After The Battle #129 'The Battle For Florence' (2005)
 
For nearly 50 years, After the Battle has been presenting the history of the world's conflicts through 'then and now' comparison photographs. From the Zulu Wars through the First and Second World Wars to the Falklands, all are researched on the actual battlefields to show how they appear today.
 
The quarterly magazine concentrates on the Second World War, with comparison photographs adding a new dimension to recent history. In addition to major battles, local actions are explored, and other features include the recovery of aircraft and vehicles on land and at sea, the making of war films, and the preservation of military artifacts.
 
Jeffrey Plowman describes how in mid – July 1944, the British Eighth Army in Italy launched its XIII Corps in a major drive on Florence, the Renaissance city on the Arno river in the Tuscany region, the objective being to gain the city and the river line. With the German divisions offering fierce resistance in the hills to the south of Florence, the drive evolved into a hard-fought campaign that lasted for three weeks. In the end the 6th South African Armoured Division entered Florence early on August 4, just a few hours before the 2nd New Zealand Division.
 
It Happened Here The Kavieng Raid – On February 15, 1944, the US Fifth Air Force dispatched a force of 156 light, medium and heavy bombers to the Japanese stronghold base of Kavieng on New Ireland in the southwest Pacific. Rodney Pearce, Don Fetterly and Gail Parker tell the story.
 
Remembrance Yasukuni Jinja – Of the few remaining vestiges of wartime Japan, one of the most controversial is Yasukuni Jinja (shrine). A legacy of Japan’s pre – war union of religion and state. The US National World War II Memorial – In May 2004, the United States inaugurated a National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington to honour all those who served, fought and died during the Second World War. Realisation of the project took 17 years and was the result of a painful process wrought with controversy, both over the site selected and the final design of the memorial.
 
Single magazine in Fair to Good Condition