MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST VOLUME VI; Victory in the Mediterranean Part I, 1st April to 4th June1944. HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The sixth in the eight volumes describing the Mediterranean a Middle Eastern theatres in the 18-volume official British History of the Second World War narrates the campaign in Italy from March to June 1944. After the Allies bogged down at Anzio and Monte Cassino, General Alexander determined on a Spring offensive - Operation Diadem - to take Monte Cassino, break the German defences of the Gustav Line, and capture Rome. The Line was successfully breached by the British Eighth and the US Fifth Armies within days of the offensive's opening and the subsidiary 'Hitler Line' was also broken. As a follow-up, American, Canadian and French forces broke out of the Anzio bridgehead where they had been bottled up since January. After heavy fighting, the Caesar Line, the last defence before the Italian capital, was broken and the Allies occupied Rome on 4th June. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean theatre, British special forces missions supported Marshal Tito's partisans in attacking the German occupying forces in Yugoslavia. There are chapters on Allied strategic disagreements; the war at sea, and the allied administration of Italy. The text has two appendices and 20 maps and diagrams.