The Second World War Illustrated: The Fifth Year

By Jack Holroyd

The Second World War Illustrated: 1944 follows the author's visual tour of the war by means of painstakingly researched and digitally restored pictures from the period of the key battlefields and events of the period from September 1943 to the late summer of 1944. This year marked a defining change in the balance of the war; by its end the Axis powers were in serious trouble on all their fronts.

The book begins with a visual history of the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno and the subsequent slow progress made in Italy, including the battle for Monte Cassino, the landings at Anzio and the liberation of Rome. The focus then shifts to the planning for the Normandy landings: we are reminded of the magnitude of the task facing the Allies, with an analysis of the formidable defenses of Hitler's Atlantic Wall and the beach defenses along the French coast. There are fascinating pictures of preparations by the Allies during Operation Tiger and detailed maps that explain the build-up and execution of the invasion beaches. There is detailed coverage of the D Day landings and the fierce fighting involved in the breakthrough of the German defenses in Normandy to the liberation of Paris, as well as the often neglected Allied landings in the south of France.

The author provides a fascinating photographic history of Operation Valkyrie, the plot to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944, including key players, the planning and the aftermath of the failed attempt on the Führer's life.

There is a chapter on Hitler's new terror weapon – the V2 rocket, including the men and women who designed them and the Allied attempts to disrupt their development with the Peenemünde raid; a separate chapter looks at the growing air offensive against Germany. Although overshadowed by events in the west, there is chapter on the increasingly evident collapse of the German army on the Eastern Front, which included the loss of his Army Group Centre.

Latter chapters turn our attention to the war in the east. The American advance continued in the South Pacific, involving bloody battles to take what appear to be insignificant islands and island groups, bringing the Allies ever closer to the Japanese mainland. The British and Indian armies continued to be threatened by the Japanese army’s push to India via Burma, which was finally halted at Kohima and Imphal.

With over 1,000 original photographs, this is a true labor of love and an ideal purchase for anyone interested in the history of the Second World War in a more accessible form.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Jun 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399063050

Jack Holroyd

Jack Holroyd has been employed in printing and publishing for fifty years. His works several fictional titles, two books on aviation topics, five further titles on the First World War and one covering the actions of the SS Totenkopf Division in the invasion of France in May 1940.

Book preview

Chapter One Battleground Italy: Salerno to Rome

002ww2/5 A German self-propelled gun crew discuss the situation with their Fallschirmjäger comrades among the ruins of the town of Cassino.

001ww2/5 Men of the 2/6th Battalion, Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey) advance past a pair of burning German PzKpfw IV tanks in the Salerno area, 22 September 1943.

028ww2/5 On 12 September 1943, Otto Skorzeny and sixteen members of the Waffen SS joined Fallschirmjäger troops to rescue Mussolini in a high-risk glider mission. Ten DFS 230 gliders, each carrying nine soldiers and a pilot, towed by Henschel Hs 126 aircraft, took off from Pratica di Mare Air Base near Rome to rescue the deposed dictator Benito Mussolini. The rescue was a hugely publicised success. Above: Skorzeny has inserted himself next to Mussolini, pushing aside the planner of the raid, Major Mors.

031ww2/5 Skorzeny insisted on accompanying Mussolini, which endangered the mission’s success. After an extremely dangerous but successful takeoff, they flew to Pratica di Mare and then on to Vienna in a Heinkel He 111. On 14 September he met Hitler at Rastenburg.

During the invasion and fighting in Sicily, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy removed Mussolini and replaced him with Pietro Badoglio, who secretly negotiated a surrender with the Allies. The Germans’ reaction was to reinforce their forces in Italy, occupy Rome and set up a puppet state in the north of the country. The Allied invasion of mainland Italy began in September 1943. In the aftermath of Italy’s surrender, the Allies faced strong resistance from the Germans under Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, who resisted in strength the landing at Salerno, code named Operation Avalanche. Eventually, with twenty-four German divisions defending the country’s mountainous terrain, Italy became a slogging operation and a secondary theatre in the war against the Axis.

027ww2/5 Gran Sasso, liberation for Benito Mussolini, he leaves the Hotel Campo Imperatore. Behind him to his left is Italian General Ferdinando Soleti, who had been involved in Mussolini’s removal. He had been forced into joining the operation to free the ex-dictator from the hotel on Gran Sasso. He ordered the carabinieri guards not to shoot, thus ensuring a bloodless rescue. Carrying the suitcase is SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Radl. Others are Fallschirmjäger and Waffen SS soldiers. SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny took the limelight and the credit.

029ww2/5, 030ww2/5. After pulling off a precarious landing on sloping ground on a mountain side, the pilot of the Fieseler Storch light aircraft, Hauptmann Heinrich Gerlach, voiced his concerns that he did not think be could possibly take off with a passenger. When Skorzeny said that he’d be coming as well, Gerlach was horrified, as two passengers plus a pilot could be disastrous. But Otto Skorzeny was insistent. The look on Mussolini’s face says it all?

