Question on Kurowski's book "Battleground Italy 1943 -

[ptdockyard]

I understand this book has one chapter devoted to the Kriegsmarine. Can someone tell me how detailed this part is? Does it describe actions between Kriegsmarine units and Allied coastal forces in detail?

Also, how many of the book's illustrations are of naval units?

Thanks!

[Michael Dorosh]

I see this is well over 5 years old now, so I trust my answer will be irrelevant, but I'd like to discuss the book anyway. I just picked this up and was extremely disappointed with the content. I suppose I should know better than to buy a book in shrink wrap, but Zetterling's book on German Forces in Normandy was so well done, by the same publisher, I had hoped perhaps this would be of the same quality.

Kurowski's book, to answer the question, has no footnotes, no references, and while I can't speak with any authority on the navy, I can tell you that I had bought the book hoping to flesh out my understanding of the "other side of the story" with regards to the Canadian operations in Italy.

There are two, I think, references to Canadian operations, and in one of them, Kurowski references a "5th Canadian Infantry Division", which, of course, never existed.

The majority of the book seems, to me, to be poorly organized and jumps around a lot. I think it is supposed to be roughly chronological, but then he introduces chapters on separate formations and talks about them in isolation, so I'm not sure what the organizational scheme is supposed to be.

It is the "typical" Fedorowicz type book, with little snippets of Signal Magazine type vignettes of tales of heroic sacrifice thrown in among facts and figures of dubious verifiability. None of it is referenced, at least in the English version. The maps are the same kind as in Fedorowicz's other histories (GD, HG, etc.) i.e. hand-drawn, poorly reproduced, not translated from the German, and often without a scale or a legend.

Would be interested in other opinions of the work, or the author. Perhaps the translation is simply bad and this reads much better in the original German edition.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Would be interested in other opinions of the work, or the author. Perhaps the translation is simply bad and this reads much better in the original German edition.

There's a thread here, inter alia, on Kurowski.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=30376&p=234310

Much of his work - especially his later books - was pure pap; some of his earlier books, especially collaborative efforts, are better.

It frustrates me where there are so many good WW2 books in German crying out for translation that English-speaking publishers have spent so much time producing Kurowski's books...

[Michael Dorosh]

Ah, thanks very much. Interesting read. I had feared I was being too harsh. I guess you would forgive me for thinking so, judging by your comments in the other thread. I agree with your conclusion, in that thread, and in the post above.

[krichter33]

I bought this book because I wanted to read a book about the Italian campaign from the German view, and as far as I know it is the only such book in English. Unfortunately I was disappointed with it for the reasons already discussed. Which begs the question: Is there any book about the Italian campaign from the German view that is available in English that's any good? My German is still to rusty. Thanks.