Sideshow War: The Italian Campaign, 1943-1945

The fight for the Italian peninsula presented deep dilemmas to both the Allied and Axis powers. Was the Allies' campaign to liberate Italy worth the enormous loss of manpower and matériel and the devastation of the country? Could the Germans afford the diversion of resources from the Russian front for Italy's defense? In George F. Botjer examines the economic, political, and cultural factors that influenced the unfolding of this campaign and also provides new, unpublished documentation highlighting Axis defensive operations in Sicily, their takeover of Italy, and the internment of the Italian army. He includes new documentation of economic conditions in German-occupied northern Italy and the extent to which Germany exploited the industries of that region. Allied leaders, who never fully committed to liberating Italy as a whole, constantly debated the various possible terminal points: Sicily, Naples, and Rome. An awareness that the mountainous terrain strongly favored the defender resulted in this indecision. Incorporating the German, Allied, and Italian points of view, this study presents a more comprehensive overview of this phase of the war than any previous book.