This is the first book I have read by the author Rick Atkinson it will not be the last. A very compressive look at the Italian campaign of World War Two a bloody mindless war of grueling conflict; that if you are unfamiliar with the Italian campaign reads more like an account of the Vietnam War. From the Rapido to Monte Cassino you will not be able to put the book down.

A masterful job the author is clear in his denunciation of the Nazi hierarchy but goes far to show that the individual solider on the American or German side had little influence or choice in overall policy. This does not forgive or erase various atrocities committed but it does make the people committing them seem more human.

My favorite part of the book was defiantly the brief description of the exploits of Wojtek a bear from Iran embedded with a Polish unit whose job it was to hurl artillery shells.

Though very interesting, the writing itself lacks the immediacy of "An Army At Dawn." It does, however, whet the appetite for the third volume of the trilogy.

Another wow from Rick Atkinson. Loved this book as much as an Army at Dawn. Can hardly wait for #3 in the liberation trilogy.

Makes every Allied Commander a complete DUNDERHEAD. Atkinson has evidently joined the "Blame America First" crowd! I would think he could find some positive snippet in the data he reviewed (173 pages of notes & selected sources). In his exaustive research,
it seems he fails to realize that we did infact win the war.

Rick has followed the first volume of his WWII trilogy with another winner. The first book "An Army at Dawn" captures the amatuer performance of a great Army learning to fight. This book captures the beginning of the Army's maturity as a fighting force and the growth of it's leadership.The tragic Airborne operation is painful to read. The unending battle of egos between Patton and Mongomery is tragic. Rick captures the story of the Sicily and Italian campaign with the great skill.

Well worth any WWII History Buffs time.

This book focus' on Sicily and the Italian campaign in World War II. However, in my opinion, it is not as good as the first book, Army at Dawn. Some examples of why are the following. (1) The author must have used the phrase "Marcus Aurelius Clarkus" six times at least to describe General Mark Clark. This sort of repetitiveness gets annoying. (2) In the first book, the focus was on the US Army. This time that isn't the focus of the book. The book shares what the New Zealanders did, what the Poles did, what the French did, what the English did and what the Canadians did. Now, to some level that makes sense, since all of these forces fought at Monte Cassino. But when the book moved to the other side of the peninsula to focus on a Canadian action. Consequently, I found myself unclear on what the focus was. (3) There was less of the soldiers experiences this time and more of the general's experiences. I was hoping for a book that shared the perspective of the GI, but didn't get it as much this time. In spite of these comments, this is a good book, on a theater that hasn't been written about adequately.

The depth of anecdotes, the overview of strategy, the on the scene feelings of battle make this book one of, if not the, best books I have read of WW11.

To put it simply, boy can this guy write! He combines an immense wealth of detail with a brilliant facility for language. The amount of anecdotes, diary excerpts, and historical facts, interwoven with a story that is told with enormous empathy for the foot soldiers who suffered and died in Italy, is simply breathtaking.

This is another great product written by Atkinson in line with his masterpiece "army at Dawn". Again, the author covers all topics - the generals, the home front, political leaders and the war through the soldiers' eyes. His writing style is superb and captivating. This is history come alive. It has covered the Italian campaign seamlessly from the African campaign. This was one book I could not put down and truly was a page turner. It showed the progression from the American army of amateurs in African on their way to a veteran force to be reckoning with. Old leaders gone from the African campaign are now replaced with new exciting characters. The authors objective coverage of the controversial Mark Clark was excellent. Again as in the 1 volume, Atkinson focuses mostly on the Americans, secondly the British and distantly on the French and the Germans. His depictions of the battles are riveting and vivid - no movie would be able to paint and exciting and vivid a picture. I would rank this in my top 5 favorite books (history) of all time. I can't wait for the final volume on this trilogy. Mr. Atkinson - type faster!

This is an outstanding book about the Second World War. A fine follow on to Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn.

I did'nt learn my lesson from reading "Army at Dawn". I know war is hell, but my goodness Mr. Atkinson, this book seems so focused on the negative aspects of the struggle, even more so than "Army", that I'm skipping the third book. I think this is an unfair and unbalanced portrayal of the battle in Europe.

I found this book to be one of the best telling of the American Army in the ETO. The Author has told the story with some very telling insight (He was with the Army on its march to Bagdad) Using both broad and small strokes, he has told the Story of one of the Army's toughest campaigns The Liberation of Italy & Sicily.
I especially like the "Kitchen Details" for example on how some of the 36th Infantry Division went into Salerno with out having Weapons. Also he does a 1st rate job of telling of some of the key and otherwise interesting characters of this saga. (Ike, Patton, Kesselring, Alexander, Eric Severide, Darby, Ridgeway, Montgomery, Bill Mauldin) also interesting is the Military Politics like when Bradley sacked the Generals of the Big Red One . Or of the infamous slapping of the shell shocked Privates by Patton.
Altogether, This Book is well worth the time and money if this is your interest in history. I can also highly recommended his other book of the trilogy- An Army at Dawn.

Atkinson is a good writer and he tries to accomplish much here in 600 pages. He is trying to describe in good authoritative narrative style the causes, courses and consequences of the Italian campaign. It is a worthy ideal, but, given the nature and scope of the campaign, almost doomed before from the start.

But Atkinson does write well enough and on engendering sheer excitement he passes very admirably.

What this book is about:

This is primarily an American description of the campaign in Italy. He does an great job of rendering the reality of some of these men who as larger than life and (much to Atkinson's credit) all flawed. From the odious Patton to aloof Alexander, British and American, NewZealander, Canadian and French Commanders all come up for their very necessary critical analysis. I liked this very much. Atkinson destroyed a few of my heroes (Terry Alan, General Alexander), chipped a few down a block (Churchill and Eisenhower). And shreds a few all to pieces -- Patton, Dawley. Some are flawed but tragic, Lucas (Anzio beachhead commander) and Walker (Texas Div Commander), and Freyberg, the crusty and incorrigable New Zealand Commander. For better or worse there are almost no military commanders who survive being anything else than tragic -- in that sense they are complete mirrors of this campaign.

Atkinson also describes the folley of waging war without specific objectives. It is clear that at almost any part of the campaign, there were no solid objectives: the first objective was to be Sicily, if that went well, according to the judgement of the theatre commander, they were to have a go at the boot of Italy. Then Salerno and then Anzio and the creep up and battle in Gustav Line. Plans were haphazard at best. At no point was any commander endeared with forsight,tactical or strategic genius. When resistance was encountered, it was addressed with frontal assault and heavy artillery in the much way as WWI.

