By James Holland.
New York: Grove Atlantic, 2023.
ISBN 978-0-8021-6160-4. Photographs. Maps. Appendices. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
Pp iii, 568. $32.00.
On Sicily, the Allies secured victory in July and August 1943. Benito Mussolini, the Fascist ruler of Italy, was forced out on 25 July 1943; Pietro Badoglio became the head of Italy’s government. On 9 September 1943, the Allies launched Operation AVALANCHE in southern Italy. In The Savage Storm, author James Holland, has written an extensive book describing the four months of battle between Germany and the Allies that followed. Holland has written fourteen nonfiction books, including Brothers in Arms, Sicily ’43, Normandy ’44, Big Week, and The Battle of Britain. He is known as one of World War II’s finest historians. His aim in The Savage Story is to chronicle the first four months of the Italian Campaign.
Holland writes in a unique form, chronicling events through the eyes of those who were there on both sides and at all levels, to include strategic, operational, and tactical. His extensive research is apparent. Little is left uncovered. As Holland states, the Allies’ goal was to reach and capture Rome by Christmas 1943; this did not happen. Readers come away with an understanding of why quick victory escaped the Allies.
The Savage Storm opens with a trove of maps that allows readers to follow troop movements. Holland then states that on 3 September 1943, Italy agreed to surrender unconditionally to the Allies. For Germany, Italy was now the enemy. Operation AVALANCHE was launched to secure the nation, but not before Germany rushed to occupy it. A major goal was accomplished on 27 September, when Foggia and its thirteen airfields were captured by the British, providing the Allies with bases from “which they could further tighten the aerial noose around the Third Reich” (p. 238). Naples would fall on 1 October.
Holland states that “the Allied way of war was to use industrial power, global reach, technology, and mechanization to do as much of the hard yards of fighting as possible and to limit the number of men who were forced to fight at the coalface of war” (p 263). However, this strategy was not designed for the rugged terrain Allied troops encountered moving north to Rome. Part of the problem was that Adolf Hitler had ordered Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who oversaw the German defense of the Italian peninsula, to fight for every meter south of Rome. Holland’s narration of the war at ground level with its impact on the Germans, Allies, and civilians provides a gruesome picture of events.
Throughout the book, Holland often describes the plight of the Italian civilians. North Africa had been comparatively bloodless for the local populace, as most combat occurred in vast deserts with few inhabitants. In the densely populated cities and numerous smaller towns and villages of Italy, the full horrors of a modern war were laid bare. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, injured, and left homeless with little food or hope.
Holland chronicles in detail the fighting from the foot of Italy in early September 1943 to 31 December, when Fifth Army was drawing up to the Gustav Line and Eighth Army, on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains, reached a line north of Ordono. Rome by Christmas was a goal not attained by the Allies and would not be taken until June 1944.
The Savage Storm will interest readers who wish to read about the key battles of the Italian Campaign. The book is not for the faint-hearted. Nevertheless, Holland should be commended for this chronicle of war.
Colonel James H. Youngquist, USA-Ret.
Suntree, Florida
