Few people today know that more allied than German troops were killed in Italy during the war, and more were killed in Italy than in Northwest Europe; or that there were 700 separate civilian massacres carried out by the Germans. The summer and winter of 1944–45 shared many of the worst aspects of the Western Front during the First World War and yet, at the time, this was seen as the forgotten campaign, a secondary front in the eyes of the Allied public and the politicians back home.
In this new and revelatory account of the terrible events that occurred during those long and brutal twelve months of the campaign in Italy at the tail end of WWII, James Holland's brilliantly researched study reveals the true stories behind the one–sided accounts that have been offered so far of this shockingly brutal time in Italy's history. Italy found itself in a situation reminiscent of today's war in Iraq and the similarities of what the Germans endured to our British troops are startlingly similar.
While the southern half of the country was held by an Allied Military Government established by Britain and America, the northern part was held by a 'free' government made up of antifascist clandestine political parties and individual local partisan bands who controlled mountain communities with a roughshod rule of law.
'Italy's Sorrow' re–examines the terrible partisan and civilian massacres at the hands of the Germans with particular reference to Marzabotto and the three day rampage on Monte Sole –
