Beale, Nick; Ferdinando D'Amico; and Gabriele Valentini. Air War Italy, 1944-45: The Axis Air Forces from the Liberation of Rome to the Surrender. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing Ltd, 1996.

232 pages
ISBN 1-85310-252-0

Italian Authors' Preface; English Author's Preface; Abbreviations and Glossary; Key to Italian Province Names; Comparative Ranks; Organisation of Flying Units; photos; maps; tables; color plates of aircraft; orders of battle and aircraft availability; Acknowledgements; Source Notes; bibliography; airfield maps; index.

Appendices: Camouflage and Markings; Aircraft Found on Italian Airfields in May 1945;

Apparently due to its unexpected popularity, Air War Italy was for a long time out of stock in the US, unavailable from its American distributor, and rather difficult to find. We finally received a review copy in January, by which time the book -- despite its scarceness -- had already been selected by visitors to this webpage as one of the Top Ten new books of 1996.

The book proves to be worth the wait, and the judgment and taste of our visitors has again been validated. It's a fine volume that shines much light on a hitherto unilluminated aspect of the war: the operations of the outnumbered Axis air units in Italy after the fall of Rome in 1944.

Despite the overwhelming air strength of the Allied air forces in the theater, both German and Italian ANR (Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana) squadrons continued to fight bravely in the skies over northern Italy. Pitting their ever-shrinking resources against the MAAF (Mediterranean Allied Air Forces) cost the Axis dearly in pilots and aircraft, but by refusing to cede Italian airspace to superior enemy forces the Axis airmen caused the Allies to expend men, machines, and missions that might otherwise have been used more productively elsewhere.

The three authors carefully and engagingly describe the action in the air. Each month begins with an overview of activities, unit transfers and reorganizations, progress of the ground war, air orders of battle (usually including aircraft types, quantities, and unit commanders), fuel situation, etc. Detailed reports follow with day-to-day records of missions, dogfights, claims and losses, and other information. While told primarily from the Axis point of view, the account discusses Allied operations and judiciously measures after action reports and claims against the records of both sides.

On the 21st [March 1945], a Ju 188D-2 of 4./KG 200 (W.Nr.180444) went missing over the Italian war zone and the fate of Hptm. Heinz Domack and his four crew remains officially unknown. MAAF Sigint had forecast two German reconnaissances that night and "two Ju 188s from Bergamo" were duly overheard. The first (F6+KP) landed at Udine and fighter-warnings were broadcast to the second at 2130 and 2140. It was reported overdue at 0038 by Control.

A 225 Sqn Mosquito was vectored on to a hostile contact in the Ancona-Fano area but ran low on fuel. A second, that of Fg Off Scollan and Flt Sgt Blundell of 256 Squadron, was then scrambled. The hostile recrossed the coast, heading northeast, and after a 270mph chase they made contact in the Pola-Trieste area. After visual confirmation they opened fire, setting both engines ablaze and recognising it as a Ju 188 by the light of the flames. Scollan's third kill, it fell into the sea and broke up about three miles offshore at 2245.

The circumstantial evidence is persuasive that is was Domack's aircraft, in all probability belonging to Carmen. There was a sequel to this loss. On the 26th a signal, most likely from KG 200, explained that increased Allied nightfighter activity was making operations from Bergamo impossible, and only after FuG 217 (tail-warning radar) had been installed would flights again be made.

Beale, D'Amico, and Valentini have created a model for this sort of history: clear overview of the context of the air operations, carefully researched and described action, very fair and even-handed reporting of events, excellent photos that enhance the text without getting in the way, terrific color illustrations of aircraft, exquisite airfield maps, valuable air OB material, and so on. They are further to be commended for their careful cross-checking and comparisons of some of the wartime Axis victory claims (a process which seems to have landed them in hot water with a few pilots).

For anyone with an interest in air operations or the campaign in Italy, this is required reading.

The three authors, by the way, intend to complement this title with another volume covering the air war in Italy from 1943 through 1944. Get your orders in now.

Available through mail order booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the publisher and the American distributor, Specialty Press.

Thanks to Specialty Press for providing this review copy.