Most everyone who chooses to get involved in this 'Living History business' eventually finds him- or herself with one or more books in hand, reading up on the selected period, locations, and events pertaining to the history being relived. I am no exception, in fact, my interest in studying history has increased exponentially since I first set out to assemble an accurate U.S.-Mexican War uniform. Reenacting the role of a partigiano italiano has been no different.
The story of the 1943-1945 war in Italy is reasonably well documented but was never as well publicized in the States as, say, the Normandy invasion or the Battle of the Bulge. The average American knows something about the destruction of the abbey at Monte Cassino and recognizes the place name "Anzio," but not much else. Likewise, Americans are quite familiar with the image of the French Resistance fighter but most are totally unaware of the Italian Partisans and their accomplishments in freeing their country from Fascist tyranny.
I started out reading whatever I could find about partigiani italiani and eventually graduated to reading books about the war in Italy. In retrospect, I probably should have done just the opposite; studying the 'big picture' first would have given me a better frame of reference from which to view and ultimately to understand the partisan story. I suppose I'll have to re-read some of those earlier books. Here then is a list of books that I've found useful grouped by subject and scope in a somewhat chronological order:
The War in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO)
The Italian Navy in World War II by Commander Marc`Antonio Bragadin provides good background material on Italy's view of itself as the deserving dominant power in the Mediterranean (though it held that position for little if any time). Somewhat dry, this book follows a mostly chronological path through the various campaigns from Ethiopia to the 1943 armistice and beyond. This is a difficult (and from what I've seen on ebay, expensive) book to find - mine came from the UNM ROTC library via a discard book sale.
The War in Italy
The Italian Campaign 1943-1945 by G. A. Shepperd is a chronological account of the action from a former British colonel. His treatment of the material is reasonably neutral though he does give the reader some indication of his favorite and less favorite personages on the Allied side. Each chapter begins with a chronological list of pertinent wartime events that occurred in the period being covered, a feature which causes the reader to consider how happenings in other theaters and back home influenced or were influenced by the action in Italy.
From the fall of Mussolini to the Liberation of Rome
The Race for Rome by Dan Kurzman does an admirable job of recounting the alliances, activities, and actions of the significant players involved in the pacification, occupation, and liberation of Rome from the late summer of 1943 until the Allies entered the Eternal City in June 1944. The author does an admirable job of detailing the activities of both sides, deals with the actions and influence of Pope Pius II, and spends a good 30 pages familiarizing us with the Roman partisans, who were still very much underground at this time.
The Battle for Rome by Robert Katz is another account of the events leading up to the liberation of Rome but with a slightly different approach. Here, Rome is a theater stage and the various organizations and people in Rome are the actors. Where appropriate, outside influences are allowed to be felt, but this is mainly the story about how those who were attached to the city, be they soldiers, diplomats, clerics, or partisans played out their roles in the subjugation and eventual liberation of the citizens.
A Spy in Rome by Peter Tompkins is a first hand account of his time in Italy, and more specifically Rome, as an agent of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. He pulls no punches in expressing his disdain for some of his colleagues, superiors, and even the Allied brass. Along the way, he tells an exciting, sometimes scary, and perhaps slightly embellished story of his activities, including several close calls and near misses. Ultimately, he faults both the Allies for not moving quicker and with more audacity and the Badoglio government for not issuing explicit orders to resist to the Italian High Command, thereby bungling the chance to bring a quicker end to the German occupation of the country.
Italy Betrayed by Peter Tompkins is the story of Fascists and Italian industrialists taking the Italian people to war, their mostly successful efforts to save their skins and their fortunes through an ill-timed armistice, and the Allied failure to take full military advantage of Mussolini's fall. Tompkins provides full details of the conspiracies that led to il Duce's ouster and details the decisions and blunders that kept the Allies in a long and costly war. The book's bibliography cites over 300 other works, many unpublished and others in Italian. By the time I finished reading it, I was thoroughly disgusted with shrewd Fascists, barbarous Nazis, and naïve and sometimes incompetent and egotistical Allied commanders and leaders.
From the Liberation of Rome to War's End
The Outlaws by Luigi Meneghello (translated from the original Italian text i piccoli maestri) is a first person account of a young man who, along with his school buddies, goes from student, to soldier, to partisan in the space of a few short months. The author wrote as if keeping a diary and without the benefit of the hindsight that typically colors the retelling of a true story. As a result, the reader is frequently confused or anxious, as was the author, when faced with the dangers of the day-to-day life of a partisan in northern Italy.
