Publisher Description
THE HARROWING STORY OF ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST COMPELLING MILITARY CAMPAIGNS
In An Army at Dawn — winner of the Pulitzer Prize — Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943, attack Italy two months later, and then fight their way, mile by bloody mile, north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign’s outcome was never certain; in fact, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and their military advisors bitterly debated whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even wise. But once underway, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizing price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, the Rapido River, and Cassino were particularly ferocious and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, among the war’s most complex and controversial commanders, American troops became increasingly determined and proficient. With the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory in Europe at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on extensive new material from a wide array of primary sources, and written with great drama and flair, The Day of Battle is narrative history of the first rank.
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“This book is Atkinson’s second in what will ultimately be a trilogy on the US Army in WW II. The first, An Army at Dawn, garnered him his second Pulitzer, and is simply the best of its kind of definitive American military history. The Day of Battle recounts some stupendously treacherous battles that receive little attention in the glare of battles like Normandy or the Bulge; examples: Anzio, crossing the Rapido, Monte Cassino, and of course the race for Rome.”
—
Brian (5 out of 5 stars)
