In this work Richard Lamb tells the full story of the conflict in Italy, from Mussolini's fall and the Germans' race to occupy the peninsula up until the final surrender. He draws on recently released British, Italian and Vatican archives, the captured Mussolini papers and first-hand sources. In particular he reveals the infamies of German behaviour in occupied Italy: how surrendering Italians from the Aegean garrisons were massacred in cold blood, how Italian soldiers were used in German labour camps, how Jews were deported and civilians slaughtered. Had it not been for Mussolini's puppet government, Italy would have suffered the same fate as Poland. Evidence at post-war trials made nonsense of Alexander's claim that Kesselring was an honourable opponent. Richard Lamb also explores the controversies of the war in Italy. Why did the Allies not land unopposed in Italy before German divisions poured over the Brenner Pass? Would an immediate airborne landing around Rome have been a success? Should, or could, the Pope have made a stronger stand on behalf of the Jews and the victims of the Ardeatine massacre? He also airs fresh issues of great interest, including for instance, Mussolini's hatred of Hitler, Eden's reluctance to help the Italian partisans, the fate of recaptured prisoners of war, the Cossacks settlement in the Friuli, and the German generals' refusal to obey Hitler's order to scorch all Northern Italy. Richard Lamb's first book, Montgomery in Europe won the Yorkshire Post prize; and his others were all named books of the year in The Spectator.