Ortona: Canada's Epic World War II Battle

Very good book about a battle I had never heard of. Also of interest to me was the fact it is a Canadian study about the Canadian forces (The author does take the time to intersperse some Italian and German accounts as well), the first I have read focusing on Canadian troops. Overall a good book, however some forgivable mistakes on the technical side of things (The author is overly fond of referring to the Mp-40 sub machine gun erroneously as the 'Schmeisser' he does this throughout the entire book) amongst a few other small niggles.

The author being Canadian shows in his writing as it has a slight tilt towards their side of things but this is to be expected given the subject and content. Overall I am looking forward to reading the show more authors other works on major Canadian battles in WWII. show less

The story of the week-long fight over Ortona, on Italy's Adriatic coast, between 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the German 1st Parachute Division. The battle became known as Little Stalingrad because of the ruined urban setting. I feel like there's a good movie in this book: there are some great characters and lots of interesting anecdotes from contemporary war diaries and later remembrances by the participants, like the plight of Gordon Currie-Smith who was buried in the rubble of building destroyed by the Germans and was rescued three days later, and the invention and use of mouse-holing, which allowed Canadian soldiers to clear houses of Germans without exposing themselves to snipers.

Zuehlke's books usually focus exclusively on show more the Canadian perspective, and that is a big part of this book, but there are a couple of German perspectives—engineer Karl Bayerlein, whose job it was to lay mines and booby traps, is a running commentator through the much of the narrative, as well as being an important figure in the fighting.

Zuehlke mostly stays out of the way of the story, sticking to spare description of this intense, terrifying battle. show less

The actions around the Title Town in the winter of 1943 -44, are described. Mr. Zuehlke used a great many oral reminiscences, but tries to create a coherent narrative. He succeeds in creating a useful book.