Gothic Line 1944–45

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years. He is the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F and F6F Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam.

• INTRODUCTIONGermany decides to defend in ItalyThe Allies invadeThe battle of attritionGeneral Clark’s mistakeThe Germans escape to the Gothic LineOperation Strangle“The Bridgebusters”ATTACKER’S CAPABILITIESAir power against the AlpsThe B-25s in ItalyThe fighter-bomber warThe morale problem in the 57th Bomb WingBombing accuracySHORAN: the system that defeated the weatherFighting the coldAn ally: the Italian resistanceDEFENDER’S CAPABILITIESFlak, smoke, and fightersAir defenseSmoke generationAntiaircraft artilleryWeather: a USAAF enemyCAMPAIGN OBJECTIVESEndgame in the north of ItalyThe Gothic LineThe failure of Operation OliveStarving the Gothic Line with air powerThe importance of the Brenner bridgesThe targets of Operation BingoTHE CAMPAIGNThe hard last winter of the warFirst missionsWinter closes inA change of command helps Allied fortunesThe hard winter of 1945The defenses are strengthenedThe German experienceAir combat with the ANRThe campaign crescendosThe final monthThe final Allied offensiveVictory in ItalyAFTERMATHFURTHER READING INDEX

It is well illustrated with photographs from the 57th Bomb Wing archives and the usual high quality Osprey artwork.