatal Decision is a powerful, dramatic, moving, and ultimately definitive narrative of one of the most desperate campaigns of World War II. In the winter of 1943-44, Anzio, a small Mediterranean resort and port some thirty-five miles south of Rome, played a crucial role in the fortunes of World War II as the target of an amphibious Allied landing. The Allies planned to bypass the strong German defenses along the Gustav Line and at Monte Cassino sixty miles to the southeast, which were holding up the American and British armies and preventing the liberation of Rome. By taking advantage of Allied command of the sea and air to effect complete surprise, infantry and armored forces landing at Anzio on January 22 were expected to secure the beachhead and then push inland to cut off the two main highways and railroads supplying the German forces to the south, either trapping and annihilating the German armies or forcing them to withdraw to the north, thus opening the way to Rome. But the reality of one of the most desperate campaigns of World War II was bad management, external meddling, poorly relayed orders, and uncertain leadership. The Anzio beachhead became a death trap, with Allied troops forced to fight for their lives for four dreadful months. The eventual victory in May 1944 was muted, bitter, and overshadowed by the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6. Mixing flawless research, drama, and combat with a brilliant narrative voice, Fatal Decision is one of the best histories ever written of a World War II military campaign.