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Review of The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943

Review of The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943

Book by James Holland

Review by Richard Howe

One of my ongoing Lowell history projects is to document each of the memorial squares spread throughout the city. Until the early 1990s, these squares were mostly dedicated to individuals from Lowell who died while serving in the military during wartime. That investigation in turn led me to the list of more than 400 men from Lowell who died in the service during World War II. I was struck by how many of them died in Italy. Popular culture’s depiction of World War II has focused on Northern Europe and the Pacific with Italy and other theaters being mostly neglected. But the quantity of Lowell residents who died in the Italian campaign opened my eyes to the scale and cost of that operation.

Consequently, I welcomed receiving The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943 by James Holland, a new history of the first year of Allied operations in Italy. Before getting into the particulars of this book, here’s a quick synopsis of the big picture in Italy.

The Italian Campaign (1943–1945) was a major Allied effort during World War II to invade and liberate Italy. Beginning with the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) on July 10, 1943, it forced Italy’s surrender on September 8, 1943. The Allies faced fierce German resistance, including at Monte Cassino (January–May 1944), before breaking through at Anzio (January–June 1944). Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944, but fighting persisted until Germany’s surrender in Italy on May 2, 1945, marking the campaign’s conclusion.

Holland’s book covers the first year of that operation in considerable detail. The author of more than a dozen nonfiction works on World War II and the co-host of the popular World War II podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, Holland makes extensive use of letters and diaries to bring individual participants in the fight to life on the page while at the same time putting the strategic motivation and consequences of this campaign in a broader context.

The disagreement between the Americans and the British on how to prosecute the war in Europe is well known. Seeking to avoid a replay of the trench warfare that characterized World War I and devastated a generation of young men, Britain sought a different approach. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously used the term “the soft underbelly of the Axis” in reference to Italy and the Mediterranean region as the Axis powers’ most vulnerable area, suggesting that an Allied invasion there could yield significant strategic benefits with less resistance compared to a direct assault on Nazi-occupied France or Germany. Churchill believed that attacking Italy, a weaker Axis member, would destabilize German defenses and open a pathway into Europe.

In contrast, the Americans were determined to land forces in Northern Europe as rapidly as possible since that was the most direct route to the heart of Germany and victory. However, the Americans acceded to Churchill’s desire to first invade Italy due to several factors: Mussolini had already been overthrown and a new Italian government was secretly negotiating with the Allies to switch sides in the war; the  Allies expected that the Germans would choose not to defend Italy south of Rome but would instead fortify the passes through the Alps to economize the forces required; and the Americans wanted to keep peace among the Allies. However, the Americans put strict limits on the amount of Allied combat forces and landing craft that could be committed to the Italian operation, lest they be taken from the buildup for the invasion of France.

Prosecuting the strategic air campaign against Germany was another factor the Americans considered. The number one goal of that campaign was to gain air superiority over Northern Europe which was seen as a precondition to the invasion of France. To accomplish that, German aircraft manufacturing plants became the primary targets of American and British heavy bombers flying from England. However, as the effectiveness of this bombing campaign increased, the Germans moved their manufacturing base further east, often to the outskirts of Vienna. This made for extremely long and costly bomber flights all the way from England. If Italy and its airfield could be seized by the Allies, heavy bombers could be stationed there and have a shorter trip to bomb the manufacturing plants in Austria. For the Americans, this desire for Italian airbases became an after-the-invasion basis for continuing to prosecute the Italian campaign further north, rather than just holding the line at Rome.

The Allied estimate that the Germans would only defend northern Italy was initially correct, but by the time of the first landings Hitler had changed his mind and decreed that a maximum effort would be made to fight the length of Italy. As a result, the Germans ended up with more divisions in this theater than did the Allies, which is not how it’s supposed to work when you are attacking. Add to that the mountainous terrain that characterizes most of Italy and the country’s many rivers, and the Allies faced a tough, costly slog that took much longer than expected.

The Savage Storm does an excellent job of setting this strategic stage while depicting the cost paid by those individuals fighting for and living on this disputed terrain.

A Poem by Bill O’Connell: ‘Feeding the Cat and the Fire’

Bill O’Connell has lived in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts since 1984. A retired social worker, he teaches literature and writing at Greenfield Community College. He is a past contributor to The Lowell Review and graduated from UMass Lowell. His books include When We Were All Still Alive (Open Field Press 2021); Sakonnet Point (Plinth Books 2011); and On The Map To Your Life (Dytiscid Press 1992). His writing has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines such as The Sun, Poetry East, Colorado Review, Green Mountains Review, etc. His website is billoetry.wordpress.com

About the poem below, which originally appeared in The Worcester Review, here’s what he wrote on Facebook recently. Also, after the poem there’s a video of Mittens listening to music.

