Video

Video by Kyle Davis

WWII Italy | Battle for Hill 66

Army University Press

Feb. 24, 2025 | 26:30

When viewing films on the Second World War, tactical level fights are often overlooked in favor of sweeping narratives focused on the strategic level of the war. This is not one of those films. The Battle of Hill 66 tells the story of a small tactical level fight for a nondescript hill, in the normally placid Italian countryside. This engagement was but a small piece in the much larger Operation Diadem taking place in the early part of May 1944, the ultimate prize of which was, potentially, the eternal city, Rome.

Chapters:
0:19 Intro
1:26 Operational Situation
2:40 Winter Line
4:58 Operation Shingle
5:55 Concept of Operation Diadem
7:43 Proposed Scheme of Maneuver
9:00 Terrain Analysis
10:24 Task Organization
12:01 Final Preparations
12:51 Battalion Scheme of Maneuver
14:30 Planned Fires and Issuing the Order
15:31 Diadem Begins
23:47 Liberation of Rome/Conclusion
25:16 Credits