I'm doing some research into a few campaigns in WWII, and I'm curious if any of you know of some good, detailed resources I could tap for further information ..? It's truly amazing how little really is out there on the Internet when you actually want to know something.
TOPICS
1. The actions of Italian partisans (particularly the Garibaldi Brigades) during the campaign to liberate the Italian peninsula. Particularly, situations in which they collaborated with or served among U.S. troops (such as in Task Force 45, or Bulow's brigade in the Eighth Army).
2. The capture and defense of Monte Battaglia.
3. The actions of the Maquis and other French Resistance groups leading up to the liberation of Paris.
I'm working from scanty sources, so I'm hoping that I'm even getting this much right Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
I'm doing similar research, only mine is specific to the Marine Corps in Vietnam around Christmas of '68. I don't know much about the specifics of WWII, but I've learned a little about ways to research stuff like this.
Have you tried googling for branch-specific military history? The Marines were pretty much only in the Asian-Pacific theatre in WWII, but I found this site after googling "US Army history". I didn't read through it all, but there's a fair amount of Italy mentioned in the list of campaigns, so I thought it might be helpful.
Also, if you can find out which regiments, battalions, whatevers of the US military were involved in the portion of the war you're after, google to see if there might be some sort of memorial/reunion website - Vietnam has tons of them, and WWII might too even though it's an older generation.
If you're willing/able to go the library route (and if you can check things out of a university library), you'll probably be able to find books on military campaign history through WorldCat/inter-library loan - I mean official records and things published by the military itself, not historians. They're not very fun to read, but if you're looking for really specific stuff, I prefer using primary source material rather than potentially distilled history books. And I doubt this would be directly helpful for finding cold hard facts, but soldier memoirs are great for anecdotal-type details that history books usually bypass - I looked up a bunch for Vietnam on Amazon, then got them through inter-library loan. (I'm dramaturging a play, so these are great for character research.)
Just off the top of my head, and I have no idea if it'd be helpful to you, but I wrote my senior seminar paper a couple years ago on a French play written during the Nazi occupation of Paris. When I was writing, I looked a bit into the societal conditions in Paris at that time - if you like, I could email you the relevant sources from my bibliography.
What are you researching for? I'm curious. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Sorry, Jeff, I don't have any information for you.
But I do have a story. While I was in Italy on my mission, the town I was serving in had a big WWII remembrance day. They had a display of propaganda and photographs from the war.
I was stunned at the meanness of the material. Italians don't even ball their fists when they fight-- they slap like girls. And here was evidence that they supported horror and misery and lies. They had postcards depicting caricatures of black American soldiers ripping up Catholic churches and ravishing Italian women. There were pictures of Jewish concentration camps.
I love the Italians. I find them a boisterous, celebratory people. It was difficult to reconcile the pictures I was seeing with the people I knew.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Geoff, do you want books as well, or just things that you can access online?
Viva L'Italia!!!
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Geoff, it might be a longshot, but you might try to email Mary Doria Russel. Her latest book, A Thread of Grace: A Novel takes place in Italy during WWII, and it's likely that she could point you to some of the sources she found useful. No idea whether she'll have an email address that you'll be able to track down, of course, but it's a possibility.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Can you access Ebsco through the university? That might offer some sources or good leads.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Even if you can't get through to her, you could go to a book store and look at that book. A lot of times people give credit to their sources either in the front of the book or at the end, particularily when the setting of the book is a historical setting.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Good point Kwea.
By the way, anybody read it yet? It's on my list, but it isn't particularly close to the top, so it'll be a few months before I get to it.
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