The book by Christian Jennings covers the fighting in Italy 1944 to 1945. Sadly he is no Beevor, although he tries. A few obvious mistakes (the book's previous owner had started to correct them in red pen) cast doubt on the accuracy of the content, but there was a bit too much repetition, not enough detail (although that would have required a much longer book) and the personal narratives (something that Beevor excels in) too limited.
All that said, it did bring into focus the multicultural makeup of the Allied forces, the horror of the Nazi occupation and the fascinating end game, Operation Unthinkable.
Certainly a readable book, but the maps didn't really help (they seemed to be too small a segment of the battlefields) and the time jumped around a little bit. The mentioning of what was helping elsewhere in the world was interesting, but not really relevant.
A little bit of inspiration for wargames, but not really enough to build any scenarios on.
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