Conville & Walsh

Not since Napoleonic times had the Italian peninsula witnessed such widespread war and bloodshed as it did in the last year of the Second World War. Chaos and disorder reigned. Mussolini and his new Republic had no real power; they were little more than Hitler’s stooges, while Marshal Badoglio headed what amounted to a puppet government in the south; real authority in the southern half of the country was held by the Allied Military Government established by Britain and America.

Consequently, in large parts of northern Italy, civilians found themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. They supported the Partisans on pain of death, but faced severe retribution if they were seen to be collaborating with the Fascists. Hunger and poverty frequently forced terrible decisions upon them. The typhoon of steel that raged up the leg of Italy wreaked unimaginable destruction. The Allies had to defeat Nazi Germany – utterly and completely; that was the brief. The Germans had to prevent it. If Italians and their towns and villages got in the way, then so be it.

ITALY’S SORROW is based on the hundreds of interviews that James Holland has conducted over the past two years with survivors from all sides of this internecine conflict – ranging from the Partisans to Royalist members of the various Fascist organizations, from the Allies to the Germans and all the political shades – as well as extensive research into written records of what was the fiercest fighting of the entire war. It is a work of historical reportage, telling the story through the experiences of those who were there.