Air War Over Italy [first edition]

Although the campaign through Italy is perhaps overshadowed by the more dramatic battles in France and on the Eastern Front, it was a crucial phase of the war, forcing Hitler's Italian allies out of the war and tying huge numbers of men and vast quantities of German equipment down at a time when Axis needs were at their greatest elsewhere. From the first landings at Sicily, through the allied landings in southern Italy and the war of attrition as the Allies marched northwards to the surrender of the Italian forces and the ultimate German capitulation, Allied air power was to be of crucial importance. This book is a comprehensive narrative to the conflict from 1943 until the final German surrender of 1945. Drawn from official sources and from detailed research, the book emphasises the importance of the air war to the ultimate Allied success. The well-informed text is complemented by a superb selection of historic photographs illustrating the various types of aircraft involved in the campaign and of the campaign itself.