Sicily - Salerno - Anzio, June 1943 - June 1944 - Samuel Eliot Morison

The Naval Institute Press has published Samuel Eliot Morison's monumental History of United States Naval Operations in World War II in updated paperback editions with new introductions by noted military historians. Morison, an eminent Harvard professor, was appointed by his close friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to write the history of US naval operations after convincing the president that too many wartime histories were written after the fact or from a distance. Morison called his classic work a ""shooting history"" of World War II, because it was documented by historical observation during each specific naval operation in the Atlantic and Pacific. Critically hailed for its accuracy, narrative pace, and detail, the series presents a complete record of the U.S. Navy's war at sea.

Volume 9 takes up the story of American naval activities in the Mediterranean with three major amphibious operations: the invasion of Sicily, the capture of the Salerno beachhead, and the long Anzio beachhead struggle. In describing these joint operations, Morison discusses individual exploits and strategies. Never reluctant to tackle controversial subjects, he calls the Sicilian Operation ill conceived, the evacuation of three German divisions from Sicily preventable, the Italian armistice woefully bungled, and the hard-fought Anzio Operation a mistake.