-It should become a standard work on this campaign-Telegraph
''James Holland is now our foremost authority on the Italian campaign'' John C. McManus
''A heart-pounding narrative of the brutal Allied fight to take Rome... This is history at its finest'' James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist
''Holland writes with eloquence and power about the harsh realities of a brutal battle that grabbed the world-s attention and helped to decide the future of Italy'' Professor Michael S. Neiberg
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There are no such thing as an easy victory in war but after triumph in Tunisia, the sweeping success of the Sicilian invasion, and with the Italian surrender, the Allies were confident that they would be in Rome before Christmas 1943.
And yet it didn''t happen. Hitler ordered his forces to dig in and fight for every yard, thus setting the stage for one of the grimmest and most attritional campaigns of the Second World War.
