We don't hear much about tank battles in Italy. They were largely small-scale encounters, unlike the spectacles that were worked out on the Russian steppes at Kursk or even in the Ardennes Forest. The Italian terrain was mostly unsuited to the use of tanks. The contours of the Italian boot resembled the skeleton of a fish. A spine of mountains ran down its middle, and its rips were a series of steep hills and swift rivers. They were innumerable, big and small, and in winter they were swollen and almost impassable. Not tank country.
Yet there were battles, some of them major, and all seemed to pit the plentiful but practically impotent American Sherman against the German Panthers and the fearsome 88 mm. anti-tank guns.
The best of these Allied units were the Canadians against determined German resistance. And the Wehrmacht was very good at resistance, as it was good at just about everything. Each hill had its defensive positions prepared. From the top of the hill, observers could watch every move of the Allies below and call in artillery that had already been zeroes in on targets like cross roads, fords, bridges, and villages. When, finally, the Allies were about to take the hill top, the Germans quickly retreated to the next fortified position. I can't imagine how Allied morale held up under these conditions.
The combat for Canadian tankers was the worst because they were often used in the lead. And they must have felt simply GRAND when their unopposed advance on Rome was halted in order for the Americans to have the honor of entering the undefended city. That's how one of the Canadian participants describes it, not quite accurately. He should have said that the Canadian advance on Rome was stopped in order for the American General Mark Clark to have the honor of "conquering Rome." The general, who always saw to it that his troops were referred to as "Mark Clark's Fifth Army" in the press, was at least as vainglorious as Field Marshall Montgomery, who was advancing up the opposite side of the boot.
Most accounts of the Italian campaign stagger to a halt after Rome, partly because the Allied occupation was followed four days later by the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Yet, the slogging up the muddy boot continued, and for good reason. The north included the Po Valley, rich in agriculture, and home to Italy's industrial centers like Turin and Milan. The ultimate irony -- if that's what it is -- is that it was all moot. In the end, only territory was gained and Italians, including communists, were liberated from German rule. It's been argued that our troops in Italy kept many Germans pinned down who could have been used elsewhere. The argument strikes me as pretty feeble, since Germany was keeping many of our troops pinned down too.
The computer-generated special effects are superb throughout this series. Every detail of the tanks seems accurate, right down to nuts and bolts. On top of that, even the backgrounds show attention to details such as vegetation. Each program is a mixture of newsreel and combat footage, narration, special effects, graphics, and remarks by participants.
Generally well done.
Yet there were battles, some of them major, and all seemed to pit the plentiful but practically impotent American Sherman against the German Panthers and the fearsome 88 mm. anti-tank guns.
The best of these Allied units were the Canadians against determined German resistance. And the Wehrmacht was very good at resistance, as it was good at just about everything. Each hill had its defensive positions prepared. From the top of the hill, observers could watch every move of the Allies below and call in artillery that had already been zeroes in on targets like cross roads, fords, bridges, and villages. When, finally, the Allies were about to take the hill top, the Germans quickly retreated to the next fortified position. I can't imagine how Allied morale held up under these conditions.
The combat for Canadian tankers was the worst because they were often used in the lead. And they must have felt simply GRAND when their unopposed advance on Rome was halted in order for the Americans to have the honor of entering the undefended city. That's how one of the Canadian participants describes it, not quite accurately. He should have said that the Canadian advance on Rome was stopped in order for the American General Mark Clark to have the honor of "conquering Rome." The general, who always saw to it that his troops were referred to as "Mark Clark's Fifth Army" in the press, was at least as vainglorious as Field Marshall Montgomery, who was advancing up the opposite side of the boot.
Most accounts of the Italian campaign stagger to a halt after Rome, partly because the Allied occupation was followed four days later by the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Yet, the slogging up the muddy boot continued, and for good reason. The north included the Po Valley, rich in agriculture, and home to Italy's industrial centers like Turin and Milan. The ultimate irony -- if that's what it is -- is that it was all moot. In the end, only territory was gained and Italians, including communists, were liberated from German rule. It's been argued that our troops in Italy kept many Germans pinned down who could have been used elsewhere. The argument strikes me as pretty feeble, since Germany was keeping many of our troops pinned down too.
The computer-generated special effects are superb throughout this series. Every detail of the tanks seems accurate, right down to nuts and bolts. On top of that, even the backgrounds show attention to details such as vegetation. Each program is a mixture of newsreel and combat footage, narration, special effects, graphics, and remarks by participants.
Generally well done.