Roman imperial expansion over the entire Mediterranean basin was going full tilt in the first century BC. Nobody had been able to stop them and their inexorable legions, which were bound together by a discipline and unit cohesion seldom found anywhere else in the ancient world. They had rolled over the Punics, the Celts, the Macedonians and everyone else standing in their quest for global (as seen then) dominance. However, there was another people expanding out of the east who would finally confront the Romans in a way they had never encountered before.

History

During World War II, after the Germans had invaded France, the Italians decided to get involved, and they took part in the final stages of the German assault. Once things had settled down, the Italians began expanding to the South. They had already occupied parts of Africa, but continued their advances into Greece.

The British Royal Air Force had already begun their bombing offensive against the Germans, using Hampdens, Whitleys, and Wellingtons, and later found that four engine aircraft were more appropriate for long range bombing, and supplanted and later replaced these types with Stirlings, Halifaxes, and Lancasters.

Operation Colossus was an airborne commando raid into Italy early in the war to interdict a particular aqueduct vital to the towns in the ‘heel’ of Italy. The operation is not very well known and this book is a welcome addition to anyone’s WWII library as it fills a void not covered in other publications. Author Lawrence Paterson spends a great deal of time at the beginning of the book relating the story of the creation and training of the UK’s airborne forces, going into some detail as to the people and personalities involved as well as the training and equipment used. If you have any interest in airborne forces, you will find this part very interesting and even if you don’t, it is written in a very readable manner, so it will hold your interest.