Category: The Mediterranean Invasions

The biography of a US Admiral who played a prominent part in Dragoon.

A brief account of the landing and subsequent battles.

A harsh critique of the battle.

Naval bombardments helped snatch a victory in a close-fought battle which is fully described.

An American view of the landings on the Italian mainland.

One of the series with a basic account of the assault and some information on the state of the battlefields and monuments today.

A popular account from a US Army perspective.

An excellent up to date account, but with limited naval material.

Another excellent work by this American military historian. It has only a little relevant naval material.

Well-illustrated, but mainly concerned with the land battle.

A BBC war correspondent gives a telling account of the assault which turned into a besieged beachhead. Little on the naval role.

Essentially a military history, full of the doings of individuals.

A day by day account of the first ten days of the landings with good coverage of naval support.

Places the invasion in its wider context and notes the revival of French forces.

The official account of the background, planning, and landings.

ROBICHON, J. The Second D-Day. x, 314p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Barker, 1969. ISBN: 0213177951.

The first full account in English of the landings in the South of France in 1944. Originally published in French in Paris in 1963.        

WELCH, Ken. A Sailor at War 1939-1945. 174p., illus. Kindle e-book, 2014

The personal memories of Albert Edward Welch, the author’s father, who served on  Mauritius, Capetown, Widnes and Centurion mainly in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, as well as D-Day. A fairly bland if accurate account enlivened with a handful of personal anecdotes.

GAFFNEY, Patrick. Sons of the Seas: Royal Naval Stories and Tales of Foreign Seaports, from 1910-1966. iv, 205p., illus. Kibworth Beauchamp: Matador, 2016. ISBN: 9781784624347.

A rather curious book in which the author tries to describe the naval career of a father he never met thanks to the complicated domestic life of his parents. It covers his father’s service in World War I and his service in WW2 in paddle minesweepers and LSTs, the latter mainly in the Mediterranean. It then covers his brother’s war service in the FAA, while the second half of the book covers his own peacetime service in the RN. Poorly organised and edited, it does however give a real feeling for the impact of war on individuals and on family life and the strains this caused on relationships.

CLARKE, Bob. War and Peacey.  [224p]., illus. [n.p., author], 2018. ISBN: 9780992760113.

Aged 15, Chris Peacey joined the RN on the outbreak of war as a boy seaman. His first ship was Prince of Wales, where he served through the Bismarck hunt and on until her sinking in the Far East. He was quickly transferred to Danae and spent some time with her in the Indian Ocean before returning to the UK. He then went to the USA where he joined the newly acquired LST 163, nicknamed Rose Marie by her crew. With her he took part in allied assault landings in North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Normandy and Malaysia. Also describes his post-war career in submarines. A fascinating and very personal tale as told to the author.

MACE, Martin & GREHAN, John. The War in Italy 1943-1944. xii, 292p. illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2015. ISBN: 9781783462131.

Reprints four despatches from the London Gazette with a brief introduction, namely 38205, the Conquest of Sicily by Viscount Alexander; 38895, the Invasion of Sicily by Sir Andrew Cunningham; 38899, the Landings in the Gulf of Salerno by Sir Andrew Cunningham; and 38937, and the Campaign in Italy by Lord Alexander, which occupies two-thirds of the book.

NICHOLSON, G.W.L. The Canadians in Italy 1943-1945 (Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, Volume II). xv, 807p., bibliog., illus., index. Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1956.

A detailed accurate account with some marginal naval material.

HOLLAND, James. The War in Italy (Ladybird Expert History of the Second World War, Book 8). 52p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Penguin Random House, 2021. ISBN: 9780718186548.

 A beautifully illustrated but very succinct account from the invasion of Sicily to the surrender in 1945

HOLLAND, James. The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943. liii, 565, [21]p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Bantam, 2023. ISBN: 9781787636682.

More excellent work based on letters, diaries and official papers this volume tells the story of the protracted and bloody campaign in Italy with good coverage of the various invasions.

Originally written as daily broadcasts for the US Fleet involved in Husky. Propaganda with little factual content.

A record of one year of service by two nurses in the Mediterranean from Sicily to Anzio.

A German air raid on Bari in December 1943 sank some 17 merchantmen, when one of them, the John Harvey, carrying a cargo of 100 tons of mustard gas, exploded and caused heavy casualties.

The fanciful wartime memoirs of a religious engineer on an American LSI, who served in all the Mediterranean invasions.

In fact the rather self-indulgent memoirs of a Catholic chaplain who served with American naval forces in North Africa, Italy, and the South of France.

Macmillan ran what amounted to a ministerial department in French North Africa, Italy and Greece. Much of incidental relevance.

The story of the German air attack on the port of Bari, Italy, in 1943, where 17 ships were lost, one of which carried mustard gas. More than 1,000 service men and 1,000 civilians lost their lives.

Reynolds joined MGB 658 when she was building at Brixham. He rose to command her and served in her until the end of the war.

A survivor has painstakingly reconstructed the tale of this terrible tragedy and its aftermath when a Luftwaffe Raid on the harbour released a cargo of liquid mustard gas to terrible effect.

The author commanded the African Coastal Flotilla, which actually operated from Corsica at this period. They undertook skulduggery of various kinds in Northern Italy and Southern France using Italian MAS boats. An engaging tale.

A good up to date account with reasonable coverage of the naval elements.

A general view of the year followed by the author’s account of his own experiences, notably the Sicily landings and a visit to Russia during which the Scharnhorst was sunk.

A workmanlike strategic overview from a good historian. Limited naval content except for the invasions.

Has some useful naval coverage.

The best work on the campaign, although it has little naval material. A harsh indictment of British General Alexander.

An account of the invasion and liberation of the island, seen through the eyes of a number of individual participants.

Sees the battle in terms of personal rivalry between the Allied commanders.

An American war correspondent’s view of the war in the Mediterranean on a tour made in July-September 1943. The D-Day referred to is that in Sicily and there is some general background information on naval matters.

A good account by an experienced author.

A good review of the dogged Axis defence of the island, with interesting new material. The author served as a Major in Sicily.

A contemporary diary of the assault on the island.

The Devons were part of the Malta Infantry Brigade and this book gives a little information on the naval side of the landings.

Mainly concerned with the brutal land battle and relying heavily on unpublished war diaries, it gives a good account of this critical assault which nearly failed. Published in paperback as Salerno 1943: Gulf of Hell.