Backwater War: The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-1945

(Hardback)

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Description

A year before the much-heralded second front was opened at Normandy in 1944, the Allies waged a campaign in Sicily and Italy - an assault that was marked by argument and dissent from beginning to end, highlighting the fundamental differences in strategic thinking between the Americans and the British. Churchill favoured scrapping what would become the Normandy Invasion entirely, focusing instead on the "soft underbelly" of Nazi Europe, but American planners summarily rejected any plan that relied solely on a southern option. This is the story of this backwater campaign, a series of battles skillfully staged by the Germans and so botched by the Allies that their victory was achieved only as a result of German exhaustion.

Reviews

"This sharp-edged, operationally focused narrative, aimed at a general audience, demonstrates the difficulties the Allies faced during the World War II Italian campaign while arguing strongly that the campaign itself was unnecessary, the result of confused strategic planning."-Dennis Showalter United States Military Academy
.,."a meticulous and exacting survey and analysis of the campaign waged by Allied forces in Sicily and Italy. Combining extensive detail and military theory, Hoyt forcefully contends that the Normandy campaign was both unduly costly and ultimately unnecessary, and that in the final analysis it lengthened an already devastating war. An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections."-The Midwest Book Review
...a meticulous and exacting survey and analysis of the campaign waged by Allied forces in Sicily and Italy. Combining extensive detail and military theory, Hoyt forcefully contends that the Normandy campaign was both unduly costly and ultimately unnecessary, and that in the final analysis it lengthened an already devastating war. An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections.-The Midwest Book Review
An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections.-Reviewer's Bookwatch
"An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections."-Reviewer's Bookwatch
..."a meticulous and exacting survey and analysis of the campaign waged by Allied forces in Sicily and Italy. Combining extensive detail and military theory, Hoyt forcefully contends that the Normandy campaign was both unduly costly and ultimately unnecessary, and that in the final analysis it lengthened an already devastating war. An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections."-The Midwest Book Review

Author Bio

EDWIN P. HOYT is an independent historian. He is the author of more than 150 books, mostly in the area of military history, including The Last Kamikaze (Praeger, 1993) and Hirohito (Praeger, 1992). Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Hoyt turned his attention to journalism after service in the Pacific theater during World War II. He has written for the Denver Post, Collier's Magazine, and American Heritage, as well as for CBS news.