032WW2/4 Men of the 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, part of 17 Brigade, British 5th Division, wait to board landing craft at Catania, Sicily, for the invasion of Italy, that took place on 3 September at Reggio di Calabria, (Operation Baytown).

033ww2/5 The US Navy tank landing craft, LCT-222, lands a US Army jeep during the Salerno landings.

The Invasion of Italy September 1943: troops from the 51st (Highland) Division boarding landing craft at Catania, 2 September 1943.

032ww/5 Americans landing artillery pieces during the invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno, September 1943. The military policeman (MP) in the foreground is ducking from a German shell exploding close by. The LCVPs (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) are from the USS James O’Hara.

050ww2/5, 051ww2/5. Landing British troops at Reggio di Calabria, Italy, as part of Operation Baytown. A US half-track, personnel carrier, has just driven off the LTC. The gun is a British 6-pounder anti-tank gun. Men of the 51st (Highland) Division coming ashore during the first day.

049ww2/5 September 1943 General Montgomery salutes his troops from a DUKW in the streets of Reggio di Calabria ‘on the toe of Italy’, 3 September 1943.

037ww2/5 Four weeks after the Allies landed in southern Italy the new Prime Minister of Italy, Marshal Pietro Bagdoglio, signed a full armistice document outlining details of the surrender aboard the battleship HMS Nelson. Behind Bagdoglio and Eisenhower are: left to right, Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Lieutenant General Mason-MacFarlane and General Alexander. During secret surrender negotiations with the Allies, the Italian government offered to open the ports of Taranto and Brindisi on the eastern coast. Eisenhower quickly planned a third landing, codenamed ‘Slapstick’, to take advantage of the offer.

038ww2/5 General Arturo Scattini with the grenadiers of the Friuli Combat Group. (‘Friuli’ is an area of Northeast Italy.) General Arturo Scattini in Mussolini’s army was commander of the 80th La Spezia airborne division in Tunisia. He was captured by the British in May 1943 and interned. After the armistice he joined the Allies as a co-belligerent officer, returning to Italy in 1944 to command the Friuli Combat Group of the reconstituted Italian army. The officers and men are wearing British uniforms and webbing equipment, but retain their Italian badges of rank.

035ww2/5 Lieutenant General Mark Clark on board his command ship, USS Ancon, for the landings at Salerno, Italy, 12 September 1943.

The USS Ancon after conversion from a troop transport to an amphibious command ship (AGC). Some of her civilian livery, although painted over, is still visible. Previously she was in service for the Panama Railroad Company.

039ww2/5 Landings by the US 36th Infantry Division coming ashore at ‘Yellow Beach’. Shermans of the 191st and 751st Tank Battalions roll onto the beach from LSTs to support the infantry.

034ww2/5 British troops landing at Salerno with the help of American engineers, 9 September 1943.

040ww2/5, A column of German Pzkfw IV panzers move to counter the Allied landings.

044ww2/5 Near the town of Salerno, 9 September 1943 (Operation Avalanche): a British 3-inch mortar team in action.

041ww2/5 A German defence line on the Salerno bridgehead perimeter. The weapon is a grenade launcher.

045ww2/5, 046ww2/5. A Nebelwerfer 41 crew of four loading up the six barrels. Although it was referred to as a mortar, it was really a rocket tubular projector. The barrels are fired electrically, from a distance, as the crew took cover. They were never fired simultaneously, since the blast from six rockets at once would capsize the weapon. The order of fire was fixed at 1–4–6–2–3–5. The range was said to be about 7,760 yards. There could be either six or eight weapons to a battery. The battery officer has his arm raised and is yelling the command to fire.

By 11 September, four of the Fifth Army’s divisions were ashore, but five Panzer Divisions of the German Tenth Army were in place to resist their advance. The Northern Attack Force, British X Corps, were struggling to break out towards Naples. The US Sixth Corps, the Southern Attack Force, with its thirty-five mile wide front could not break out to the south. It meant that these two attack forces, widely spread as they were, could not support each other. Kesselring counter attacked Clark’s landings along the line of the River Sele on 12 September and almost succeeded in splitting the Salerno beachhead. However, Allied air and naval firepower broke up the German attack. On 14 September the Germans withdrew north and the Salerno beachhead was secure. Meanwhile, the Eighth Army was continuing to advance north against little resistance and on 20 September Montgomery and Clark’s armies met at Ponte Sele and by 5 October the Allies were entering Naples.

On 8 September the British 2nd and 4th Parachute Brigades made an amphibious landing, followed by the remainder of the division landing at the port of Taranto. The commander, Major General Hopkinson, landed with the rest of the division and accepted the surrender of the Italian garrison, then ordered the division to advance northwards. Elements of the German 1.Fallschirmjäger-Division, set up defence positions and roadblocks to slow the British parachute troops. A German roadblock was set up near the town of Castellaneta. On 9 September the 10th Parachute Battalion attacked the roadblock, with Hopkinson up front along with them. During the fighting the general was hit and killed by machine-gun fire. Brigadier Ernest Down, commander of the 2nd Parachute Brigade, took over his command.