What the book is not about:

Atkinson has an American feel to his writing and is best at home when he describes American unit action (in which he weighs the narrative). It is clear that the British Commonwealth regimental sctructure is not his forte. He refers to British regiments in ways that are not normally used and he he rarely uses the British shorthand terms. While he refers to Americans and there hometowns by state, there Brits are just Brits. Indian division officers are quoted -- they are not however Indians, they are British officers attached to the Indian Divisions. How were these divisions structured? What makes the fact a person is attached to the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada is part of a regiment and not a division that defines him? What and how were the Poles integrated into the British Commonwealth Armies?

Having said this he almost pulls off a good overview of both sides in a balanced fashion at times. But while there is good description of the American Battle at Triona in Sicily, there is virtually nothing about the British battle at Catania -- which consumed many more troops and casualties. Nothing of the War north of Rome. This is nub of the matter. In overall terms of troops deployed and casualities taken, the Commonwealth forces contributed more men and took more casualties than their American cousins. This should not detract from this book as a great read. It should encourage American readers to move beyond their often rather narrow interpretation of WWII. I should note in tribute to Atkinson, that he does included a 10 page segment -- and even an map!! -- on the pointless and particularly brutal battle of he Canadians at Ortona.

There are other things that should be included: there is nothing on the use of airpower or history of the Air Forces in this sector (ditto for the Navy). There is also an annoying use of contemporary terms such as "parse" which Atkinson seems to use to mean everything from "to sort" or "arrange" to also mean "separate." Also using the contemporary term "tube" to describe any artillery piece does little for understanding the discrepancy. As mentioned by another review Nebelwerfers were rocket launchers, not mortars.

The book does give and excellent idea of the tragedy or this campaign, the personalities and the parts they played. The tragedy comes from the fact that not only do we know ex post facto that these men will be thrown into many hopeless battles, but that their commanders on the ground at the time also knew. A magnificent book that pleases warts and all... maybe being flawed is an essential element to great narrative.

Early in the Allied invasion of Italy, U.S. forces commander Mark Clark cautioned his wife: "You must look upon this Italian campaign as one little part of a world war where perhaps we do something the hard way in order to makes successes in other places either."

Decades later, debate continues. Was the awful toll in life and property that resulted from the invasion an almost-total waste? Or did it begin in earnest the process of ridding the world of Hitlerian terror?

Rick Atkinson comes down on the latter half of the argument, but with reservations. His latest and middle volume in "The Liberation Trilogy", which covers the Allied invasion of Europe, is too full of the facts of the matter. There were atrocities aplenty on both sides, pointlessly bloody attacks, destroyed works of art, and enough light shed on the evil of men to make one sick. "War is corrupting," Atkinson writes, and this was especially true in a country where the toll so often ran so deep.

Atkinson's vision is relentless, which is part of the problem. Reading about children buried alive, men falling out of aircraft, and sudden acts of meaningless cruelty played over again is downright depressing, however on point and accurate. This is why I don't read Martin Gilbert. I think you can't knock Atkinson for making an unpleasant book about such a thing, but unpleasant it is.

Another problem is Atkinson's justly-won Pulitzer Prize for his previous book in this series, "Army At Dawn", seems to have gone to his head. A sometimes pompous style undercuts his better points. He never uses a word like "toughening" when "annealing" can be employed instead, and strives throughout this book to make some parallel to classical fables, which come off stretched. He has a rich vocabulary, and used it in "Army At Dawn", but I missed the almost accidental eloquence with which Atkinson made his points.

I can't fault him on his facts, except for the utterly minor point of a Washington Nationals game being played in 1943. Atkinson may use secondary sources, but he draws a lot of value from them, and produces for the reader a lucid and, at times, intoxicating distillation of many learned, contemporaneous voices, both in academia and on the battlefield. He is a frustrating fencesitter regarding the generalship of many, including Clark, but it beats blowhards like Stephen Ambrose riding their favorite hobby horses every 15 minutes, however entertaining that can sometimes be.

There's nothing so entertaining in "Day Of Battle"; it's a good tough book I doubt I will read before reading "Army At Dawn" a third time. You feel like you know more about combat, though not the way you might want to. One British soldier describes its capricious workings like that of a purblind officer, telling a random group of men. "You and you - dead. The rest of you, on the truck."

So much for glory. In Italy, most of the glory was getting out alive.

I had read Rick Atkinson's book, An Army at Dawn and found myself with renewed interest in studying the history of World War II. Set in the battles between the Allies against the Axis in North Africa, it had won the Pulitzer Prize, and I was eagerly looking forward to the second volume in The Liberation Trilogy.

Now Atkinson turns his skills to the next move in the war. Napoleon had said that Italy was shaped like a boot and to conquer it, you had to treat it like a boot and enter from the top. Unfortunately, the Allies didn't have that option -- France and Germany and the Balkans were in Nazi hands, and there was just one route that British and American forces could take -- first the triangular island of Sicily and then to invade the mainland. On maps it looked easy enough -- all they had to do was bring men, tanks and supplies from Tunisia, move over Sicily, and then head for Rome.

Part One describes what it really took to take Sicily, and the personalities of both the troops, and the generals that led them. Several vibrant generals come through -- especially George Patton, Omar Bradley, Lucian Truscott and Eisenhower. In the second half of the book, when the action shifts to the 'boot' of Italy, a majority of the details shift to other generals, especially the commander of Fifth Army, Mark Clark, and British general Sir Harold Alexander. But most of all what caught my attention was the ordinary soldiers who fought for the Allies, and hailed from ordinary towns in the States, Great Britain and even from France and India, and especially the New Zealanders. There are journal entries, letters and offical reports, all of which give life to what appears to be an ordinary campaign.

But it wasn't. As I read, especially when it came to the assaults on Salerno, Naples, Monte Cassino, and Anzio, I realized what a truly tragic undertaking all of this was. From the never-ending lack of shipping, to bungling in intelligence, lousy air recognance and bombing (with one very notable exception), miscommunication, and the fact that many of these generals that were involved were just plain human and egotists to boot, it helps to understand the immense amount of courage and determination that it took to not just fight but also survive in situations that appeared to be a 'no-win' scenario. What struck me the most was the not just the desperate fight of the Italian people to survive, but that many of them wanted nothing at all to do with their fascist overlords, and the German troops that had moved in after the collapse of Mussolini's government. While they did take opportunities whenever possible to help themselves, many of them fought right along side the Allies, provided transportation in the form of mule trains over mountainous terrains and guides.

But there are some moments of truly black humour that made me both cringe and laugh out loud. Some GI's in Naples paid the local prostitutes with Monopoly money, insisting that it was military 'scrip;' the working girls in return set loose an epidemic of the clap that proved to be resistant to all forms of treatment -- a fair exchange in my opinion. Or the tactics that many of the troops holed up at Anzio waiting for the breakout resorted to relieve boredom -- horseracing, farming, and the camp favourite, cockroach racing.

