Both of my parents (now deceased) were WWII veterans. My mother was a US Army Nurse and served in North Africa, Sicily, and at Anzio. My father was an officer in the Signal Corps and also served in North Africa, Sicily, and in the Cassino section of the Italian Campaign. Throughout my life they were witnesses to the impact - good and bad - of their experiences in WWII. Since they both served in the Italian Campaign and my mother endured Anzio - I gained a lot of additional knowledge through this book.

It is amazingly well researched and written in a detailed but still orderly presentation of the events. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about this chapter in military history. I especially was intrigued by the information regarding the conflict and rancor between the US commanders and their British counterparts. So much for allies (at least at the very upper levels) ! It was also quite eye-opening to read the criticism of General Mark Clark. He actually attended my parents wedding - 1944, Florence, Italy - and they always spoke about him in heroic terms.

The more I read well written history - the more my eyes are opened - the more I learn ! ( )

In the winter of 1943-44 Anzio was a small Mediterranean resort and port some thirty-five miles south of Rome and nearly one hundred miles northwest of Naples. It became important in the fortunes of World War II as the target of an Allied amphibious landing whose goal was to by pass the strong German defenses along the Gustav Line and at Monte Cassino sixty miles to the southeast, which were holding up the American and British armies and preventing the liberation of Rome. By taking advantage of Allied command of these and air to effect complete surprise,infantry and armored forces landing at Anzio on January 22 were expected to secure a beachhead and then push inland to cut the two main highways and railroads supplying the German armies to the south, either trapping and annihilating them or forcing them to withdraw north and opening the way to Rome.
Such was the plan. What really happened, brilliantly told by Carlo D'Este, was a near disaster for the Allies and the unfortunate soldiers involved. Doomed by uncertain leadership at the highest levels, including Churchill's pressure and meddling, GeneraI Sir Harold Alexander's lack of firm directives, and GeneraI Mark Clark's unwillingness to risk defeat or push a tired Generali John Lucas, the Anzio beachhead became a death trap, with Allied troops forced to fight for their lives for five dreadful months in a throwback to the trench warfare of World War I.
Even the eventual Allied victory, when the Germans fìnally gave way in May 1944, was tarnished by Clark's ambition to be fìrst in Rome instead of attempting to cut off and destroy or capture fleeing German troops. As the book points out, the fìnal irony was that Rome 's liberation wa s almost completely overshadowed by the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6.
Based on a great deal of new material full of dramatic and desperate combat, FatalDecision is one of the best histories ever written of a World War II military campaign.
-------------
Fatal decision : Anzio and the Battle of Rome è un drammatico racconto di una delle più disperate campagne della Seconda Guerra mondiale. Il piano dello sbarco nel porto a 35 miglia da Roma si rivelò un vero disastro anche a causa delle incertezza della leadership. Anzio divenne una trappola mortale, i soldati rimasero intrappolati in una guerra di trincea per cinque mesi e la finale liberazione di Roma venne adombrata dallo sbarco alleato in Normandia del 6 giugno.

Indice: Part I: The Road to Rome; Part II: The Anzio Beachhead; Part III: "Lancing the Abscess"; Part IV: Stalemate; Part V: Breakout. ( )

3765. Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome, by Carlo D'Este (read June 29 2003) Since C-SPAN is talking for three hours with D'Este on July 6, I thought I should read something by him, having greatly appreciated his Decision in Normandy when I read it on 5 July 1992. This is an unmatchable account of the events leading up to the landing at Anzio on 22 Jan 1944 and the horrific time there till they finally broke out in May and captured Rome on June 4, 1944. It is a nigh perfect book, telling the whole story very well and examining the controversy over John Lucas and Mark Clark's grievous error in racing to Rome instead of cutting off the German army south of Anzio. This book was no doubt the best thing I read this month. ( )