006ww2/5 Major General George F. Hopkinson, (14 December 1895 – 9 September 1943) commanded the 1st Airborne Division. He was killed in action in Italy. He was the only British Airborne general to be killed during the Second World War. He died fighting near the town of Castellaneta, Italy.

048ww2/5 New Zealand soldiers arrive at the port and city of Taranto, Italy, 14 October 1943.

047ww2/5 It was not going to be easy for the Allies to fight their way towards Rome. The Germans made skilful use of the rivers and mountainous terrain to form defence lines. Men of the 1.Fallschirmjäger Division are seen here setting up an ambush with their MG42 heavy machine gun.

042ww2/5 Members of 2 SAS on parade for an inspection by General Montgomery, following their successful operation behind enemy lines, helping in the capture of the port of Termoli in Italy. On the left is Major E Scratchley DSO, MC, commanding the SAS detachment. On the right is Captain Roy Farran holding a German MP40 (Maschinenpistole 40). Allies referred to it as a ‘Schmeisser’. The winged sword/dagger cap badges on their sand coloured berets have been obliterated by the censor.

051ww2/5 An American infantry patrol in the ruined square of Acerno, fourteen miles northeast of Salerno, passes an abandoned German 88mm anti-aircraft gun adapted for use in the anti-tank role. Allied tank crews in their Shermans dreaded coming up against this very effective weapon.

053ww2/5 Through the remainder of September the Allies pushed north through southern Italy. The American Fifth Army entered Naples on 1 October. To the east, also on 1 October, the British Eighth Army liberated Foggia.

059ww2/5 Grottaglie, Taranto, 15 September 1943, RAAF Padre, Squadron Leader John McNamara of Brunswick, Victoria, conducts mass outdoors for an Italian aircrew, two days after the Allies arrived. Most Italian forces changed sides to join the Allies, although some formations remained on the side of the Axis. In such situations conflict of conscience for some was inevitable; it could be allayed by Roman Catholic ritual. Note the two Italians standing guard with fixed bayonets either side of the altar, which has been set up in front of a roadside shrine.

055ww2/5 The Volturno River 12 to 16 October 1943: An Ordnance QF 25-pounder on a Valentine tank chassis (named the ‘Bishop’ self-propelled gun) at an aerodrome near Grazzanise fires a round during the night barrage in preparation for the crossing of the Volturno by assault troops. The Bishop has been run up on the wreckage of a German aircraft to obtain more elevation.

060ww2/5 A German soldier killed by a shell explosion. He is wearing radio earphones and could have been operating as a spotter for the artillery at the time of his death.

061ww2/5 An American gun crew operating a 105 mm howitzer from a half-track putting down suppressing fire for a river crossing.

054ww2/5 American infantry crossing the Volturno River by rubber boat. Following the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, the German forces set up a series of defensive lines across Italy, intended to delay the Allied advance. The Volturno Line was the southernmost of these.

062ww2/5 An American paratrooper demonstrates the process of removing a live S-mine. On the left is a Mark I trench knife.

The SMi-35 mine’s internal mechanism, together with the three-pronged pressure fuse. The safety pin for the fuse and the three removable plugs for the detonators are clearly visible. These diagrams were issued as part of a US Army field manual on mines in 1943

When triggered, these mines were launched into the air and then detonated at about three feet from the ground. The explosion projected a lethal spray of shrapnel in all directions.

057ww2/5 American engineers had thrown bridges across the Volturno, some barely strong enough to carry armour. A soldier is walking backwards guiding a self-propelled gun across a foot at a time. Note a ‘drowned’ vehicle from a previous attempt to cross the fast flowing river.

056ww2/5 An amphibious operation was made by British Commandos at Termoli on the Adriatic coast. It took place on 3 October 1943, as part of the attack on the Volturno Line. This Pzkfw IV was knocked out south of Petacciate, beyond Termoli. The grave is of M. Muller, German Army. Numerous S Mines had been placed in and around the tank.

070ww2/5 British troops crossing the Volturno River on a bridge laid by American engineers, 13 October 1943. The weather would deteriorate, changing from autumn rains to winter storms, washing away many of these crossing places.

072ww2/5 An action photograph of a Piat team of the 2/6th Battalion, The Queen’s Royal Regiment, hitting an enemy tank with a PIAT mortar projectile.

The PIAT launched a 2.5 pound bomb using a cartridge in the tail of the projectile. It possessed a range of approximately 115 yards.

The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank (PIAT) Mk I was a British man-portable anti-tank weapon.

093ww2/5 Disabled and abandoned by its German crew, a PzKfw IV.

058ww2/5 Infantry of the 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, advance through the mud in the Volturno area.

068ww2/5 Two German soldiers making themselves comfortable and enjoying a meal (bread and sausage?) in a defence position. They are covered by waterproof capes (Zelthahn) lashed together to make a shelter.