“Our beloved 21 yr old cat, Mittens, passed on today. Ben’s punk band in high school used to practice in a barn and they’d put the barn kittens into their coat pockets to keep their hands warm. She was the runt of the litter and quite a character, and Robin and I and our kids and grandkids and friends will miss her.

 

Feeding the Cat and the Fire

The woodstove burned all night, the last log

a glowing ghost of itself, a frozen

twenty-inch chunk from the rack on the deck

shoved in, red oak from Pelham cut, split,

and hauled by my wood guy’s son

when he drops two cord in my driveway

in the fall.

The cat and I are old.

Her rear-end droops, arthritic.

My knees swell at four a.m.

when I wake to feed her, the two of us

descending the stairs in the dark,

houses up and down the street

hunched over in snow.

I open a can of seafood delight, the stink of it

on my fingertips, and make coffee.

I don’t go to the office anymore.

She hasn’t killed a mouse in years,

but she crowds her dish

as if the pride were still in her, with her,

pushing into the kill for a meal.

She finishes and I pour a cup.

We troop back up

to where it is warm,

last night’s embers receiving

the fresh log placed gently

into them, new flame

licking up and around.

—

You can see Mittens in this video. 

A 1925 call to save our industries

A 1925 Call to Save Our Industries — (PIP #60)

By Louise Peloquin

     Lowell’s quest to preserve local business and industry has always made the news.

The following story and supporting editorial are century-old examples.

L’Etoile – February 21, 1925

Lowell must keep its industries

     Our large local industries tend to emigrate – The Chamber of Commerce and public bodies are coming together to oppose an obstruction – General Committee to look after the interests of the city and its population.

     LOWELL will fight to keep its industries intact. Last night, eight City Council members, the district attorney representing the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce City Affairs Committee met in the Chamber of Commerce hall. After a lengthy discussion, they unanimously adopted a policy, unprecedented in the annals of the city.

     A general committee, in itself non-official and without power, will be introduced during the next City Council meeting. This committee, composed of counsellors, the finance committee, several citizen representatives chosen by the mayor and Chamber of Commerce members, will represent business and industry. It will provide the City government with findings and opinions on recommended special city expenses which will definitely affect tax rates and property assessments. It will offer all of the local expert resources to assist the Council and the Mayor in city administration. We hope the result will maintain and boost the public’s keen interest in city affairs.

     This movement began as a response to industrial relocation, a trend which is endangering our city’s development and prosperity.

     President Elmore I. McPhie of the Chamber of Commerce chaired last night’s meeting. Were present City Council members Gallagher, Preston, Chrétien, Dickson, Chadwick, Thomas, McFadden, and Cosgove and district attorney Reynolds. After dinner, president McPhie outlined the situation the Chamber of Commerce is facing concerning well-established local industries as well as future ones. He declared that it was high time to combat the relocation of long-established local industries and mentioned the departure of Bigelow-Hartford, Larson Co. and, probably next, Appleton.

     He said that panicking was not in order. However, the situation must be taken seriously and a means must be found to encourage our industries. The local mills pay one fifth of the city’s taxes and employ 20,000 people. This should encourage the public to make a real effort to keep them.

     People generally agree that measures of savings in city administration would be a good means to improve the situation. We want to guarantee the future of our industries and offer attractive incentives to new industries thinking of establishing here.

*****

L’Etoile – March 12, 1925

OUR INDUSTRIES

     Those who have seen the local cotton industries arrive and prosper here in Lowell believe that city taxes are really too high. Not for all the gold in the world would they like some manufacturers’ threat to relocate to the United States South, particularly to the State of Alabama, to come true. They have wanted the special committee to carry out an investigation on the present tax system. All those who are interested, in one way or another, in the industrial problem, will have to trust this new committee composed of true representatives of all cotton mill players: manufacturers, professionals, merchants and workers. City council members and the Chamber of Commerce will assist them and, before prematurely coming to a conclusion, it will be necessary to wait for the report of an investigation conducted as minutely and as scrupulously as possible.

     However, a great many citizens do not believe the cotton mills will move to cities in the South. They believe that this is a movement launched by manufacturers interested in taking advantage of the present industrial and financial crisis and a persistent exportation slump due to low European currency values.

     In any case, let us wait for the results of the investigation which, we repeat, should be conclusive and based on concrete data, not on approximation and vagueness.

     We believe that no one will obstruct the investigators. Nonetheless, they will have to remain far from all unreasonable or overly-interested influence. (1)

 ****

1) Translations by Louise Peloquin.

