The Day of Battle - Rick Atkinson

Rick Atkinson's The Day of Battle was one of the best military histories I've ever read and I've read quite a few. This is the second volume in his Liberation Trilogy. I read the book in the series, The Army at Dawn, last year.

The thing I liked about both books is that they were exciting to read and felt like novels. Of course I knew how they ended but the story was fascinating and I was constantly learning new things about how America fought World War II against the Germans. I had also previously read and throughly enjoyed Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War that he wrote in 1994.

Atkinson does some amazing research and you can tell he has read many histories, letters, diaries, memoirs, and battle reports. His descriptions become very personal from the point of view of the participants as he skillfully weaves the story of the Allied invasion of Sicely and Italy. He spends a considerable amount of time describing the indicisions, the confusion and the miscalculations. You really get a sense that the generals are learning as they go along and you also get a feeling for the hearts and minds of the common soldiers, their hardships, joys, sorrows, defeats, and victories, . His attention to detail becomes daunting at times.

The first book of the series was also one of my favorite war history book. It read like a novel and was a real page turner. I really had not known much about the US Army invasion and campaign in North Africa. I was probably more aware of the British fighting the Germans in that area at that time. I hadn't thought about how green and untested the American soldiers were at the beginning of World War II. They really had to learn as they went along and they had to have some terrible losses and bitter defeats as they learned how to fight.  It was horrible on-the-training but they eventually fought on to victory. They also had to learn how to supply themsleves. Atkinson pays considerable attention to the logistical details of the campaigns in both North Africa and Italy and provides insight into that particular nightmare.

I am looking foward to reading the third and final volume later this summer while on vacation.