Sometimes, the story takes on a surrealistic appearance, and Atkinson gets downright poetic when describing the firestorms that occured during bombardments, or the men who fight on despite horrific wounds. It were these that broke my heart to read, as men before heading off into battle write up 'just-in-case' letters to loved ones back home, speaking of the terrible situations that they are facing, but never revealing the details. Instead, the reader discovers that that the reality of warfare is not the santized, bloodless versions that tend to creep over our televisions and movie screens, but a truly awful business that most civilians can not even begin to comprehend.

It's not surprising that as I read this account that I found myself thinking of the never ending situation that the United States finds itself embroiled in today. Nowadays it seems that the politicians are running the wars, and the generals caught in crossfire, and the ordinary soliders and airmen paying the final price along with unnamed, unknown civilians. Atkinson doesn't preach to his readers, he just assembles the stories into sections and uses an immense amount of research to let the reader decide for themselves. Reading of the treatment of Italian civilians by the Germans, and the atrocities committed, it's pretty clear that World War II had to be fought, and that it was run on propoganda as much as on ammunition. How this current conflict sixty years on will be read in a century from now is impossible to predict.

But what I was left with was a sense of the sacrifice paid not just by the troops, but also those who worked and waited back home. I had known very little about how the Allies drove the Germans out of Sicily and Italy, but after reading this I had a great appreciation of what it took. Atkinson's research is very detailed -- there are more than 200 pages of notes, along with an extensive bibliography and index. There are two black and white inserts of photos, and many maps showing not just the movements of armies, but also gives a good idea of scale as well.

For anyone insterested in what happened in Italy, this is bound to become a classic. Second in the proposed trilogy by Atkinson that details the Allies in North Africa and Europe, titled The Liberation Trilogy, this makes for excellent reading by both those familiar and unfamiliar with the topic. While it did get to be rather dry reading in spots, once I started reading about the conflicts to take Monte Cassino and Anzio, I realized that I could not put the book down.

Overall, a five star read.

Rick Atkinson's latest book is a sprawling epic that vividly captures the humanity of those who planned, led and executed the invasions of Sicily and Italy during the struggle in the MTO during World War II. Mr. Atkinson's character sketches are priceless and are full of interesting details not seen in other similar works. His grasp of the subject matter is outstanding, and the prose flows from one narrative event to another with compelling ease. Without a doubt, this is one of the best single-volume accounts of the campaign in the Med., and it is a book that belongs on the shelf of every historian--academic or otherwise--who has even a passing interest in the Second World War.

John R. Bruning Jr.

I was really excited to get this book; having read the first volume. I found this book to be both readable and informative. I have been reading WWII history (primarily the Pacific theater) for over thirty years and I find that I know next to nothing about the Italian campaign. This book seems to be a great introduction to the subject but I was puzzled about why the book suddenly stops with the capture of Rome when the campaign continued to the end of the war. Like practically all military history books, it could have used more maps. It is very good book but it is not on the same level with An Army At Dawn.

Rick Atkinson is positively triumphant with this, the second installment in his World War II "Liberation Trilogy." Combining meticulous research with a journalist's keen eye for detail, Atkinson carefully and deliberately reconstructs the Italian campaign of World War II from the initial invasion of Sicily through the fall of Rome. In the process, he offers the reader an extraordinary story of Allied tenacity against a dug-in, resourceful, and in some battles, numerically superior German enemy.

As Atkinson details the many hardships endured by U.S. Army private and general alike in this masterful work, we are in absolute awe of the sacrifice of America's greatest generation. Facing a well-trained, well-equipped, and fanatical Wehrmacht soldier capable of enormous sacrifice in his own right, the Allies persevere and struggle kilometer by painful kilometer to eke out a victory. It is through Atkinson's thorough description of events that we are able to gain a true appreciation for just how tenuous success in the Mediterranean really was during this hard-fought campaign!

As they claw and scratch their way up the boot of Italy, these remarkable Americans seem to grow stronger and more resolute as German resistance stiffens. It becomes ever clearer as one reads Atkinson's battlefield accounts that the American fighting man had to find in this epic struggle a higher purpose, a noble cause for which he would willingly pay the ultimate price. As Atkinson points out, the American GI fights so as to not let his brothers-in-arms down. As one soldier's diary records,

"We did it because we could not bear the shame of being less than the man beside us. We fought because he fought; we died because he died."

We see through Atkinson's vivid imagery a gritty U.S. Army soldier who had once and for all crossed that emotional divide in this war from curiosity and circumspection born of inexperience to a genuine hatred for his ruthless Nazi adversary. Indeed, this battle-hardened warrior embraces, even nurtures, that hatred while adopting a kill or be killed survival mechanism that would serve him well through the duration of the conflict. He would later put to good use in the fields and hedgerows of occupied France a hard-won confidence gained during the long, hard slog in Italy.

If it is to raise our awareness of these young Americans' steadfast courage and supreme sacrifice, then Atkinson succeeds beautifully. If it is to make us think deeply about the wretched cost of war, particularly in a conflict of this magnitude, he again acquits himself exceedingly well. The depiction of the tremendous suffering and loss of life exchanged for such precious little terrain is simply heart-wrenching. We readers experience on a visceral level the pain of those soldiers who bury their comrades in tiny cemeteries nestled among the vineyards and farmhouses of coastal Italy.

Capturing the grand sweep of a military campaign of this size, while holding the interest of serious military history enthusiasts and general interest readers alike requires uncommon talent. The Day of Battle provides an unusually detailed recounting of events at all levels of war -strategic, operational, and tactical. Intimate details of grand strategy conferences involving Roosevelt and Churchill in exotic, far-flung locales are juxtaposed with sobering, "on-the-ground" operational briefings in a corps headquarters tent located in the middle of the mud and muck of the battlefield. We learn many fascinating, little-known details of such events and how they ultimately shape the conflict's outcome. Even a reader with little interest in military history finds them, well, interesting.

It is precisely this sort of "democratization" of military history that sets Atkinson apart from most military historians and accounts for his continued and sustained success. He introduces small, seemingly inconsequential details to bring many of these scenes to life for the least sophisticated reader. By so doing, he ensures his work achieves the widest possible appeal. More important, he illuminates the epic struggle that was World War II and ensures that the war's most storied figures - both the famous and the infamous - will be forever immortalized as they really were.

Most enjoyable for this reader is the portrayal of the idiosyncratic personalities of some of the senior officers who commanded U.S. and British forces during this campaign and, in some cases, their considerable flaws. As one learns more about these larger-than-life characters - Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Clark, Alexander, and Montgomery - one gains a deeper appreciation for what they faced. Perhaps most significant, one better understands the unremitting pressure under which they operated as the events of the campaign unfolded. Literally the fate of the entire free world rested in these men's mortal hands.