Lowell Politics: March 2, 2025

Today’s newsletter will focus on title theft, the label now used for an attempt to fraudulently transfer ownership of real estate. This came before the Lowell City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting in the response to a motion on this topic.

(The Council addressed other topics deserving of attention, but I’ll cover them in next week’s newsletter.)

Title theft occurs when someone forges a deed that purports to transfer ownership of a home from its current owner to someone else. The owner knows nothing about this and is shocked to discover that the records of the registry of deeds suddenly show that someone else owns the home.

Under Massachusetts law, a forged deed does not convey title, so even if a forged deed is recorded, the true owner would not be dispossessed of the property. However, the true owner would face the cost and hassle of going to court to clear the record.

More on this below but first some context: In my 30 years as register of deeds from 1995 until 2024, more than two million documents were recorded at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds. Through all that time and all those documents, only one instance of attempted title theft was discovered. It is very rare but I suspect its frequency is increasing so it should not be disregarded.

Here’s what happened in the one case I encountered: An elderly couple owned and lived in their long-time home in a nearby town. They were both disabled and rarely left the house which suffered from a lack of upkeep. There was no outstanding mortgage on the property and property taxes were paid on time. Two adult children of the couple lived in Massachusetts although not nearby. One elderly spouse died. Soon after, the surviving spouse also passed away. This left the house vacant. Although the children of the couple immediately inherited the property through the laws of probate, they put off filing anything in probate court that would formalize this change of ownership and left the property vacant and untouched.

In the meantime, a person with no connection to these people or their property drafted a deed that purported to convey the property from the now deceased elderly couple to that third person. This deed drafter (I’ll call them “wrong doer” from now on) forged the signatures of the elderly spouses, forged the signature of a notary public, and back dated the document to a time when both elderly spouses were still alive. Wrong doer brought that deed to the registry of deeds, paid the recording fee in cash, and left it to be recorded which it was.

With the registry record now showing wrong doer as owner of the property, wrong doer called a local real estate broker and tried to list the property for sale. Fortunately, the broker was familiar with the property and its recent ownership situation, so they declined to take the listing. They also tried (unsuccessfully) to contact the adult child of the diseased elderly couple, so the broker contacted the local police department. The PD got in touch with the adult child who immediately hired a lawyer. The lawyer filed the appropriate action in court and quickly got a judicial order that set aside the forged deed. That order was recorded at the registry of deeds. (The case may also be the subject of a criminal investigation, but I don’t know that for certain.)

Now after reading that, you’re probably asking, how could something like this happen? To answer that question, you must first understand a few things about how our system of real estate ownership works.

Most people (incorrectly) believe that selling a house is like selling a car. When you sell your vehicle, you must produce the original certificate of title for the car and sign it over to the new owner. When it comes to your house, people logically believe that the deed for the house is the equivalent of the title to the car but that’s not the case.

Your deed is not a unique physical artifact that must be closely guarded. Instead, it is a memo that expresses the property owner’s intent to transfer ownership of the real estate to someone else. Each time the property is transferred, a new deed must be created and recorded. The primary protection against fraud comes from the requirement that no deed may be recorded at the registry of deeds unless the signature of the owner has been acknowledged by a notary public. That works as intended most of the time although as the real-world example I describe above illustrates, if someone is willing to forge the owner’s signature, they are equally willing to forge the notary public’s signature.

Conceivably, the law could require the owner of real estate to physically appear at the registry of deeds and present some form of government identification to authenticate their signature on the deed, but that would be an example of the cure being worse than the disease. Currently, less than ten percent of recorded documents are brought to the registry of deeds by a human being. The majority – about 85 percent of the total – are recorded electronically and another 10 percent arrive by some form of physical mail. To require everyone selling real estate to physically appear at the registry would cause the system to grind to a halt with major implications for the trillion dollar real estate industry. To upend the system to guard against forged deeds that happen only rarely and, in the end, do not deprive the true owner of their property, would make little sense.

Does that mean homeowners are powerless against title fraud attempts? Not completely. Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin offers a free “Consumer Notification Service” (CNS) which is an automated real estate record monitoring service. If you sign up and enter your name and the property address of your home or other property, anytime a new document is recorded at the registry of deeds that includes that name and address, the system will automatically send you an email that notifies you of the new document.

To be clear, this system just does not prevent a forged document from being recorded; it just gives you an early warning of it. The burden is then on you to do something about it. You can and should call the police, but the most important thing to do is quickly hire a lawyer to immediately start a lawsuit with the goal of having the forged deed judged to be void.

