James Holland – CHANGE OF DATE

Please note, the date for this event has changed from the previous advertised date, the event will now take place on SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

Historian, writer, and broadcaster James Holland presents a talk about his latest book: “Cassino ’44 – The Bloodiest Battle of the Italian Campaign”.

There are no such thing as an easy victory in war but after triumph in Tunisia, the sweeping success of the Sicilian invasion, and with the Italian surrender, the Allies were confident that they would be in Rome before Christmas 1943. And yet it didn’t happen. Hitler ordered his forces to dig in and fight for every yard, thus setting the stage for one of the grimmest and most attritional campaigns of the Second World War.

By the start of 1944, the Allies found themselves coming up against the Gustav Line: a formidable barrier of wire, minefields, bunkers and booby traps, woven into a giant chain of mountains and river valleys that stretched the width of Italy where at its strongest point perched the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

It would take five long bitter winter months and the onset of summer before the Allies could finally bludgeon their way north and capture Rome. By then, more than 75,000 troops and civilians had been killed and the historic abbey and entire towns and villages had been laid waste.

Following a rich cast of characters from both sides – from frontline infantry to aircrew, from clerks to battlefield commanders, and from politicians and civilians caught up in the middle of the maelstrom – James Holland has drawn widely on diaries, letters and contemporary sources to write the definitive account of this brutal battle. The result is a compelling and often heart-breaking narrative, told in the moment, as the events played out, and from the perspective of those who lived, fought and died there.

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy ’44, he is also the author of nine works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts.

He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels.

Date: Saturday 5 October
Time: Doors from 7pm, talk begins 7.30pm
Where: Salisbury Methodist Church, St Edmunds Church Street, Salisbury
Tickets: £15

Pangea Insurance Brokers are an independent brokerage, based in Hampshire with a presence in Dorset – offering personal, commercial and agricultural insurance services to their clients. The company has grown and developed vastly over the past few years, with the expansion of their team, a new head office, and most recently the opening of their personal insurance branch in Chandler’s Ford.

Collaboratively, the Pangea Insurance Brokers team transfers over a century of insurance knowledge and experience, which is invaluable to their clients who are above all, their primary focus.