1. The Liberation of Rome, 1944: Did Hitler Know?
- Author:
- Thomas Patrick Melady, Ph.D.
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Council of American Ambassadors
- Abstract:
- I arrived in Rome in October 1945. I was drafted shortly after graduating from high school the previous June. It was a whirlwind experience that included four months of basic infantry training at Camp Blanding, Florida, a few weeks in Virginia, and then I was on the boat for Italy. The second time I arrived was almost half a century later. It was August 1989. I was nominated by then-President George H.W. Bush to be the United States Ambassador to the Vatican. As I walked amongst the historic relics from Roman antiquity, my curiosity reemerged about the peaceful liberation of this city that took place so long ago. I was still perplexed by the narrative of how Rome managed to elude the nightmare of being a battleground while so many of Europe's other historic sites fell victim to the horrors of the world's second greatest war. It is a question that has intrigued me to this day.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe