One Soldier's Story by John Bascom

By JOHN BASCOM

The story of the World War II experience of a soldier in northern Italy during battles as fierce, bloody and contested as any during the war.  It Northern Apennines Campaign is little covered in military history despite its dramatic fighting and uncertain outcome.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JOHN BASCOM
• Release date: Dec 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393089094

Book preview

Geopolitical Landscape

Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party came into power in Germany in the early-mid 1930s, a militant extremist bent on avenging Germany’s defeat in World War I, purifying the German Aryan race, and unifying German speaking people throughout Europe under his Reich.  He built a powerful military and pursued his dream by successfully invading his neighbors— Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Austria—by 1939.  When England and France resisted those moves, he promptly invaded west, conquering much of the rest of western Europe including Belgium, Holland, parts of Scandinavia, and most importantly, France.  Spain and Italy had allied with Hitler and were spared for the time being. 

The grand prize, Great Britain, was next on the list, but as an island nation, it was to prove more difficult than the others.  Still, he decimated British troops that were in Continental Europe and sent them retreating to their homeland in the humiliating rout at Dunkirk.  While he then paused the ground offensive in Western Europe to regroup his forces, he initiated a vicious bombing campaign against the British Isles and southern England in particular.  Emboldened, he also invaded Russia, which would prove a fatal mistake.

On the other side of the world at roughly the same time, Japan had been busy pursuing their militaristic vision of racial superiority and domination.  They invaded and seized large parts of China and Korea in the most brutal fashion imaginable.  The United States, uninterested in military entanglement, nonetheless pressured Japan with an embargo of strategic materials they needed to continue their campaign of terror on the Asian continent.  We supported Britain, hanging by fingernails, by supplying strategic war materials just short of actual military involvement.

All came to head on December 7, 1941—two days after my sister’s birth—when Japan bombed the U.S. naval and other forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Day That Will Live in Infamy.  Motivated by thoughts of avenging the embargo and pressuring America into a negotiated settlement, Japan stupidly believed their actions would get materials flowing again and keep us out of the way.  They were wrong.

America responded by immediately declaring war on Japan.  Days later, their ally, Germany, declared war on the US.  We were in it all the way.

Nazi Europe (Red) Early 1942

Spain was not physically occupied, but was a cooperator with Hitler

The Military Situation

In 1941 just before the start America’s participation in the war, our peacetime military was small.  When we officially declared war in December, the nation mobilized to build a formidable force, but it would take time.  The goals were to defeat our enemies by destroying Japan militarily in the Pacific, and by driving Hitler out of Western Europe and back into Germany, where he would be forced to surrender or face complete destruction.

The Pacific campaign started with pushing Japanese forces from various small islands, primarily to obtain U.S. bases closer to the home island of Japan.  This would position us to launch massive bombing and naval raids preparatory to an ultimate land invasion of their main homeland.  In Europe, the goal was to mount a credible invasion force to take back France—the famous D-Day landing that would not take place until June 6, 1944.  This final goal would take a considerable amount of time, men, material, equipment, and training before success could be assured.  In the meantime, there were a few smaller fish to be fried.

The Germans and their partners, Spain and Italy (along with Japan, known as the Axis powers), controlled most of the Mediterranean at the outset of our involvement, including North Africa and for all practical purposes the Suez Canal area.  This served to cut off Allied shipping and supplies through that area while protecting Germany proper from invasion from the south.  As a first order of business following America’s involvement, we, along with British and Canadian forces (The Allies or Allied powers), set out to drive the Germans from Africa, reopen the canal, then attack north, taking Sicily and eventually all of Italy.  Thence, it was thought, an attack on German forces from the Mediterranean through Austria and southern France could be launched, augmenting our planned invasion (D-Day) in northwestern France and catching the Germans from two sides in a sort of vice.

These Mediterranean theater operations were launched in 1942 and 1943 and were largely successful.  After epic fighting in North Africa (the Dessert Rats) and our successful invasion of Sicily, the Germans consolidated remaining Mediterranean forces on the Italian mainland.