The never-before told story of young infantrymen, artillerymen, Alpine troopers, and sharpshooters who fought in search of a homeland.
Upon hearing news of the armistice on September 8th, 1943, many Italian servicemen took up arms against the Germans. Throughout Italy, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Albania, soldiers risked their lives to turn a new page in history. Although nearly 25,000 were killed in only three weeks, young men, who had already suffered at El Alamein and in Russia, continued to respond to the Allies’ call for help. Many were Fascists, yet amidst the collapse of those days, they clung to a single anchor: Italy. An Italy stripped of labels – neither Fascist nor anti-Fascist, neither monarchist nor republican – for which they could fight and die. Ultimately, more than 86,000 died on the battlefield and in German camps. Through the painful awakening of fifteen young infantrymen, artillerymen, Alpini, and Bersaglieri, In Search of a Homeland recounts the twenty-month war waged against Nazi-Fascism by these Italian soldiers – men whose stories are rarely told.
