2008 Woodie Awards
View print edition front page as a PDF
The Scene
Poignant book details Allies' Italian campaign
Trilogy takes on WWII
By David Tannenbaum on 12/6/07
In 2001, Rick Atkinson came out with the Pulitzer Prize-winning first installment of his "Liberation Trilogy," which chronicles the U.S. Army's experience in Europe during World War II. In his first installment, "An Army at Dawn," Atkinson portrayed an Army still in its fetal crawl stage as it blundered about North Africa in poorly planned invasions and crushed defeats at the hands of the Axis powers. But he also shows how the Army matures into a functioning, if still slightly immature, being.
"The Day of Battle," Atkinson's second installment of the trilogy, shifts the focus from an inexperienced Army in North Africa to a blooded Army's slog through Sicily and upward into Rome. Unlike "An Army at Dawn," the focus is not so much about a maturing army, but instead about the brutal struggle in a campaign many assert need not have happened.
In his classic and refined narrative style, Atkinson portrays a picture where, in the words of an Allied soldier, "We are always on the bottom, and the Krauts always on top." After arriving in Italy, the Germans fortified a line named the "Gustav Line," which was anchored by titanic mountains on both flanks with a hearty slope in the center, all focused on the unfortunate town of Casino.
The result of this action and the four Allied attempts to break through was more reminiscent of World War I battles, consisting of massive firepower on both ends with a terrible no man's land in between, rather than the battles of tactical maneuvering that typified World War II. In describing this situation, Atkinson's skills launch themselves to the forefront.
"The Day of Battle," Atkinson's second installment of the trilogy, shifts the focus from an inexperienced Army in North Africa to a blooded Army's slog through Sicily and upward into Rome. Unlike "An Army at Dawn," the focus is not so much about a maturing army, but instead about the brutal struggle in a campaign many assert need not have happened.
 The Day of Battle: A TITLE: "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944" AUTHOR: Rick Atkinson LENGTH: 816 pages PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company Inc. PRICE: Hardcover: $35 list price |
In his classic and refined narrative style, Atkinson portrays a picture where, in the words of an Allied soldier, "We are always on the bottom, and the Krauts always on top." After arriving in Italy, the Germans fortified a line named the "Gustav Line," which was anchored by titanic mountains on both flanks with a hearty slope in the center, all focused on the unfortunate town of Casino.
The result of this action and the four Allied attempts to break through was more reminiscent of World War I battles, consisting of massive firepower on both ends with a terrible no man's land in between, rather than the battles of tactical maneuvering that typified World War II. In describing this situation, Atkinson's skills launch themselves to the forefront.
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