Lieutenant Colonel Carlo
D'Este, USA (ret.) is a World War Two historian who has authored Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War,
1874-1945; Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943; Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life; Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle
for Rome; and, Patton: A Genius for War. According to the book description of Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life,
“D'Este unveils the story of a man who rose from humble Midwestern roots to the highest command accorded any soldier
in the western alliance of World War II. This subtle, nuanced story about the man who held the allies together and led them
to victory in WWII reveals a full-fledged portrait of one of the worlds most celebrated military commanders. D'Este writes
in his epilogue: "Although he achieved everlasting distinction as the thirty-fourth president of the United States, Dwight
David Eisenhower would have been elated merely to be remembered as a good soldier.”
Publisher’s Weekly said of Patton:
A Genius for War, “Perhaps the most renowned and controversial American general of the 20th century, George
Patton (1885-1945) remains a subject of intense interest. D'Este (Decision in Normandy) provides new information from
family archives and other sources about Patton's ancestry, childhood and pre-WWII military career. This includes his student
years at West Point, his experience as a tank officer in WWI and various interwar staff assignments. The author emphasizes
Patton's lifelong study and preparation for war and his conviction that God not only chose him specifically to lead an
army but also stood ready to intervene to assure him battlefield victories. D'Este has much to say about Patton's
impulsiveness, impatience and tactlessness, showing how these qualities often got him in trouble with the public as well as
with his superiors. The account of Patton's campaigns from North Africa through Sicily, Normandy and the Ardennes enables
the reader to understand why the general is regarded as one of the great military leaders. This is a major biography of a
major American military figure.”
According to the book description
of Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945, “Carlo D'Este's brilliant
new biography examines Winston Churchill through the prism of his military service as both a soldier and a warlord: a descendant
of Marlborough who, despite never having risen above the rank of lieutenant colonel, came eventually at age sixty-five to
direct Britain's military campaigns as prime minister and defeated Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito for the democracies.
Warlord is the definitive chronicle of Churchill's crucial role as one of the world's most renowned military leaders,
from his early adventures on the North-West Frontier of colonial India and the Boer War through his extraordinary service
in both World Wars. Even though Churchill became one
of the towering political leaders of the twentieth century, his childhood ambition was to be a soldier. Using extensive, untapped
archival materials, D'Este reveals important and untold observations from Churchill's personal physician, as well
as other colleagues and family members, in order to illuminate his character as never before. Warlord explores Churchill's
strategies behind the major military campaigns of World War I and World War II—both his dazzling successes and disastrous
failures—while also revealing his tumultuous relationships with his generals and other commanders, including Dwight
D. Eisenhower. As riveting as the man it portrays,
Warlord is a masterful, unsparing portrait of one of history's most fascinating and influential leaders during what was
arguably the most crucial event in human history.”
Kirkus reviews said of Fatal
Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome, “A meticulous audit of Operation Shingle, the WW II campaign
designed to win Rome for Allied forces at an acceptable cost. D'Este (Bitter Victory, Decision in Normandy) provides a
panoramic overview of the planning, preparation, and execution of the 1944 assault on Anzio, a Mediterranean port about 30
miles south of Rome. The aim of the amphibious thrust was to bypass strong German defenses along the so-called Gustav line
and at Monte Cassino, which had stalled American and well as British armies in their drive to liberate Rome. In D'Este's
persuasive view, the strike failed in its objectives for lack of decisive leadership. For example, instead of issuing firm
orders, General Sir Harold Alexander made gentlemanly instructions which Mark Clark (commander of the US Fifth Army) often
ignored. Nor did Clark prod subordinates to seize highways and rail lines that supplied Wehrmacht forces under the able command
of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. At any rate, the Anzio beachhead became a death trap in which Allied troops fought for
their lives in rain and mud for over five dreadful months. When opposition finally crumbled under air and sea pounding, Clark
neglected to pursue, let alone destroy, retreating German soldiers, so great was his ambition to be the first man into Rome.
In a crowning irony, the recapture of Italy's capital was almost wholly overshadowed by the D-day landings in France.
In D'Este's book, blame for the botched Anzio expedition is widely shared. Among others meriting censure, he singles
out a meddlesome Winston Churchill, who sowed confusion in the Allied ranks and raised unrealistic expectations. A vivid account
of a campaign that attests to the high cost of miscalculation and overconfidence in matters military.”
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According to the book description
of Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943, it “illuminates a chapter of World War II
that has lacked a balanced, full-scale treatment until now. In recounting the second-largest amphibious operation in military
history, Carlo D'Este for the first time reveals the conflicts in planning and the behind-the-scenes quarrels between
top Allied commanders. The book explodes the myth of the Patton-Montgomery rivalry and exposes how Alexander's inept generalship
nearly wrecked the campaign. D'Este documents in chilling detail the series of savage battles fought against an overmatched
but brilliant foe and how the Germans—against overwhelming odds—carried out one of the greatest strategic withdrawals
in history. His controversial narrative depicts for the first time how the Allies bungled their attempt to cut off the Axis
retreat from Sicily, turning what ought to have been a great triumph into a bitter victory that later came to haunt the Allies
in Italy. Using a wealth of original sources,
D'Este paints an unforgettable portrait of men at war. From the front lines to the councils of the Axis and Allied high
commands, Bitter Victory offers penetrating reassessments of the men who masterminded the campaign. Thrilling and authoritative,
this is military history on an epic scale.”
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