Sicily-Salerno-Anzio, June 1943 - June 1944

The ninth volume in Admiral Morison’s history takes up the story of American naval activities in the Mediterranean where Volume II left off, and covers three major amphibious operations – the invasion of Sicily (Husky), and the capture of the Salerno beachhead (Avalanche), and the long Anzio beachhead struggle (Shingle). As the operations in this volume were both joint and combined, it covers a great many besides those of the United States Navy, also providing a balanced account of Mediterranean operations in 1943-1944. As he relates the individual exploits of American bluejackets, he also discusses higher strategy, such as the British concept of nourishing operations in the“Sea of Destiny”. This is but one of the many controversial subjects covered in this volume. Morison considered that the whole plan of the Sicilian operation was ill-conceived, that the evacuation of three German divisions from Sicily could and should have been prevented, that the Italian armistice was woefully bungled, and that the hard-fought Anzio operation was a mistake. He concluded, however, that the Italian campaign, like the Wilderness campaign of 1864,“was fought because it had to be fought.” About the Author Samuel Eliot Morison taught history at Harvard from 1915 to 1955, except for active duty service in the Navy on board eleven different ships in all theatres of the war. Before he died in 1976, he was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, two Bancroft Prizes, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.