Customer Reviews

Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since the passing of the late Stephen Ambrose, Carlo D'Este has probably assumed the mantle of America's leading World War II historian and author. This work was his fourth dealing with military events in the European theater (and in this case, the third dealing with the Mediterranean). You probably won't find a better, more detailed account of the Anzio battle than in this book. It's well researched, very detailed and a quick moving read.
I gathered that D'Este believed that the Allies weren't all that allied and the Germans, outnumbered and outsupplied, simply took advantage of Allied mistakes and blunders and nearly made "Operation Shingle" a total disaster.
D'Este clearly admires Mark Clark's bravery, but questions his strategic abilities. He finds Alexander personally likeable, but one of the least decisive theater commanders of the war and Kesselring, daring, resourceful and opportunistic. The General he admires most is without a doubt, Lucian K. Truscott Jr, first commander of the famous U. S. Third Infantry Division, then is elevated to 6th Corps command when Lucas is relieved. The way the author marshalls his facts, you will find it hard to disagree.
But to me, the hero of the book is the ordinary land soldier, the men who endured the barbarous fighting, the nightmarish stalemate and the eventual breakout of the beachhead. This is a superb piece of military history and well worth the time it will take to read it.

Carlo D'Este's "Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome" is one of those books that should occupy a spot on the bookshelves of all students of WWII military history. One need not be overtly interested in the Mediterranean Theatre to find "Fatal Decision" compelling and worth the time invested to devour its ample 430 pp. of text (excluding nine Appendices totaling 33 pp. and [foot]Notes totaling 75 pp.). As is generally true of works by D'Este, "Fatal Decision" is an engaging read, penned by a genuinely talented writer who also happens to be a foremost historical researcher. Readers interested in the Mediterranean Theatre will find "Fatal Decision" extremely rewarding and are likely to place it in the top echelon of books devoted to the topic (the Italian campaign, essentially starting with the Anzio landings [Operation SHINGLE], focusing on that bridgehead and its surroundings, until the fall of Rome).

"Fatal Decsion" is divided into five 'acts': Part I - The Road to Rome (Chapt. 1-7); Part II - The Anzio Beachhead (Chapt. 8-11); Part III - "Lancing the Abscess" (Chapt. 12-15); Part IV - Stalemate (Chapt. 16-19); and Part V - Breakout (Chapt. 20-22), bracketed by insightful Prologue and Epilogue sections. In Part I, which might also be called 'Preamble to Anzio', D'Este brings the reader up to speed with regard to the Mediterranean Theatre leading up to the Anzio landings. Clocking in at 104 pp., Part I is a nice piece on its own quite apart from the sections that follow. Most readers will gain some new insights about the 'soft underbelly' mindset embraced by the Brits. Moreover, D'Este provides a fair and very balanced account of events that, and personalities who, led to the 'hell on earth' that was Anzio in Jan-Feb '44 (and beyond).

Part II, as the name implies, deals specifically with the Allied actions (and German counter-actions, generally) in the gaining of a 'back-door' foothold beyond the Cassino stalemate. Although only 83 pp. in length this section of the book is packed with combat and gives the reader a real sense of how brutal the action was. For example, remembrances of Anzio are very similar for those at the front lines, as well as in rear areas since little actually distinguished the two. As D'Este makes clear, casualties in 'rear' areas (e.g., aid stations on the beach) were often thought of as more dangerous than the front lines, mainly because of enemy arti(llary) - that ever present indiscriminate rain of metal death. Arti ruled the fates of nearly everyone at Anzio.

Part III of "Fatal Decision" deals more thoroughly with the German response to the Allied move into Anzio/Nettuno beachhead and really gives the reader a sense for how good defensive ground and solid leadership can overcome equal or overwhelming odds, much to the cost of the attacker. Together with a chapter in Part I ('Smiling Albert'), Part III paints a positive but generally fair picture of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring as a proficient practitioner of defensive warfare; one who often performed his 'magic' in spite (or in deference to) the OKW and Hitler. Again, like with Part II, Part III is full of combat action. If the reader is looking for 'shoot 'em, bang 'em up' stuff Parts II and III will not disappoint. The reader is also given a sense of how the German army in Italy, composed of veteran units with still much fight in them, rallied around a variety of Kampfgrueppen to stymie and often push back the Allied forces. Having said that, D'Este is careful not to commit acts of Wehrmacht envy in his analysis of German actions.

In Parts IV and V, D'Este presents thorough and thoughtful discussion of the long close-quarter fighting that occurred around the Anzio/Nettuno bridgehead and Monte Cassino area that slowly wore down the strength of both sides - at great human cost to the Allied battering ram. D'Este does a fabulous job describing the various actions to move out of the bridgehead and through the various defensive lines that Kesselring had established, until the final capture of Lt. Gen. Mark Clark's 'golden egg' - Rome.

