The Backstage ``enemy territory'' Gothic Line story: secret operations, Allied POWS, a motley mix of partisan resistance fighters and the road to Trieste and the Cold War

As Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin continues to wage his murderous war against Ukraine and his friend U.S. President Donald Trump stands idly by while also creating his own quagmire in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, it has become ever more obvious that the lessons learned from the WWII fight against Nazi fascism have been forgotten. A lot of that has to do with populist politicians from both the far-right and the far-left of the political spectrum in Europe and North America who engage in revisionist history to suit their myopic agenda. Putin is of course the most virulent perpetrator of false narratives to justify his war crimes that include kidnapping children, bombing hospitals and schools. He twists history to insist Ukrainians are Nazi's threatening Russia. Across the Atlantic Ocean, Trump is waging a jihad on museums, including the venerated Smithsonian, and banning books that tell the true story of racism in American society including in the U.S. military during WWII. Will it ever be possible to put this heinous attack on Western democratic values back in the bottle and return to civil dialog guided by a moral compass based on the rule of law, academic freedom and respect for human rights as well as sustainable development? As that question hangs ever heavier over our daily lives, it is ever more important to either remind ourselves or to teach anew to others the true story of the bravery and valor of Allied Forces that gave their lives and laid the foundation for the relative peace and prosperity that the post-WWII Baby Boomer generation has benefited. That is one of the reasons the History Channel launched a new 20-part series on WWII that is currently airing and is narrated by Tom Hanks. And as thorough and accurate as the History Channel WWII series is, it still misses so many important details. A few examples of these are include the next series of episodes to be released in the coming weeks and months. Despite years of research on the story of WWII, some of these episodes include stories I knew little or nothing about when I launched this podcast to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII and to tell the story of the Gothic Line Offensive and, most important, the multinational and multiracial Allied army that waged it. But like an epic opera or theater production that enthrals an audience on stage, there is always a cast of characters working furiously and anonymously behind the scenes to make it happen. It was only when I started to probe deep into the dark of this backstage Gothic Line history that i understood the complexity and these backstage stories. With that in mind, I hereby invite all of you to listen to the \`\`rest of the story'' in the coming months in the hopes that it will help fact prevail over the fiction of revisionist history as we face the future.