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Cassino 44: The Brutal Battle for Rome Audiobook, by James Holland Play Audiobook Sample

Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome Audiobook

Cassino 44: The Brutal Battle for Rome Audiobook, by James Holland Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Al Murray Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 13.17 hours at 1.5x Speed 9.88 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: November 2024 Format: Unabridged Audiobook ISBN: 9781668132708

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

42

Longest Chapter Length:

41:02 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

11 seconds

Average Chapter Length:

28:03 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

2

Other Audiobooks Written by James Holland: > View All...

Publisher Description

Acclaimed World War II historian James Holland vividly relates the dramatic last months of the Italian Campaign in a masterful volume that brings new awareness to this vital hinge point of the war.

As the new year of 1944 began in Italy, the Allied army’s momentum had ground to a halt just south of the vaunted German Gustav Line of defense, far short of their initial objective of liberating Rome by Christmas. The fighting up the Italian peninsula had been brutal—rugged terrain, fierce resistance, terrible weather. While Allied leaders in London prepared for the cross-Channel invasion of France later that spring, the war in the West hinged in Italy. As bestselling historian James Holland relates in his seminal concluding volume on the Italy Campaign, the next five months saw two of World War II’s most famous battles—the four ferocious assaults on Monte Cassino and the fraught landing northwest in the marshes at Anzio—culminating at last in the liberation of Rome on June 4, merely two days before D-Day.

Based on twenty years of research, Cassino ’44 offers perspectives and conclusions that differ from the standard narrative. Holland elevates the narrative of war, chronicling the dramatic events primarily through in-the-moment letters and diaries of those who were there. Counterpointing the memories of German soldiers like battalion commander Jurg Kellner with those of British captain John Strick and American corporal Audie Murphy, whose exploits in the field would lead to Hollywood fame, and of Italian citizens and politicians caught up in the maelstrom, Holland vividly recreates their day-to-day encounter with destiny over each bloodily contested mile.

General Mark Clark, overall Allied commander in Italy, has been criticized for being overly cautious and needlessly extending the campaign. Holland argues that, given the conditions and constant shortage of materiel held back for the D-Day invasion, Clark and other commanders led a remarkably successful campaign. Well more than 100,000 Allied casualties occurred in the five months leading to Rome, more than in any other campaign of the war. Cassino ’44 is the definitive account of a key turning point of World War II and brings our appreciation of the experience of war to a new level.

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About James Holland

James Holland is an English novelist, nonfiction writer, and presenter of history-themed television programs. He has worked for several London publishing houses and has also written for a number of national newspapers and magazines.

About Al Murray

Al Murray is a Perrier Award–winning comic, TV personality and, as the Pub Landlord, the author of the bestselling The Pub Landlord’s Book of British Common Sense and Think Yourself British. Most recently, he has taken on the leadership of the Free United Kingdom Party.