All throughout "Fatal Decision" D'Este is, while keeping a generally fair and even hand, critical of command decisions the Allies took as regard the Italian campaign. First, the reader is treated to D'Este's expose of how great a role Winston Churchill appears to have played in making Operation SHINGLE a reality, one most battlefield commanders felt was an unwise use of resources, but the General Staff more or less willingly embraced. D'Este also shows how the personal and professional relationships of Churchill to (Gen.) Alexander (Allied ground forces Commander in Chief in Italy) and Mark Clark (commander of US Fifth Army in Italy) helped to make SHINGLE and the actions beyond all they were. Second, D'Este deals considerably, yet fairly, with where blame has been placed, both deservedly and not, on the shoulders of various commanders for the debacle that is Anzio. In this context he also provides considerable information with respect to relationships between commanders and how these influenced placement of blame, as well as doling out of 'punishment' to those 'deemed' responsible. Readers should not assume that blame is easy to assign, nor that it has been done so fairly over the years. In this regard D'Este does a great service to the historical community by presenting a clear and even-handed portrait of how and why events unfolded the way they did.

All in all "Fatal Decision" is a 5 star book worthy of a read by anyone who has even a passing interest in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, how American and British soldiers achieved what they did within a generally nationalistic and strained coalition.

[This review is of the hardback version]

Carlo D'Este has written a series of books on the often-overlooked Italian campaigns of World War II. D'Este skillfully combines detailed historical analysis with interesting first hand accounts. The result is a highly readable book. The author uses the first several chapters to set the scene and explain the historical significance of the operation. There are extended passages on the conflicts between the Allied commanders. The central section of the book describes the actual conduct of the operation. The chapters cover the battle at the tactical level and include many short personnel stories. The author moves easily from strategic conflicts between Allied generals to the day-to-day struggle of the infantrymen in the mud of Anzio. The author is not afraid to state an opinion and all views are backed up by significant evidence. This makes the work more than just a collection of war stories. The only quirk I found was D'este obvious admiration of German generals and the German military in general. While he goes to great length to point out the weakness of Allied leadership, the Germans are let off rather lightly, despite the fact that in the end they lost.

I read this after Reading "Warlord" by the same author. Other reviewers have summarized the contents quite well, so I will avoid repeating what they've already said.

However, I feel I must warn the reader about a couple of things:

First, this is military history, with an emphasis on the word "Military". If you get tired from reading things like: "On the morning of February 3rd, British Army [X] started their planned maneuver to outflank German Division [Y], moving along the southern edge of Ridge [R] and attempting to reach Via [A], when suddenly Division [Y] opened fire on the British left flank", stay away from this book. Second, although there are nine (!) appendixes to the book, I felt a small glossary of acronyms was necessary, for the author uses are quite a few of them throughout the book. Also, the inclusion of a small appendix outlining the sizes of platoons, companies, battalions, etc. would have been very helpful in order to have a better picture as one reads.

Other than that, "Fatal decision" is an interesting, enjoyable read (chapter 18 alone is almost worth the price of the book), and a good choice if you want to learn about the Italian Campaign of 1943-1944.

One final warning: This is NOT a book about Cassino and the bloody battles fought there. Although Cassino and Anzio were part of the same Allied Strategy, The events in Cassino are only brought up as reinforcement to what was happening on the Anzio beach-head. But for Anzio, this book is indeed a fine, fine choice.

This is one of the finest accounts of a military campaign that I've ever read. Carlo D'este is a fabulous military historian. D'este has done something very rare, which is simply to tell the story of a major battle,from the generals' arguments to the crazed, terrifying stories from the soldiers crouching in holes in the ground. Anzio was an operation which had already been considered and rejected. D'este shows that the responsibility for this disaster rests almost entirely upon Winston Churchill, who single-handedly rescued the battle plans from the trash and placed them on the drawing board. Unfortunately, Churchill didn't provide any solutions to the weaknesses of the plan; instead he used sleight of hand to make it appear that the plan would work and bullied his subordinates into accepting it. Most American readers are unaware of the damage that Churchill did to the Allied cause. Although he was a brilliant and essential political leader, he'd always yearned to be a successful commander in the field, and his wish to be a military hero blinded him and prevented him from listening to better qualified men and led him to drag England, and the Allies, into spectacular mistakes like the campaigns in Greece and in Norway. Although his "soft underbelly" argument, which led to the tragic and costly Italian campaign, made sense-surely the Americans and British had to do something to help while the Russians fought the Germans-one wonders whether the invasion of Italy ever justified the titanic casualties which it caused. The foreseeable stalemate on mainland Italy led logically to Operation Shingle, the landings at Anzio. D'este shows that, beyond landing the troops, Allied leadership had no real idea of what they wanted to accomplish there.

Something about Italy...Churchill wasn't the only bad leader the Alllies relied on there. Mark Clark,commander of the Fifth Army,had a titanic ego and gradually came to mistrust and hate his English counterparts. One story,which D'este repeats,has him threatening to have US troops fire on any English soldiers who attempt to enter Rome ahead of the Americans.

A great deal of this book is spent putting the campaign in context and in telling the stories of the men who fought at Anzio. Unlike many historians D'este has no difficulty moving back and forth between the Big Picture and the story of the poor bastard who's crouched in a ditch, terrified and praying that the enemy troops go around his position. D'este is certainly one of the finest American historian when it comes to the Mediterranean Theatre and this is his finest book.

PLENTY OF PERSONALITIES, ATTITUDE AND GREAT RIVALRIES.

Carlo D'Este proved why he is a great military writer and story teller.