Monte Cassino

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Intelligent, transparent & moving account. - Rated
This is an excellent book.
Parker presents the reader with a concise & authoritative account of the battle. His use of source material is excellent; the narrative is supported by eye-witness accounts from combatants from both sides of the conflict & by the testimonies of civilians. These accounts add authority to the text. The book is firmly focussed upon the experience of, & the effects of, armed conflict upon a range of individuals. Parker's criticisms of senior commenders are supported by evidence & his arguments are always reasoned & convincing & based upon a cool assessment of their actions & not upon easy prejudices. He easily avoids historicism & characature.
Perhaps the major strength of this book is in it's invocation of the experience of warfare from so many different points of view. The reader is presented the views of those who clearly believed in what they did (& are still able to justify it) & those whose health & nerves were damaged by their experiences.
A deeply affecting account.

Shocking testimony to the brutality of war - Rated
Too young to remember the war I had read of the Mote Cassino battle in a number of related texts though none focussed on the battle itself. This book captures the brutality of the campaign, as well as the seeming incompetence of the Generals running it. Well balanced narrative covering the allied and axis perspectives I recommend this to all.

Cassino - the hellhole - Rated
When I was young and my father spoke about Monte Cassino, I thought it was a casino. Later on I discovered otherwise...

This informative and moving account has helped me to understand and picture a part of the war my father (46 Recce) and thousands of other brave young men fought. My father amongst many was deeply affected by this battle and this has helped me to see why.

It is a book I will treasure
thank you Matthew Parker

ps will you be writing one on the Reconnaissance Regiment?

Read by a Cassino Veteran - Rated
I bought this book for my late Father, who fought and was wounded at Cassino. He told me that it was well written, informative and incredibly well research. He was also pleased that at long last this battle (and in a wider context, the Italian Campaign) was being written about and being fully understood for the hard fought operation that it was. If only ‘Dear old Lady Astor’ were able to read this book!

A well-researched, intelligent and thought-provoking history - Rated
This book deals with the Italian Campaign, from its beginnings mired in confusion, to the bitter struggles that gained the Allied forces yard after slow yard in central Italy, to the climatic, but empty, victory at Cassino, which cost 200,000 people their lives or health. Parker is very in touch with the soldier on the ground, and shows us their plight in intimate, frightening detail, often following the lives of several soldiers during the whole course of the campaign, giving us a detailed view of what each single infantryman or soldier had to suffer just to survive, never mind fight, in such an inhospitable place. Parker shows us the bravery of the Allied soldiers, and also the steadfast guts and intelligence of the Germans.

I have also read John Ellis' 'Hollow Victory' on the same subject, and, in comparison to Parker's book, Ellis is more concerned with allocating blame to the various Allied commanders who lead their soldiers so pitifully, and let petty squabbles get in the way of good strategy, but is perhaps less in touch with the single soldier's plight on the ground. Parker, I feel, gave a much better impression of what the 'Poor Bloody Infantry' suffered. Ellis gives us a more impressive view of the grand strategy behind the campaign, and also better describes the battles after Cassino, while Parker simply alludes to them. Parker tells us how it all lead up to Cassino though, so you can see the two books in many cases complement each other well, and for a complete understanding of this battle I would recommend first reading Parker's work, then Ellis'.

Both, individually, however, are very good histories, detailing a very long, very bitter, very hard-fought and hugely costly battle in a long, bitter war.

I would thoroughly recommend this book, especially for those who believe the Second World War was somehow 'easier' than the First. If you want to get as good an impression of war as you can from words and script, this book will show you.