Very early in that lawsuit, your lawyer should have the court issue something called a lis pendens (which means “notice of lawsuit that affects real estate”) and record that at the registry of deeds. This puts the entire world on notice that there’s something amiss with this property and should keep things from getting more complicated. For example, the wrong doer might convey the property to an innocent third party, or borrow money secured by a mortgage on the property. In either case, the true owner would prevail over the innocent purchaser or lender, but the more victims become involved in the scam, the more complicated things become, which is why getting a notice on record at the registry is so important.

(And you can’t just walk into the registry and say, “my property has been stolen.” That’s something that happens frequently and it usually arises from an interfamily dispute that always has another side. That’s why the law prohibits the registry from recording something that would encumber property without it first being authorized by a judge who can ensure due process for all involved.)

Even if the forged deed is eventually undone by this lawsuit, as it almost certainly would be unless there was some collusion between the homeowner and the wrong doer, the innocent homeowner still bears the substantial financial burden of hiring a lawyer.

If you obtained a mortgage when you bought your home, or if you have refinanced, your lender likely required you to obtain title insurance. You pay a one-time premium for title insurance which is handled by the lawyer and bundled into the closing costs, so most people don’t know whether they have it. Title insurance protects against problems with the property’s title and covers issues like unpaid taxes and liens. Some title insurance policies also cover fraud, so if your policy included that, your title insurance company would pay your legal costs in unwinding the forged deed in court.

Not all title insurance policies cover this type of fraud and even if they did, not everyone has title insurance. The homeowners least likely to have title insurance – those who are elderly and have owned their property for a long time – are also the ones most likely to be the victim of this type of fraud.

I think a better approach would be for the state legislature to require home liability insurance policies, which almost every homeowner has, to cover the cost of defending against deed fraud. In the extremely rare instance of attempted title theft, this would protect the innocent victim from bearing steep legal fees while maintaining a document recording system that works quite well 99.9 percent of the time.

Finally, I want to clarify my assertion that in my 30 years as register of deeds, I only saw this one instance of title theft. That remains true for cases where a stranger committed the crime, but there were also a handful of cases in which family members of caregivers engaged in fraud.

In one case, an elderly parent owned a home outright. One adult child lived with the parent. Two other adult children lived elsewhere. The parent’s intent was that upon their death, the three children would inherit the property equally. However, the day after the parent died, the adult child who lived with the parent forged a deed that purported to transfer ownership of the property from parent to that child. Rather than forge the signature of a notary public, the adult child convinced a friend who was a notary to notarize the document without having seen the father sign it. That is perhaps the worst thing a notary can do – you must see the person sign in your presence – but that’s what happened. The adult son recorded the deed and, on the record at the registry of deeds, appeared to be the outright owner of the property.

His siblings weren’t having it, however, and very aggressively sought redress through the court system and the criminal justice system. Although brother/forger and notary both stuck to their stories that no fraud was involved, a judge in a civil trial found they had forged the deed and issued an order voiding it which placed ownership equally in the three siblings. Also, the Attorney General’s office vigorously prosecuted this case which resulted in the wrong-doing sibling being sentenced to jail.

In another case, the victim was an elderly homeowner who was in a nursing home with diminished physical and mental capacities. A neighbor who had long assisted the elderly owner with routine maintenance tasks and who coveted the elder’s property, showed up at the nursing home with a notary public and a deed that purported to convey the property from the elder to the neighbor and prevailed upon the elder to sign the deed which the elder did. (Although the notary in this case did witness the person sign it, whether the signature was the person’s “free act” was questionable.) A relative of the elder learned of this transfer, called the police, and hired a lawyer. The transfer was ultimately undone and the relative ended up with the property upon the death of the elder.

What I hope these two cases illustrate is that the risk of fraud (or undue influence that does not rise to the level of criminal fraud) is more likely to involve a family member or someone with a close relationship to the victim than it is a stranger. In either case, the most likely victim is an elder who has owned the home for many years. If you know of such a person, it’s probably prudent to check the status of that person’s property on the registry of deeds website from time-to-time, to get early warning of any improper activity.

****

This week on richardhowe.com:

I wrote about last Sunday’s program at St. Anne’s Church about the Underground Railroad in Lowell.

Steve O’Connor reminisced about Malcolm Sharps, a unique individual Steve had befriended in 1979 and who later became a regular contributor to this website until his timely death last year.

Paul Marion posted a 1975 essay by Julie Mofford about Robert Frost and his beginnings in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Louise Peloquin reminded us that the “buy local” trend is not new by sharing 100 year old stories from Lowell’s L’Etoile newspaper which urged readers to shop in local stores.