NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of
Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the
harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy
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 strengthening
American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then,
mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt,
Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about
whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even
a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from
the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles
at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and
lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive
the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark
Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders,
American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and
proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate
victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great
drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The
Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account
of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.
