The Battle for Rome

Major-General Jackson's previous book, The Battle for Italy. (1967), mapped the strategy of the Second-World War's Italian campaign with authority and skill, and now he has provided a detailed inset on the most important part of that campaign, the battle for Rome, that is of equal clarity and precision, While plans progressed for the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, General Sir Harold Alexander and his Allied Armies in Italy were faced with the thankless task of drawing upon themselves as many German divisions as possible to divert Hitler's attention and his forces from the Channel coast at the proper strategic moment. Fighting in country which favored the defender in every way and commanding a mixed military team with high national sensitivities (American General Mark Clark was so intent on reaching Rome first he switched plans in mid-operation), Alexander produced a masterpiece of generalship, a diversionary operation that fulfilled the Allied directive to a tee and captured, Rome in the bargain. Jackson's account is thorough yet enthralling, and the military-minded should find it a nostalgic escape from the traumas of today's guerrilla warfare.