The Day of Battle

The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944

By: Rick Atkinson

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 32 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2007 Rick Atkinson (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Great Book

Read it five times, listened to it once, an awesome hisRory, amazing research, well told.

Brilliant But - no chapter titles for 99 chapters

Atki nson presents us with a riveting narrative and historically correct and full of life as it was story. ive listened to this Audio Book a half dozen times and expect to listen a dozen or so more; I learn 2 or 3 new facts each time listen.

The lack of chapter titles is a horrible oversight to say the least, and would have cost Audible another 30¢ max??? no more purchasing books without chapter titles. -steve

Day of battle

Excellent book but needed to devote some time to the Gothic line and River Battles.

Day Of Battle

Great narrator. Very interesting history of campaigns in Italy, the valor, bravery and perseverance of the Allies under difficult circumstances on many levels. Interesting to learn about the various Commanders and their personalities. Listening to to Rick Atkinson's trilogy of WW II .......on to the third and last.

Better as it went!

Would you listen to The Day of Battle again? Why?

Yes, you cannot possibly take it all in!

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?

Hard to not want Patton to be your General!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

I love the history of war! I don't love war though! It is fought way too political and that cost so many their lives. So many lives are wasted in futility! Like trial and error. The reader is not my favorite but he was much better and entertaining as the book went along! Amazes me to see how some leaders can get their men to to such hard things, impossible things and some can't hardly fight their way out of a paper bag! It sometimes takes audacious men to do audacious things, just stay out of their way!

Outstanding book on Italian campaign

Mr. Atkinson does an excellent job of telling the story of all these men from different points of view. I love the amount of details he provides on individuals and units. Also providing a lot of ancient history to tell the story with previous battles. I wish the reader would have stayed the same as Army at Dawn since it makes going from one book to the next a lot easier. However, Davis did an excellent job.

Greater Appreciation of Infantry Soldiers of WWII

Although I studied the overall Italian Campaign in school, and campaign maps as Allied Forces advanced up the boot, none of the books I previously read conveyed the horror and conditions of the soldiers as this book. Likewise, none of those books described the strengths and weaknesses of Allied leadership and the strong distrust among the allies. Atkinson also describes the importance of the US weight of supplies and air superiority. today's army has never fought without air superiority, and is urgently trying to rebuild lost air defense capabilities need to face a peer threat.

My mother was from central Texas and told me growing up the terrible losses of the 36th Division. She had gone to high school with many of those that failed to return. Even with losses in the thousands from years of conflict in recent wars, it's hard to comprehend one division losing 80% of it's infantry soldiers. Today, we are able to evacuate a wounded soldier from the battlefield within and hour. On Monte Casino, they often could not be evacuated leaving their bones in the no man's land.

It is also hard to hear about unimaginative commanders and tactical strategies that mirrored failures of WWI. A good battle commander is audacious and knows when to take prudent risk. Too few showed audacious leadership early in the fighting. Top leadership was reluctant to relieve weak performing general officers. and too ofter issuing imprecise orders that led to confusion among those having to execute those orders. LTG Clark might have been court martialed for insubordination in not blocking highway 6, but with success comes forgiveness.

Today, it is unlikely that US forces would agree to bombing the Monte Casino Abbey. During WWIi, there was much less concern about collateral damage and protecting non-combatants.

I listened to this book soon after finishing the "Dawn of War" about the Africa Campaign. by the time I finished this book, I had listened to too much gore and death for a while. Take a break between books of Rick's trilogy.

Brutal

Would you listen to The Day of Battle again? Why?

I would like to. I plan on re-reading the entire series and may incorporate listening to some of it while I do so. There was so much detail, it's almost impossible to not miss things on the first pass.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I think that listening to this book in one sitting would be overwhelming. I found that 1 - 2 hour sessions were plenty to listen to, because it allowed me to better absorb the material.

WWI all over again

Very good book with a lot of detail. Shows how we look up to the wrong leaders. Instead of MacArthur, Clark, and Patton, we should be learning about Gavin and Ridgway. Too often innocent lives were lost to boost the reputation and egos of commanders. Book also did a good job of detailing the argument for and against the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland as well as the inability of the Americans and British to fight effectively together.

Well Researched

This is the second of 3 and just as well done as the first. I only wished the author had written one on the Pacific as well.