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| British troops examine a knocked-out German StuG III assault gun near Cassino, Italy, 18 May 1944. |
June 6th 1944 has been well and truly commemmorated as D-Day in Normandy this year but now media attention has faded it is appropriate to remember that other events vital to the ending of the war in Europe were taking place in Italy..
Eleven months prior to D-Day a successful invasion of Sicily had forced the Axis to undertake their own Dunkirk-type operation from Sicily to mainland Italy. By Autumn the Allies had landed three armies on the mainland.
By November Special Ops(M), which employed the main character in my novel, Patsy, were up and running in Bari, a sea-side town on the East coast facing Yugoslavia..
Soon after Patsy arrived in Bari the Italians surrendered although the Germans continue to occupy northern Italy. . By D-Day the allies had taken Rome and were pushing their way north towards the Germans' last defensive line.
