The Day of Battle The War in Sicily and Italy 1943 1944 The Liberation Trilogy

Amazon Best of the Month, November 2007: Topping a Pulitzer Prize-winning effort is tough; finding originality in a World War II narrative is even tougher. Yet Rick Atkinson accomplishes both with The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. His previous work, An Army at Dawn, won the 2003 Pulitzer in history, but Atkinson has managed to set the bar even higher with his second installment in “The Liberation Trilogy.” He descends upon each battlefield with rich historical perspective, tactical analysis, and chilling frontline observations. Cocksure Hollywood bravado is sparse, as Atkinson depicts soldiers fighting for honor, not glory. “We did it because we could not bear the shame of being less than the man beside us,” explains one soldier’s diary. “We fought because he fought; we died because he died.” The result is an incredible portrayal of the courage, sorrow, and determination that came to define our greatest generation. –Dave Callanan

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Another Excellent Book On The American Army In World War II
Day of Battle is the follow-up to Army At Dawn which detailed the North African campaign. This book continues the story of the American Army as it learns how to fight the Germans and all the details of war. While the focus is on the Americans, the British, Free French, and Polish soldiers are also discussed to show how they all interacted.

This book does a good job of presenting all the difficulties of an allied command where national interests and glory do not agree with military needs. Both the American and British generals were trying to get the better honors for their country even when it made the overall battle harder or longer.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about what went on behind the scenes and headlines of a little know campaign in World War II. This is not where the glory was, but where a lot of hard lessons were learned and some careers made and broken. Can not wait for the third book in the series.

5 Stars An excellent account on the war in Italy
The battle of Sicily and Italy is commonly overshadowed by the invasion of Europe. Atkinson has produced an excellent account of this part of the war. He covers the invasion of Sicily, the battle for the Gustav line, the beaching at Anzio and the race for Rome from the highest ranking generals to the foot soldier on the ground. The book is full of quotes and interesting stories that makes it hard to put away. I think that this second part of his trilogy is the best so far. A must read for all war buffs!

4 Stars A wonderful sequel.
An Army at Dawn completely changed my perception of what military history writing could be. Perhaps because of the magnificent experience of reading Atkinson’s first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, I found The Day of Battle to be somewhat less enjoyable a read. Perhaps the experience of reading the first book made me hope for the second to yet again shatter my expectation.

The Day of Battle is, nonetheless, a spectacular book. Once again, Atkinson gives us an account of a campaign in all its geopolitical nuance and context while never losing touch with the individual human experience of the men, women and civilians who lived the horrors of battle.

A more extensive campaign, perhaps, than North Africa, Atkinson’s account of the Italian campaign is a significantly longer text, but the publishers once again gave us a book format that is easy on the eyes, with large-enough-to-be-legible font and a lines spaced out enough to avoid that fatiguing cluttered look.

This book is absolutely wonderful in every way. It gets four stars only because I cannot help but compare it to An Army at Dawn.

This book was not only well written and intimate, but brought me through the entire emotional experience of battle (which I have experienced first-hand, so I’m not just talking out my 4th point of contact) and its aftermath.

5 Stars Excellent account of Sicilian and Italian campaigns
I enjoyed this book immensely; it managed to capture very well the campaign on several levels:

1)Formulation of the “big picture” by the Allied leaders: Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin

2)Interplay among all the personalities of the Allied Forces: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Clark, etc.

3)The tedium, terror, and routine of the frontline troops.

4)Development and execution of strategies and tactics as the campaign progresses.

As he did in the first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Atkinson paints a vivid picture of how things happened during these tremendous undertakings. He manages to convey much of the frontline and logistical detail, and creates terrific images of the “little guy” forced to carry out the orders (often quite flawed) of the Allied leaders.

Both books of the trilogy were very enjoyable. I consider myself a semi-novice historian, and would recommend these works to anyone with an interest in the WWII European campaign.

5 Stars The Day of Battle
Atkinson’s work is the most comprehensive and honest presentation of the Campaign in Italy available. It gives a top down view of the planning and execution of this campaign, and it pulls no punches about the quality of the military leadership and about the effects of decisions made. I’ve read this in preparation for participation in the Stephen Ambrose Historic Tour of the Italian Campaign later this year, and I feel that it gave me the insight I need to fully understand the difficulties of this part of the War.

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