Italy 1944
- this is the setting of one of the most convincing & quietly magnificent stories about man & war that has ever been written. Here (distilled from the experiences & observations of one who fought with them in the British infantry unit) is the mood of those who fought & died at Anzio. Their task
- to seize the Alban Hills & then Rome forty miles away. Instead for more than four months they sank into the mud of the Anzio plain & fought for their lives. Nothing has appeared since Erich Maria Remarques ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT that can compare with this books ability to penetrate the minds of men at war. There are no heroes no heroines no victories. This is a faceless nameless fragmented war. Even national differences
- Britain Italian German American
- merge & are forgotten in this larger story of humanity. This story in fact does not need to be Anzio; it could be any battlefield where man has faced death.