We learn that if not for the unique personalities, even quirks, of a few exceptional leaders and their ability to press the fight against a stubbornly brutal enemy, an entirely different outcome may have resulted.

But what is most exceptional about Atkinson's book are his portraits of the not-so-famous. He reserves some of his best prose for the little known, unsung heroes of the campaign. For instance, he records the experiences of Lieutenant Colonel John J. 'Jack' Toffey, III, an unheralded battalion commander in the 3rd Infantry Division, throughout the campaign. About Toffey Atkinson writes,

"Nine months at war had also aged him beyond his years [35]. Both battle-wise and battle-weary, he was emblematic of the field grade officers - major through colonel - who had learned much through hard combat and whose influence on a hundred European battlefields would be both decisive and disproportionate to their numbers in the U.S. Army."

Atkinson could not have gotten it any more right. It has always been ordinary Americans like Jack Toffey who do the extraordinary while serving with U.S. forces in combat, who with little fanfare and even less notoriety, answer the siren call to arms, "the summons of the trumpet"... who serve their country selflessly... who find in any great struggle against a global menace a deeper meaning, a just cause for which only they can give heart and soul... and even their lives. In the end, they come from every corner of this great nation of ours and travel to distant shores to serve the cause of freedom.

And, thankfully, they are still coming.

For brilliantly capturing the essence of the American dogface, Atkinson again deserves all the accolades that are sure to come his way.

A superbly crafted account of an epic struggle!

Rick Atkinson is positively triumphant with this, the second installment in his World War II "Liberation Trilogy." Combining meticulous research with a journalist's keen eye for detail, Atkinson carefully and deliberately reconstructs the Italian campaign of World War II from the initial invasion of Sicily through the fall of Rome. In the process, he offers the reader an extraordinary story of Allied tenacity against a dug-in, resourceful, and in some battles, numerically superior German enemy.

As Atkinson details the many hardships endured by U.S. Army private and general alike in this masterful work, we are in absolute awe of the sacrifice of America's greatest generation. Facing a well-trained, well-equipped, and fanatical Wehrmacht soldier capable of enormous sacrifice in his own right, the Allies persevere and struggle kilometer by painful kilometer to eke out a victory. It is through Atkinson's thorough description of events that we are able to gain a true appreciation for just how tenuous success in the Mediterranean really was during this hard-fought campaign!

As they claw and scratch their way up the boot of Italy, these remarkable Americans seem to grow stronger and more resolute as German resistance stiffens. It becomes ever clearer as one reads Atkinson's battlefield accounts that the American fighting man had to find in this epic struggle a higher purpose, a noble cause for which he would willingly pay the ultimate price. As Atkinson points out, the American GI fights so as to not let his brothers-in-arms down. As one soldier's diary records,

"We did it because we could not bear the shame of being less than the man beside us. We fought because he fought; we died because he died."

We see through Atkinson's vivid imagery a gritty U.S. Army soldier who had once and for all crossed that emotional divide in this war from curiosity and circumspection born of inexperience to a genuine hatred for his ruthless Nazi adversary. Indeed, this battle-hardened warrior embraces, even nurtures, that hatred while adopting a kill or be killed survival mechanism that would serve him well through the duration of the conflict. He would later put to good use in the fields and hedgerows of occupied France a hard-won confidence gained during the long, hard slog in Italy.

If it is to raise our awareness of these young Americans' steadfast courage and supreme sacrifice, then Atkinson succeeds beautifully. If it is to make us think deeply about the wretched cost of war, particularly in a conflict of this magnitude, he again acquits himself exceedingly well. The depiction of the tremendous suffering and loss of life exchanged for such precious little terrain is simply heart-wrenching. We readers experience on a visceral level the pain of those soldiers who bury their comrades in tiny cemeteries nestled among the vineyards and farmhouses of coastal Italy.

Capturing the grand sweep of a military campaign of this size, while holding the interest of serious military history enthusiasts and general interest readers alike requires uncommon talent. As does the first book of the trilogy, An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle provides an unusually detailed recounting of events at all levels of war - strategic, operational, and tactical. Intimate details of grand strategy conferences involving Roosevelt and Churchill in exotic, far-flung locales are juxtaposed with sobering, "on-the-ground" operational briefings in a corps headquarters tent located in the middle of the mud and muck of the battlefield. We learn many fascinating, little-known details of such events and how they ultimately shape the conflict's outcome. Even a reader with little interest in military history finds them, well, interesting.

It is precisely this sort of "democratization" of military history that sets Atkinson apart from most military historians and accounts for his continued and sustained success. He introduces small, seemingly inconsequential details to bring many of these scenes to life for the least sophisticated reader. By so doing, he ensures his work achieves the widest possible appeal. More important, he illuminates the epic struggle that was World War II and ensures that the war's most storied figures - both the famous and the infamous - will be forever immortalized as they really were.

Most enjoyable for this reader is the portrayal of the idiosyncratic personalities of some of the senior officers who commanded U.S. and British forces during this campaign and, in some cases, their considerable flaws. As one learns more about these larger-than-life characters - Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Clark, Alexander, and Montgomery - one gains a deeper appreciation for what they faced. Perhaps most significant, one better understands the unremitting pressure under which they operated as the events of the campaign unfolded. Literally the fate of the entire free world rested in these men's mortal hands.

We learn that if not for the unique personalities, even quirks, of a few exceptional leaders and their ability to press the fight against a stubbornly brutal enemy, an entirely different outcome may have resulted.

But what is most exceptional about Atkinson's book are his portraits of the not-so-famous. He reserves some of his best prose for the little known, unsung heroes of the campaign. For instance, he records the experiences of Lieutenant Colonel John J. 'Jack' Toffey, III, an unheralded battalion commander in the 3rd Infantry Division, throughout the campaign. About Toffey Atkinson writes,

"Nine months at war had also aged him beyond his years [35]. Both battle-wise and battle-weary, he was emblematic of the field grade officers - major through colonel - who had learned much through hard combat and whose influence on a hundred European battlefields would be both decisive and disproportionate to their numbers in the U.S. Army."

Atkinson could not have gotten it any more right. It has always been ordinary Americans like Jack Toffey who do the extraordinary while serving with U.S. forces in combat, who with little fanfare and even less notoriety, answer the siren call to arms, "the summons of the trumpet"... who serve their country selflessly... who find in any great struggle against a global menace a deeper meaning, a just cause for which only they can give heart and soul... and even their lives. In the end, they come from every corner of this great nation of ours and travel to distant shores to serve the cause of freedom.

And, thankfully, they are still coming.

