Customer Reviews

They Fought at Anzio

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John S.D. Eisenhower established himself as a historian of note decades ago when he penned "The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge" (1969). With "They Fought at Anzio" has added another solid effort to his cannon. As anyone who is familiar with Eisenhower's previous works would expect his research is thorough and fair (not nationalistically slanted). Eisenhower's writing style has changed little over the past four decades, and there's not really any reason for him to do so as his is a style of reader engagement that is not over cluttered with jargon or confusing language. The pacing of "They Fought at Anzio" extremely even, start to finish, and as such makes this a very enjoyable read.

Eisenhower focuses his prose less on details of combat action than on personalities of and relationships between commanders, and background events leading up to engagements. This approach lends much more humanity to the text than is often possible with detailed orders of battle and after-action reports. Eisenhower is also quite generous in his use of a multi-nationalistic approach to his subject, presented by Allied and German/Italian views of events. This latter component of "They Fought at Anzio" probably provides the most concrete connection, other than name, between John and his famous father, US President and Supreme Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Most would agree that Gen. Eisenhower's greatest strength as a leader of men was as a great moderator and captain of allies who were comprised of many nations and military cultures.

The human side of the war in Italy is also brought to vivid life by Eisenhower's repeated use of memoirs of Lt. Avis Dagit (nurse w/ 56th Evacuation Hospital) [from Half An Acre of Hell] and Lt. Lloyd Wells (Co B, 2nd Bat, 6th Armd Inf, 1st Armd Div) [from Anzio to the Alps]. Such is Eisenhower's clear preference for these sources that readers will likely want to pick up copies of both of these books as well; strong tribute to an author's ability to capture his/her audience indeed.

All in all "They Fought at Anzio" is a solid book, expertly researched and presented, and fun to read. Should be of interest to serious and casual readers alike. 4 stars.

Although Anzio (Shingle) is the centerpiece of this book, the author develops the story from Clark's landing at Salerno to show how the various operations in Italy were interrelated. This is another fine book by John Eisenhower, author of the very fine work, "The Bitter Woods", his story of the Battle of the Bulge. Less than 300 pages long, another two hundred could have been easily added, but then the writing might have become bogged down in relatively uninteresting details. There is none of that here, and the author's fine writing style holds the reader's interest throughout.

Eisenhower deftly points out that the Italy campaign was always the red-headed stepchild for American planning, but pushed by the British and especially Churchill. The author develops all the characters and their opinions, Churchill, Alexander, Montgomery, Clark, Lucas and Truscott. Even the German side received light but sufficient treatment, and both the landings at Salerno and Anzio are clearly shown to be near-run things due to Allied miscalculations and rapid German responses. What was expected to be relatively easy, in part due to overwhelming air support, never was, and the PBI (poor bloody infantry) paid the price. Amazingly, casualties on both sides turned out to be about the same.

Although the author is generally kind to all Allied commanders, their flaws and misconceptions are clearly pointed out but not belabored. Americans and British alike can point to mistakes made by the other's commanders, and Clark's glory hunting and Montgomery's backstabbing are there for all to read. Even Lucas is treated mildly for his failures at Anzio, and Eisenhower's analysis tends to show that Lucas was removed for his defeatism rather than mistakes in generalship. There is really much to learn here. This is not an attack on anyone in particular as is so often found today in books about World War II, but rather an informative narrative from which the reader can learn what really happened. For example, British "know it all" arrogance towards American generals and troops is mentioned where it affects events, but otherwise is not dwelled upon. That alone is refreshing.

The author balances his account between high-level commanders and their decisions and the experiences of the troops on the ground. Cause and effect, decisions, battle and casualties are elucidated here in absolutely clarity, making this work riveting and informative at the same time.

Even the maps are done well, and both maps and photos are helpful. The battles and generalship are brought home with remarkable clarity, and that is why I gave this work five stars. More could have been added, but then the then the book might have become boring. As it is, boring is not an adjective that is applicable here.

For a newcomer to the Italian campaign (or the part of it from Salerno to Rome), I heartily recommend this book. The serious historian may find this book a little light, and wish to consult other works on some details, but all in all, this is an excellent read for everyone.

John S. D. Eisenhower is a historian with a number of books to his credit, and I was expecting something worthy of his past oeuvre.

This isn't it.

It's not a bad book, and if you haven't read anything on the Italian campaign it's a worthwhile introduction to Anzio, Cassino, and the surrounding war; if you have read anything, there's nothing new here. One glance at the footnotes tells the whole story: he quotes from a few memoirs (Allied Fifth Army commander Mark Clark's Calculated Risk, Truscott's Command Decisions, Audie Murphy's To Hell And Back, a few others), a couple of lower-level people he interviewed later on (good for the human interest story, I suppose).

There's almost no use of the detailed official histories, and very little of any scholarship on the Italian campaign later than the 1950's. (The single best book on the whole affair, Graham and Bidwell's Tug of War, doesn't even show up as far as I remember.)

That said, the book is well-written and the story is worth reading, but I don't think that this book adds anything to the literature on the Italian campaign.

Those familiar with this author's work will be pleased to find this addition adds to his balanced presentation of the facts as in previous volumes. In the final analysis, as he points out, the invasion of Italy was inevitable since leaving the troops scattered around the Mediterranean idle until Overlord was unthinkable in view of the deadly struggle in Russia as well as some sixteen German divisions in Italy would have been available in both France and Russia.
To understand Anzio, he begins with the invasion of Italy at the experience at Salerno. Under prodding from Churchill, the Anzio attack began with on shoestring with a too tight time schedule and lack of enthusiasm from the professional military leaders. Lucas, the commanding general, was pessimistic about the operation's chances. Mark Clark's direction was ambiguous. Adding to the pressure was frustration over the inability to crack the Gustav Line south of Anzio. The expectation was the Germans would bleed off some divisions from there to cope with this new development.
However, the Germans, with particular attention from Hitler, did the unexpected. They poured fresh divisions from northern Italy and other areas into the battle with the objective of driving the allies into the sea. Allied artillery and navel gunfire overwhelmed the German advantage in manpower. The infantry, despite heavy losses, endured.
The author concludes that the decision for the Anzio attack will probably remain controversial. What is clear to him is that the courage of the young people on both sides of the battle was outstanding. This book is a useful study of both the battle and the command issues, and represents a good addition to any military history library both for individuals and institutions. I recommend it.