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The German Side Of The Hill: Nazi Conquest And Exploitation Of Italy, 1943-1945, Timothy D. Saxon

Faculty Dissertations

The view that German and Allied forces fought a senseless campaign for Italy during the Second World War prevails in many histories of that conflict. They present the battle for Italy as a bitterly-contested, prolonged fight up the peninsula, wasting Allied men and resources. Evidence contradicting this judgment shows that Italy's political, economic, geographic, and military assets between the years 1943 and 1945 made it a prize worth winning . Allied leaders never grasped this fact nor made an effective effort to deny Germany this valuable asset. The German defense of Italy secured the loyalty of Axis allies in Eastern …