For brilliantly capturing the essence of the American dogface, Atkinson again deserves all the accolades that are sure to come his way.

A superbly crafted account of an epic struggle!

Dear Whoever reads this

I loved the content of the book,however,the book arrived in a damaged state.The rear cover had a puncture that went clear through to the other side.I inspected the wrappings as well as the box it came in,and there was no damage to the packaging.It was apparantly packed in a damaged state.It was however a first edition,so I kept it.

Rick Atkinson is positively triumphant with this, the second installment in his World War II "Liberation Trilogy." Combining meticulous research with a journalist's keen eye for detail, Atkinson carefully and deliberately reconstructs the Italian campaign of World War II from the initial invasion of Sicily through the fall of Rome. In the process, he offers the reader an extraordinary story of Allied tenacity against a dug-in, resourceful, and in some battles, numerically superior German enemy.

As Atkinson details the many hardships endured by U.S. Army private and general alike in this masterful work, we are in absolute awe of the sacrifice of America's greatest generation. Facing a well-trained, well-equipped, and fanatical Wehrmacht soldier capable of enormous sacrifice in his own right, the Allies persevere and struggle kilometer by painful kilometer to eke out a victory. It is through Atkinson's thorough description of events that we are able to gain a true appreciation for just how tenuous success in the Mediterranean really was during this hard-fought campaign!

As they claw and scratch their way up the boot of Italy, these remarkable Americans seem to grow stronger and more resolute as German resistance stiffens. It becomes ever clearer as one reads Atkinson's battlefield accounts that the American fighting man had to find in this epic struggle a higher purpose, a noble cause for which he would willingly pay the ultimate price. Ultimately, as Atkinson points out, the American G.I. fought so as to not let his brothers-in-arms down. As one soldier's diary records,

"We did it because we could not bear the shame of being less than the man beside us. We fought because he fought; we died because he died."

We see through Atkinson's vivid imagery a gritty U.S. Army soldier who had once and for all crossed that emotional divide in this war from curiosity and circumspection born of inexperience to a genuine hatred for his ruthless Nazi adversary. Indeed, this battle-hardened warrior embraces, even nurtures, that hatred while adopting a kill or be killed survival mechanism that would serve him well through the duration of the conflict. He would later put to good use in the fields and hedgerows of occupied France a hard-won confidence gained during the long, hard slog in Italy.

If it is to raise our awareness of these young Americans' steadfast courage and supreme sacrifice, then Atkinson succeeds beautifully with The Day of Battle. If it is to make us think deeply about the wretched cost of war, particularly in a conflict of this magnitude, he again acquits himself exceedingly well. The depiction of the tremendous suffering and loss of life exchanged for such precious little terrain is simply heart-wrenching. We readers experience on a visceral level the pain of those soldiers who bury their comrades in tiny cemeteries nestled among the vineyards and farmhouses of coastal Italy.

Capturing the grand sweep of a military campaign of this size, while holding the interest of serious military history enthusiasts and general interest readers alike requires uncommon talent. As does the first book of the trilogy, An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle provides an unusually detailed recounting of events at all levels of war - strategic, operational, and tactical. Intimate details of grand strategy conferences involving Roosevelt and Churchill in exotic, far-flung locales are juxtaposed with sobering, "on-the-ground" operational briefings in a corps headquarters tent located in the middle of the mud and muck. We learn many fascinating, little-known details of such events and how they ultimately shape the conflict's outcome. Even a reader with little interest in military history finds them, well, interesting.

It is precisely this sort of "democratization" of military history that sets Atkinson apart from most military historians and accounts for his continued and sustained success. He introduces small, seemingly inconsequential details to bring many of these scenes to life for the least sophisticated reader. By so doing, he ensures his work achieves the widest possible appeal. More important, he illuminates the epic struggle that was World War II and ensures that the war's most storied figures - both the famous and infamous - will be forever immortalized as they really were.

Most enjoyable for this reader is the portrayal of the idiosyncratic personalities of some of the senior officers who commanded U.S. and British forces during this campaign and, in some cases, their considerable flaws. As one learns more about these larger-than-life characters - Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Clark, Alexander, and Montgomery - one gains a deeper appreciation for what they faced. Perhaps most significant, one better understands the unremitting pressure under which they operated as the events of the campaign unfolded. Literally the fate of the entire free world rested in these men's mortal hands.

We learn that if not for the unique personalities, even quirks, of a few exceptional leaders and their ability to press the fight against a stubbornly brutal enemy, an entirely different outcome may have resulted.

But what is most exceptional about Atkinson's book are his portraits of the not-so-famous. He reserves some of his best prose for the little known, unsung heroes of the campaign. For instance, he records the experiences of Lieutenant Colonel John J. 'Jack' Toffey, III, an unheralded battalion commander in the 3rd Infantry Division, throughout the campaign. About Toffey Atkinson writes,

"Nine months at war had also aged him beyond his years [35]. Both battle-wise and battle-weary, he was emblematic of the field grade officers - major through colonel - who had learned much through hard combat and whose influence on a hundred European battlefields would be both decisive and disproportionate to their numbers in the U.S. Army."

Atkinson could not have gotten it any more right. It has always been ordinary Americans like Jack Toffey who do the extraordinary while serving with U.S. forces in combat, who with little fanfare and even less notoriety, answer the siren call to arms, "the summons of the trumpet"... who serve their country selflessly... who find in any great struggle against a global menace a deeper meaning, a just cause for which only they can give heart and soul... and even their lives. In the end, they come from every corner of this great nation of ours and travel to distant shores to serve the cause of freedom.

And, thankfully, they are still coming.

For brilliantly capturing the essence of the American dogface, Atkinson again deserves all the accolades that are sure to come his way.

A superbly crafted account of an epic struggle!

I have read a lot of excellent Military History books but this one is so incredibly rich in detail and so well written that others pale in comparison. Other reviewers have said it well so I will not elaborate other than to say it was totally mesmerizing and contained not one wasted word.

Rick Atkinson does an excellent job in volume 2 of the Liberation trilogy. This book traces the evolution of the Allied armies into a fighting force as they continue to grow and learn. The battles of Sicily and the invasion of Italy are the focal points in this volume. Many of the errors that were committed in the landings at Africa (see vol 1 An Army at Dawn) are repeated particularly with regards to a lack of organization in landing supplies. Air cover, naval activity and army movements are not coordinated in a single command leaving each branch working separately not only for the Americans but for the British as well giving six different commanders areas to disagree and fight over. It also leads to one of the most heart wrenching moments of the book where American and British planes and paratroopers are killed by the dozens with friendly fire. The introduction provides an interesting look at how the allied war aims differed and shows Churchill's fear of a direct attack on fortress Europe. The invasion of Italy was not necessary militarily but the British insistence led the Americans to agree. Its one shining point was that it provided more practice for the army to gain fighting skills while preparing for D-Day in Europe.

