Italy’s Sorrow: A Year of War 1944–45. James Holland

      The Val d’Orcia

      Northern Italy, Lake Como and Lake Garda

      Main Italian rail network and ports

      Allied Control Commission Organisation of Italy, 1 Sept. 1944

      The Winter Line, January 1945

       NOTE ON THE TEXT

      One of the difficulties faced when writing about different armies of different nationalities is that many units have similar names. Furthermore, many American servicemen also have Germanic-sounding names. So in an effort to avoid any confusion, I have used the German spellings for the names of military units and ranks. For example, the German name for an army was Armeeoberkommando, or AOK as it was known; paratroopers were called Fallschirmjäger; armoured divisions were called panzer divisions. I have also included as an appendix to the book a comparison of military ranks.

      On the other hand, I have translated Italian ranks, but have kept certain Italian words in their true form where there is no appropriate translation, such as contadini, who were Italian peasant farmers, and rastrellamento, the word to describe a military operation to clear an area of partisans.

      Traditionally, army numbers are spelled out, and corps numbers given in Roman numerals. However, I have used numerical figures to describe German corps, purely because LXXVI Panzer Corps seems unnecessarily long-winded. I hope readers will accept these inconsistencies and anomalies in the spirit in which they were intended.

       PRINCIPAL PERSONALITIES (ranks as at end of war)

      Cosimo Arrichiello Italian former soldier with Fourth Someggiata Field Battery; agricultural labourer hiding in the Stura Valley south of Turin

      John Barton British officer and agent with SOE, Italy

      Sam Bradshaw British reconnaissance trooper with 6 Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Armoured Brigade

      Kendall Brooke South African subaltern with A Coy, Royal Natal Carbineers, 6th SA Armoured Division

      Friedrich Büchner German trainee artillery officer with 98th Infantry Division

      Albert Burke American master sergeant with Divisional HQ, 92nd ‘Buffalo’ Infantry Division

      Ion Calvocoressi British senior aide-de-camp to General Sir Oliver Leese, Tactical HQ, Eighth Army

      Carla Capponi Italian civilian and member of Rome-based resistance movement GAP Central

      Eugenio Corti Italian lieutenant with 184th Artillery Regiment, Nembo Division, CIL, later Folgore Combat Group

      Carla Costa Italian civilian spy with German Intelligence Service (Abwehr)

      William Cremonini Italian sergeant with Bir el Gobi Company, Alessandro Pavolini’s personal bodyguard

      Antonio Cucciati Italian teenager paratrooper with Nuotati e Paracadutisti Battalion, Flottiglia Decima MAS

      Elena Curti Italian civilian and illegitimate daughter of Benito Mussolini, working for government of the RSI

      Charles Dills American fighter pilot with 522nd Squadron, 27th Fighter Bomber Group

      Group Captain Hugh ‘Cocky’ Dundas British airman serving as wing commander, HQ Desert Air Force, 244 Wing; commanding officer, 244 Wing, RAF

      Clara Duse Italian civilian living in Trieste

      Tom Finney British trooper with 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, 78th Division

      Dick Frost South African lance corporal with D Squadron, Royal Natal Carbineers, 12th Motor Infantry Brigade, 6th SA Armoured Division

      Martha Gellhorn American freelance journalist and war correspondent with Collier’s Magazine. Estranged wife of the writer Ernest Hemingway

      Tini Glover Maori sergeant with 28th Maori Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Division

      Hans Golda German commanding officer serving with 8th Battery, Werfer Regiment 71

      Reg Harris British sergeant with 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards

      Stephen Hastings British liaison officer with No 1 Special Force, SOE in Piacenza

      Willi Holtfreter German fighter pilot with fighter group III/JG 53

      Hamilton Howze American commander, 13th Armored Battalion; later commander Combat Command B, 1st Armored Division

      Jupp Klein German commander with Pioneer Company, 1st Fallschirmjäger Division

      Hans-Jürgen Kumberg German paratrooper with 4th Parachute Regiment, 1st Paratroop Division

      Norman Lewis British intelligence officer with 412th Field Security Service

      Franz Maassen German NCO with 2nd Battalion, 994th Infantry Regiment, 278th Infantry Division

      Iader Miserocchi Italian partisan commander of 2nd Battalion, 8th Garibaldi Brigade; later served with 28th Garibaldi Brigade

      Peter Moore British officer with 2/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment

      Ken Neill New Zealander flight commander with 225 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, RAF

      Marchesa Iris Origo Irish/American/Italian civilian living in Val d’Orcia, southern Tuscany

      Cornelia Paselli Italian civilian living near Monte Sole

      Francesco Pirini Italian civilian living near Monte Sole

      Pasua Pisa Italian civilian farmer living on Monte Rotondo, near Amaseno

      Italo Quadrelli Italian civilian living at Onferno, near Rimini

      Walter Reder German commanding officer, 16th Reconnaissance Battalion, 16th Waffen-SS

      Gianni Rossi Italian partisan; served as second-in-command, Stella Rossa, Monte Sole

      Wladek Rubnikowicz Polish troop leader with 2nd Squadron, 12th Lancers Reconnaissance Regiment, 3rd Carpathian Division, II Polish Corps

      Emilio Sacerdote Italian Jew and partisan in Piemonte

      Ray Saidel American private first class with G Coy, 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division

      Rudi Schreiber German engineer with Pioneer Battalion, 16th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division

      Stan Scislowski Canadian private with Perth Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade, 5th Canadian