The Battle for Rome: The Germans, the Allies, the Partisans, and the Pope, September 1943--June 1944 Paperback – July 1, 2004

Don't let the title of this book confuse you. Mr. Katz uses the word "battle" in its broad sense- this is not a work primarily concerned with the nuts-and-bolts of the Allies attempt to wrestle Rome away from the Germans. There is some military history- the landing at Anzio and the "lost opportunity" to move quickly up the underdefended route to Rome are neatly summarized. But Mr. Katz is mainly concerned with personalities, diplomacy and morality. He focuses on a few of the partisans, so that we come to know them intimately. We go along on several of their "missions" and learn about both fear and bravery. One key mission, setting off a bomb on a street known to be part of the daily route followed by some German policemen, results in the deaths of 32 Germans- and results in the infamous reprisal known as the Ardeatine Caves massacre. Hitler was so angered by the attack on the policemen that he wanted 30-50 Italians, per each German killed, to be executed. "Cooler heads" prevailed and managed to get the ratio down to 10-to-1. Lists were drawn up to figure out who the unlucky 320 people would be- they were largely made up of Italians already in jail awaiting execution or life imprisonment for previous "crimes." As you might expect, when these numbers proved insufficient the Germans became less selective- they also wound up miscounting and wound up executing 5 extra people. A thread running throughout the book is the behind-the-scenes maneuvers by the Vatican and Pope Pius XII to remain neutral- so that Rome would not be devastated and also so that Vatican City and its inhabitants would be left alone. Mr. Katz fairly presents the Pope's position. He also clearly condemns the Pope and the Vatican hierarchy for a failure to provide moral leadership. A consistent failure to "speak up" allowed the Germans to act with impunity- to kill Roman Jews and non-Jews alike. Would "speaking up" have made any difference? We'll never know the answer to that question- but Mr. Katz is persuasive when he argues that the Pope had an obligation to condemn brutality and inhumanity- and he failed to do so in any forceful manner. Another interesting aspect of the book is the military politics that were played in the final push to Rome. American General Mark Clark was determined that the Americans would liberate Rome. He felt that our troops had earned that right after the casualties suffered at Anzio. Clark felt that British General Alexander was trying to manipulate strategy so that the British could get to Rome first. In the end, Clark prevailed. Mr. Katz manages to juggle all of the storylines without losing sight of the big picture. He also drops a bombshell in the epilogue- but I can't give that away. Suffice it to say that it involves some more unsavory behavior by Vatican officials.

Robert Katz has written a very readable and entertaining book about Rome under Nazi occupation. He draws together all the various viewpoints and objectives from across the wide spectrum of personalities in WWII and does so in a convincing and humanizing manner. He has the ability to place you in the moment. For me, it also raised parallels with partisan/guerrilla warfare even in the modern times and how much of what is done in a war depends on the winner. The same people here who are lauded here as heroes would be prosecuted for terrorism and war crimes if they had been on the wrong side of history.

Excellent book. This is a very good account of Rome during the German occupation. Gives insight into the various Italian resistance groups as well as to what went on in the Vatican. Highly recommend!

What Katz has left out is the ruling of the Italian court that he had defamed Pope Pius XII in regard to the Via Rasella massacre. Pope Pius XII's sister and niece sued Robert Katz for defamation and won after a protracted court battle. According to Italian author, Andrea Tornielli: in Pio XII, Eugenio Pacelli, Un Uomo sul Trono di Pietro (Milan: Mondadori, 2009), 618-619, n. 98. [trans. MM]"The niece of Pius XII, Elena Rossignani, sued Katz who was sentenced to fourteen months in solitude in the first instance, then absolved in 1978 by the Court of Appeals for having exercised the right of criticism, and finally he was sentenced in 1982 by the third session of the Court of Appeals after the court had decided to retry the case. In the sentence one reads 'Robert Katz wanted to defame Pius XII, attributing to him actions, decisions and sentiments which no objective element and no testimony authorized him to do'."Katz' lawyer did not argue the appeal from the alleged truthfulness of what he had written about Pius XII, but rather on legal technicalities, and got the case against Katz included in the amnesty of 1970. In an epilogue to The Battle For Rome, Katz claims that he won the appeal:"It annulled the retrial verdict and dismissed the case entirely on the grounds of an amnesty dating back to 1970. That meant that none of the preceding trials had any basis in penal law, since the alleged crime had been rendered 'nonexistent' ("estinto") before the first indictment..."But Katz is misrepresenting the findings of the court. According to Matteo L. Napolitano and Andrea Tornielli, Il Papa Che Salvo Gli Ebrei, 164-165.[trans MM]"Lastly, the Court brought to mind 'the profound alterations of the truth' made by Katz in his book. With all this, the judges of the supreme court came to regard the crime as extinguished by amnesty ... But, as we have seen, Katz' work was not granted amnesty along with Katz. Moreover, the Court of Appeals sentenced the journalist to pay, as the losing party, to Countess Pacelli Rossignani a sum of 450,000 lire, including legal fees incurred by the latter."

This book provides a great look into the on goings of occupied Rome. The author brings both a view of the common every day Roman and the struggles of the pope and the German occupiers. I highly recommend this read.

Fascinating view of the occupation of Rome with no punches held back on silence of some and blunders of others. Telling description of the German retaliatory massacre of three hundred and fifty Italians .S.J Tagliareni author of Hitler's Priest

iT READS LIKE A GOOD NOVEL ABOUT BAD EVENTS

LOVED THIS BOOK....TELLS THE WHOLE STORYTHANK YOU,MS KOSLOSKY