Sicily is one of the most interesting invasions of World War II and Atkinson captures it well in the first half of the book. The landings and taking of Salerno mostly by Patton and the British are largely successful. The landings are confused as always and a lack of air support leads to a greater than average casualty to rate but they are able to establish beachheads and once re-supplied with fresh troops via the DUKW's are able to press on. The German's were organized well and as the battles turn sour they were able to evacuate the majority of their forces that remained to mainland Italy without encountering any real Allied resistance.

The invasion of Italy with the landings at Naples met with severe resistance which Atkinson captured well and the strategic dilemmas faced by the Nazi's and Italian forces are covered in detail. As the Germans dug in south of Rome the allies changed course and made a disastrous landing at Anzio. The Germans had well dug in positions at Cassiano and along the line forcing the Americans, British, Canadian, and Indian forces to try and destroy these fortifications. The overall nature of the Italian campaign as a stale mate is discussed in great detail. This was truly one f the more disastrous campaigns and the destruction of the church at Cassiano was one of the great tragedies of the war. The divisions between the Americans and British begin to show over Italy as does the paradigm shift in world powers.

Overall the Italian campaign was superfluous and this book shows that it was not necessary for the defeat of Nazi Germany. Italy was a sideshow for the Americans and considered essential by the British who wished to reopen their Mediterranean trade. The details of the battles are clear and like his other books Atkinson's style of writing is superb. For those interested in learning more about the Italian campaign it is an essential place to start. Although the campaign itself did not help the overall war effort it is still an essential part of World War history and the symbolism of capturing the Eternal City, Rome, cannot be understated. I eagerly await the third installment and I am sure the author will keep up the good work.

After winning the Pulitzer Prize with his last work it is obvious that the bar is set pretty high for Mr. Atikinson with his next work. Yet he manages to, at least in my opinion, offer a more compelling and exciting work. The author does a great job of combining both personality and telling the story using the framework of both the larger than life Generals who lead the assaults and the average soldiers who bear the results and take their lives into hand by executing the grand schemes.

The book is very well written and does and excellent job of portraying all participants in a balanced and fair light. While the German atrocities are not overlooked, they are also portrayed as soldiers fighting a great campaign. The faults of all commanders are portrayed yet not treated as if one is worse and one is better. All in all, this is a book well worth reading.

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy)

This reader does not believe in capital punishment, but might make an exception for the editors who allowed this book to reach the printer as written. At times I got the impression author Atkinson was competing for the annual spoof Bulwer-Lytton award for the most palpably horrendous written paragraph. Whether it is in the overuse of words such as keening, or scuttle, or an obvious inability to understand German, this text can make a careful reader cringe. My favorite example is "scuttle:" whether it is the coal-scuttle German helmets; or deliberating sinking ships; or just the ordinary marching of troops, the word keeps cropping up and up to the point of absurdity. Calling virtually every American mortar, artillery piece, and anti-tank gun a "tube" is another example.
In aspects, he is just plain wrong. American ordnance did not use cordite explosive; not every Italian beach is made up of shingle; a Gefreiter is a German corporal, not a plain soldier as the author seems by context to mean; the German Nebelwerfer is a rocket launcher, not a mortar.
Considerable research among diaries and letters of American troops show that Mr. Atkinson recognizes a good story and can isolate the telling anecdote. Better for the reader, perhaps, to have left the story telling more to the participants, and less to his own overblown prose laced with errors in detail.
John J. Cahill, Mount Vernon, Virginia USA

"Day of Battle" is the best history of the battle for Sicily and Italy that I have ever read. Beautifully written , outstanding narrative sytle, really gets to the reader, and should be in the library of anyone who wishes to own the story of World War II. I will read Rick Atkinson's other book in the planned trilogy now.

This is one of the best books written on the Second World War. Following up on An Army at Dawn : The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy, Vol 1) it covers the same ground as Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily July-August 1943 and Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome but it is far more brilliantly written, a true epic of militar writing that is one part Greek tragedy and one part Shakespeare.

This is not the dry history of units, it is the history men, from the biggest such as Patton to the smallest frontline troops. It is primarily a history of the American Army from the beaches of Sicily to Rome, but it is also a history of the British 8th army and of General Alexander and General Juin and his French Expeditionary Force. It is a history of the Germans as well and of the Italian people.

A massive undertaking this is sure to be one of the most brilliant works on the war for years to come. Although it is part of a trilogy one can read this book by itself and it is therefore a stand alone volume. Along with Halberstam's The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War this book finally revivies the history of American arms, but it also revives our memory of the way in which the U.S Fifth army brought freedom to millions in Italy.

Seth J. Frantzman

An admirer of Mr Atkinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning AN ARMY AT DAWN, I found the second of the planned WW II Liberation Trilogy, THE DAY OF BATTLE, to be disappointing. Why? Because this almost 800-page tome is painfully over written. Mr Atkinson dwells too much on insignificant details. For example, how many times do we need to read of limbs blown off to get the point that war is hell? Having spent what must have been a prodigious time researching the book, Mr Atkinson seems unable to not include much extraneous material of his research labors, such as what romantic poets lived in this Italian city and what ancient Romans thought of this place or that. He also quotes interminably from the letters and of generals and privates alike, often just about the weather or their feelings when these facts could be summarized by the author. It seems at times that Mr Atkinson is confused as to whether he wants to write a entertaining popular history or an impressive academic doctoral thesis. What gets lost in all this verbage is the story of the war in Italy and Sicily, which truly needs to be told. Let's hope that the third volume in the Liberation Trilogy gets a better editor or it is likely to be 1200 dull pages long.

The book is very well researched and written and I enjoyed it. Since Atkinson's full title gives the time frame as 1943-1944, perhaps I should not have been disappointed that the book ends with the capture of Rome in June 1944. A great deal of fighting occured after, and almost all 4000+ buried at the Florence American Cemetery were killed after, the fall of Rome.

Rick Atkinson provides a tale that blends the perspective of the individual soldier, the tactical, operational and strategic level. Can't wait for the 3rd part of the Liberation Trilogy!

"The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944", Rick Atkinson's second volume in the Liberation Trilogy ("An Army At Dawn", 2002), is another tour de force of historical writing. Atkinson is certainly on this generation's most gifted writers, and he has no problem putting words to page (Day of Battle clocks in at 588 pp., minus nearly 200 pp. of notes and bibliographic information). Most reviews of "The Day of Battle" are nearly glowing to the point of being not very useful. In fact this reviewer feels like many of the glowing reviews focus solely on Atkinson's prowess as a writer and less on his attributes (or lack thereof) as a historian. This is historiography after all, so shouldn't we expect the best? Of course, and in terms of writing an engaging story that the masses will read and having read recommend to friends and colleagues, Atkinson does a bang-up job. Few of today's historical writers are even in the same league. But as a piece of enlightening history "The Day of Battle" is less fulfilling. Most readers not familiar with this portion of the Second World War (Italian campaign in particular) will find loads of 'new' information, but those more versed will be left wanting at the end of the read. Atkinson certainly covers the ground well but he provides little that is new or novel. One could say that there is little 'new' to be learned, and while this rings somewhat true there is always more the historian can do to provide insight into events of history. Atkinson doesn't blaze any new trails in this regard either. So while his story is sound and historically accurate there isn't much for the more serious students of history to chew on - beyond an enjoyable read on well-trodden ground.

So in the end this reviewer feels the need to break ranks with other reviewers and give "The Day of Battle" a solid 3 star rating, 5 for sheer enjoyment of the writing and 2 for historical impact. Moreover, this reviewer feels that Vol. 1 of the Liberation Trilogy is a better book all the way around. Having said all "The Day of Battle" is highly recommended for those with a new or passing interest in the Second World War. For those savvy among you read it if you have a few evening to spare and simply want a good read, want to refresher about the Italian Campaign, or want to see how top notch historians can combine engaging prose with insightful historiography.

This is the second book of Rick Atkinson's trilogy spotlighting the American Army in World War II and in particular as the US Army functioned in the European Theater. As with the first book, the writing is excellent, and covers details that we have never heard in all of our years in histoy classes (unless you are a history major and I doubt then if you covered a tenth of what is in this book). The book evokes many emotions, from sheer frustration, to the sadness in seeing the many US soldiers who were wasted in fruitless and unimaginative manuevers. If this book does not stir you, then I am afraid you are dead. Buy it, and buy his first as well, "An Army at Dawn". I look forward to his third book, though I am afraid I will again feel my utter exasperation with Great Britain, her decisions and her generals (especially Montgomery). Read it!

As with all of Atkinson's writing, this book finds the right balance between historical details and the human experience of terrible events. I've read a lot on the subject, but still found a few surprises here, such as the use of radio-guided bombs and the mustard gas incident in Bari harbor.

One thing that struck me was the almost complete silence on the subject of the 442nd Regimental Combat team. Atkinson takes pains to portray the multi-national character of the allied forces, and the interactions and conflicts arising from cultural differences, between the Brits and Americans, the Anglo-Americans and the French colonials, the Texans and everyone else, etc... but he offers exactly two sentences to the existence of Japanese-American soldiers, and never explicitly mentions the 442nd at all. It's very strange, as that team exemplified the amazing sacrifices that were made in the Italian campaign with very high casualty rates (9,486 purple hearts among 3,000 men), and the highest rate of citation (21 Medals of Honor, etc...) of any combat outfit. They fought at Salerno, Anzio, Monte Cassino, and elsewhere, yet received no mention, while minor outfits like the Moroccan Goumiers were covered with some detail.

Atkinson did a great job painting a complex picture in terms that keep the readers' interest, but I have to wonder how such a fine historian could leave such a gaping hole in his narrative. The story of the Nisei regiment is one of the more interesting and poignant aspects of America's war effort, and especially relevant to the Italian campaign. I have to wonder if this author, who is normally so comprehensive, deliberately chose to overlook them, and if so, why?

I originally purchased this book to give to my fourteen-year-old grandson who is an excellent reader and is very interested in wars. (Unfortunately, he is into reading "alternate history" books.) Also, I planned to read it myself first to determine if would be appropriate for him. Another interest I had in the book was to learn more about the "drive to Rome." My late brother was wounded in that campaign.

I found the book very thorough and, at times, rather confusing because of the many, many details. I feel the book could have been better organized. The human interest stories were good. Some seemed out of context. Rick Atkinson did a superb job of depicting the horror of war and the terrible toll taken on all who fought and died in the Italian campaign. Some of the reading came close to bringing me to tears when I think of what my brother, Sgt. Virlyn Martin, and all the men and women went through.

I recommend the book for those who are willing to invest the time and emotions involved in reading it. If you are interested in the human price of war, this is the book for you.

Rick Atkinson's "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944" is excellent narrative history in the outstanding tradition of Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. Atkinson, like his predecessors, brings his fine writing skills, honed by 20 years as a journalist, to this, the second volume of his Liberation Trilogy.

"The Day of Battle" picks up roughly where "An Army at Dawn" left off, with Allied forces triumphant in North Africa and looking for their next military objective. As Atkinson recounts, American leader were talked out of an immediate try at an invasion of Northwest Europe by their more seasoned British colleagues. With a cross-channel attack pushed back to the summer of 1944, Sicily became the next logical objective.

The seaborne and airborne invasion of Sicily showed how much experience the Allies still lacked. The invasion was chaotic and the number of deaths from friendly fire was scandalous. Rivalries between the British Eighth Army under Montgomery and the US Seventh Army under Patton threatened at times to undermine the campaign. The Germans themselves staged a tough and costly defense of Sicily, a feat they would replicate when the Allies extended their campaign to the Italian mainland.

The record of the Allied campaign in Italy would be written in blood and frustration. The theater was progressively bled of troops to support OVERLORD in Northern France and DRAGOON in Southern France in 1944. The 15th Army Group of General Alexander slugged their way up the Italian Peninsula over difficult terrain through horrendous weather, usually with insufficient forces to decisively defeat their stubborn German opponents. What should have been 15th Army Group's moment of triumph, the seizure of Rome in June 1944, was overshadowed by D-Day in Normandy.

Atkinson has done a superb job blending accounts from the foxhole level to the battles of the generals to achieve a largely seamless narrative that captures the essentials of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. Much of the narrative inevitably revolves around divisional, corps, and army commanders who made, or failed to make, critical decisions on the conduct of the war. Some failed the test of combat; many who succeeded were less than attractive as human beings.

Atkinson devotes some space to the argument, still ongoing half a century on, over the value of the Mediterranean theater in the Second World War, perhaps most precisely put by Douglas Porch in "The Path to Victory". Atkinson seems to agree that the campaigns in Sicily and Italy played a vital role in pinning down and attriting Axis forces while hardening the mass conscript armies of the Allies.

This book is very highly recommended as a superb example of a narrative history of the Second World War.

