Description
Book SynopsisThe Allied Operation Mallory Major (northern Italy, July 1944) aimed at the destruction of all bridges across the Po River and its tributaries and at isolating the enemy in the northern Apennine mountains (the Gothic Line). The Allied Air Forces could count on the ground support of the guerrillas from the Great Partisan Pocket (in the Apennines south of Piacenza) and were opposed by the Flak. This army was led by aging German officers and NCOs leading young non-German women and men in Wehrmacht service: the Czech guards (Regierungstruppe), and the Italian, Slovak, Polish and former Soviet gunners (the Wehrmacht had transferred its German young men to front line units). Yet, this improbable Flak force proved to be effective and supported by Luftwaffe aircraft (outnumbered by at least 10 to 1) it faced both a hailstorm of Allied bombs and guerrilla ground attacks. Women played a major role in this campaign. Axis, guerrillas, and Allied intelligence used women to infiltrate the enemy and as auxiliaries, nurses and fighters. Another aspect of this battle was the Hitler-Beneš confrontation, an intelligence-guerrilla war which took place within the ranks of the Regierungstruppe.
Table of ContentsGlossary and Abbreviations; Part 1 The Government Army on the Po Bridges: 1 Die Regierungstruppe (Spring 1944); 2 Women and Men. The Two Battle Arrays (Spring 1944); 3 A Byzantine System. In the Labyrinth World of the German Police in Italy (Spring 1944); 4 Propaganda Ladies (4 June-7 July 1944); 5 Padania. The Great Partisan Pocket (7-11 July 1944); 6 Twenty-four Bridges Across the Po River (12-29 July 1944); 7 Moroder’s Ladies. Flugplatz San Damiano (30 July-4 August 1944); 8 The German Victory; Part 2 The Scientist and the Shaman: 9 Beneš the Jacobin (1914-44); 10 Hitler the Aristocratic Occultist (1944).
