257 SALERNO 1943: The Allies Invade Southern Italy

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In mid-September 1943, as the opening move of the Allied campaign to liberate the mainland of Italy, an Anglo-American invasion force landed on the beaches of the Gulf of Salerno, only a few dozen miles to the south of Naples. Italy had just surrendered, and the soldiers in the landing craft prayed that the invasion would be unopposed.

It was not to be. The Germans had seized control of the Italian-built beach defenses, and were ready and waiting. The ferocious ten-day battle at Salerno was eventually decided by a combination of Allied reinforcements, and secondary landings in support of the beleaguered Salerno bridgehead. Using documentary records, memoirs, and eyewitness accounts from all sides, Angus Konstam recreates the battle day by day and hour by hour. His methodically researched account offers a fresh perspective on a decisive battle that has largely been neglected by British and American historians in recent years.