Mussolini's Island: The Battle for Sicily 1943; by the People Who Were There - Couverture souple

In July 1943, the Allies launched their first assault against the ''Fortress Europe'' which Hitler thought invincible. MUSSOLINI'S ISLAND captures for the first time the full horror and glory, the fear and the foul-ups of one of the least known but most dramatic and controversial battles of World War II.

MUSSOLINI'S ISLAND is not a conventional military history. It tells the story of otherwise faceless men and women – American and Italian soldiers, a British Navy officer, and a Spitfire pilot - whose lives and loves are changed by the choices of Hitler and Mussolini, and of two star commanders locked in a personal rivalry: old ''blood and guts'' Patton and Montgomery, the best-known British Army commander of World War II. Based on in-depth interviews with the main characters, and hundreds of interviews with survivors, unpublished letters and diaries, MUSSOLINI'S ISLAND sweeps the reader across stormy seas and onto the landing beaches in the first D-Day.

'It is a rare thing for a work of military history to be so compulsively readable and yet so humane. Follain weaves together stories from all sides of this terrible conflict, from the powerful and the humble, with understated mastery.' (John Dickie, author of COSA NOSTRA)

'Extremely readable. A fascinating collection of eyewitness accounts...A thoroughly recommendable book.' (Scotsman on Sunday)

'We are given fascinating insights into the characters of the two competing Allied generals. Gripping . . . if you like your history visceral, emotive and first-hand, this is the book for you.'

(Saul David, Sunday Telegraph)

'Riveting . . . it is in the detail that Mussolini's Island really triumphs. The book is full of remarkable stories.'

(The Sunday Times)