This is a fabulous work of military history about a battle that most, including myself, know little about. One of the earlier reviewers suggests that Atkinson stopped after the Allies took Rome because he was eager to write about the Normandy campaign in the "trimphalist" vein of Stephen Ambrose. Without getting into the question of whether Ambrose himself was a unduly triumphalist (which I dispute), I find it hard to believe after reading The Day of Battle that Atkinson intends to simply celebrate the Allied triumph. Throughout the book, Atkinson pulls no punches harshly criticizing the Allied commanders for what, in many cases, was basic incompetence in continuing to make direct frontal assaults against heavily entrenched positions. It's pretty clear that the Allies won the Italian campaign (and, by extension, the entire war in Western Europe) largely by outproducing and outgunning the Germans and certainly not through any strategic or tactical mastery. Granted that the Germans were an extremely difficult foe fighting in perfect defensive terrain, it is simply infuriating to read about the waste of lives caused by lack of strategic or tactical sublety, with a few exceptions, on the part of the various Allied generals, from Mark Clark on down. In this regard, this book follows the work of Max Hastings in making the case that Germany was far superior to the Allies as a fighting force. As a corrollary, one might also suggest that it is time to rethink the canard that the Soviets won the war in the East simply by throwing human waves at the Germans while the Allies won through superior tactics. That is clearly not true.

This book is not triumphalist except in the sense that Atkinson is clearly glad that the Allies defeated a bestial enemy. There is no glory in war; there is only suffering and tragedy both for the soldiers and for the civilians caught in the middle. Many people like to speak of World War II elegiacally as a time when America was unified and so forth, conveniently forgetting the utter horror of the war (although not so much in the United States itself). People that are eager to extol the virtues in war and send our soldiers off to fight and die need to read books like this and take a second look.

This is an exceptinally written and researched book. It is even more deserving of a Pulitzer than his "An Army at Dawn". His rich and detailed descriptions of the battle scenes in Sicily and in Italy constitute masterful writing at its best. The depicted realism and inherent saddness of the Italian campaign is both haunting and overpowering. He has set an extraordinarily high standard for the third part of his trilogy dealing with the war in Western Europe.
Thomas.E. Davis

This detailed, superbly written, meticulously documented account of the aftermath of the victory in North Africa is invaluable. We can clearly see the shift from a British effort to an Allied effort dominated by the Americans, with all the consequences..intended and unintended... spelled out. A magnificent contribution to the literature.

This is the second book in the trilogy about the liberation of Europe. Atkinson also wrote Army at Dawn, which covered North Africa, and was the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner, as well as The Long Grey Line, In the Company of Soldiers, and Crusade.

Atkinson did his homework as this account is well-written--and well researched, but we have come to expect that from him. If you are a WWI collector or have a family connection, you will learn the strength and valor of these men--many very, very young. Some say that to understand today, you must understand yesterday, and this especially relates to how America's role in this war affected life as we know it.

My husband can't wait to read this book as he has become a collector of WWII memorabilia and books on that war. His father was in the 1253 Combat Engineer Battalion. Like so many men of that era, his father didn't talk about it, so he is learning from reading about others.

This is an 816-page book, however the last 200 plus pages are extensive notes and references.

Step by step we go along with the U.S. and British soldiers as they first invade Sicily in July 1943--and then attack Italy two months later. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill were not sure this invasion was the right thing, but once it started, both countries were committed, determined and proficient.

Rome was liberated in June 1944 and the Allies drove the Nazis northward. From the landing on, so many things went wrong on the shore, inland and in the mountains. The Italian campaign was mostly fought in the mountains, not exactly conducive to using large tanks, and was complicated by many poor strategic decisions--and made me wonder we overcame the Germans who were incredible adversaries

There are so many stories from that WWII. A friend, Avis Shore, who wrote Hell's Half Acre, about her experiences as one of the first Army nurses to land at Anzio, stayed there during German's horrible nighttime bombing of her hospital (hospital are not supposed to be bombed).

We have to wonder, because this is so very long ago--and seems to have no relevance to today's students--how much is taught in school. Do they understand the efforts of their relatives and countrymen over 60 years ago?

Armchair Interviews says: Important history brought to life.

This is most defintive book I have ever read about WWII. Insightful and informational without the normal tediousness of other books on the subject. Hard to put down.

Unlike some writers who think history has to be written in a stultifying, boring style and convoluted language to make it academically acceptable, Rick Atkinson's hard-hitting and clear writing, based on meticulous research of the conduct of the war in
Sicily and Italy, and the problems that operations there encountered, have produced a page turner for anyone interested in military history. Although much has been written on the Mediterranean campaign, Atkinson's book provides a comprehensive narrative of that conflict that stands on its own. Atkinson's analysis of the allied leadership is superb. His description of General Patton and his relationship with General Montgomery, the British commander, offers a welcome relief from the overblown way that this - undoubtedly gifted general - is depicted in the film "Patton." The problems in the Sicilian/Italian campaign were not confined to the lack of clear objectives and inter-allied differences, but extended to the battle itself. The successful conquest of Sicily was marred by a disastrous supporting airborne operation, and it was a serious mistake to allow the two German divisions defending the island to escape across the Straits of Medina. In Italy itself, the mountainous terrain, the atrocious climate, and the tenacious and skillful defense by the Germans, including the two divisions from Sicily, resulted in a largely unexpected and grim challenge to the Allies that took a long time and a steep learning curve to overcome. Atkinson is particularly skillful in describing the fighting, bringing to the reader a vivid picture of the enormous sacrifices the soldiers were called on to make, fighting under extreme weather conditions, massive enemy fire, and in terrain for which they lacked adequate training. The casualty rates were commensurately high. Atkinson also spends some time discussing the Anzio operation. General Lucas, the US VI Corps commander, was blamed for its sluggish progress; he was in fact relieved of command. However, Atkinson shows that while General Lucas was far from being an inspiring commander, the main reasons for the problems must be found elsewhere. They rested, first of all, in the lack of sufficient forces, and second, in the ambiguity of the orders that were received by General Lucas. A major contibutor to the failure to interdict the German lines of communications was General Clark himself, the US 5th Army commander. His overriding ambition was to be the first to enter Rome, contrary to the Theater Commander's intention to destroy the German forces in the area. The book ends with the liberation of Rome, following which the campaign in Italy ground to a halt. Atkinson refrains from a final judgment as to the overall value of the Sicilian/Italian conflict, but the reader is left with the impression that the campaign, despite tremendous human sacrifice and material loss, achieved little in support of the main effort in Western Europe. Atkinson's book makes a valuable contribution to the history of World War II. It is well written, interesting, and easily worth five stars. It makes you look forward to his next book.

Pulitzer prize-winning author Rick Atkinson's second volume in his "Liberation Trilogy," The Day of Battle, covers a one-year period from the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 to the liberation of Rome in June 1944. This volume essentially picks up where his earlier superb volume, An Army at Dawn, left off after the culmination of the war in North Africa. Although Atkinson's writing is elegant and his narrative crisp and engaging, it ca