Rick Atkinson is one of the most respected members of the civilian press corps among today’s soldiers.Ītkinson put an impressive amount of research into this book, including numerous trips to battlefields. He dissects, analyzes and critiques the battlefield decisions, but objectively, without moralizing or preaching.

He understands soldiers and the world they live in, thus his writing is replete with empathy, not only for the common soldiers but also for their commanders all the way up the chain. Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at the U.S. From 2004 to 2005 he held the General Omar N. Army officer, Atkinson grew up on military posts worldwide. Born in Munich, Germany, the son of a U.S. His story can be read, understood and appreciated by laymen and military insiders alike-which is no mean feat of writing.Īlthough never a soldier himself, Rick Atkinson has spent a considerable portion of his life around the American military. At the same time he avoids jargon and technobabble. A military historian or professional soldier can read his narrative without having to stumble over terms and concepts that are not presented quite correctly. One of Atkinson’s strongest gifts is the authenticity of his voice. Atkinson’s harrowing account of the disastrous attempt to cross the Rapido River by the 36th Infantry Division is unparalleled. Through the skillful use of his own narrative, interspersed with the voices of those who lived through the cataclysmic events, Atkinson conveys the agonies and hardships endured by the soldiers during the endless series of almost suicidal frontal assaults and, at the same time, the flawed and gut-wrenching decisions forced on their generals by the impenetrable fog of war.

The result is a rich tapestry, a complex yet clear and intelligible picture of one of the most muddled and controversial campaigns of World War II. Once again, Atkinson provides us with a historical tour de force as he dexterously zooms in to the level of the individual American GIs, British Tommies and German Landsers fighting along the line of contact and then pans slowly back out, up to the highest operational and strategic levels of the senior commanders and their political masters in Washington and London and Berlin. The first, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942–1943 (2002), won the Pulitzer Prize. The Day of Battle is the second volume of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy.

And no matter how many books you have read, read this one anyway. If you’ve never read an account of these campaigns, this is the one you should read. The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944ĭo we really need another book about the World War II campaigns in Sicily and Italy? In this case, the answer is an emphatic yes. Military History Book Review: The Day of Battle Close

The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson