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

Best non fiction book I have ever read!

The Liberation Trilogy is the best non fiction I have read. It gives equal time to what the allied high command is experiencing, as well as what the guys on the front lines are experiencing. The book gives so much detail into what daily life was like for a grunt, as well as not sugar coating the horror they all experienced. In addition, Atkinson will also throw in many interesting asides as to the history of the place where the battle is being fought. As this book takes place in Italy, there are many ancient battle grounds, spots where ancient monsters were slain, Roman orgies, and important early Christian Church locations.

Listen to this book! You will laugh learn and cry!

An excellent history of an important campaign

What did you love best about The Day of Battle?

My father (J. Nelson Howard, Texas A&M class of 1944) participated in the events in this book, first with the 36th Division and latter with the 88th Division. I have a letter he wrote home on June 5, 1944 from Rome. The day after he was one of the first GI's into Rome.

Dad didn't talk a lot about his time Italy, but I know he hated Mark Clark, as did his Aggie friends.

I learned some of the reasons why from this book, and also heard Clark's side of the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Day of Battle?

Reading about the 36th and 88th Divisions.

What about Jonathan Davis’s performance did you like?

Davis's performance was excellent. His Italian was excellent. His German, British, and French accents were a tad off, but at least he didn't overdo them.

Overall production value of this recording was excellent, there were no dropouts, changing speeds and volumes, or repeated clips.

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

It's a long book, but well structured to keep one's interest high.

highly recommend

Excellent book; narrator has some dodgy pronunciation and his "quotation voice" gets kind of annoying, but doesn't detract too much from an otherwise first rate book.

Awful Narrator, Fabulous book

What did you like best about The Day of Battle? What did you like least?

I've never written a review on here before but I had to say something about the joker narrating this book. As a fan of historical non-fiction I prefer there to be some accuracy in the treatment of the text by the narrator. Jonathan Davis fails at this, and he does so with gusto.

His inability to pronounce words (some quite simple if you know the subject matter) is grating, and frankly does a disservice to an otherwise spectacular entry in the library of modern histories on World War 2. For example:

The Somme: he pronounces it as "some"
Passchendaele: "Passion-dolly"
Ira Eaker: "Acre"
La Marseillaise: The "Mar-sally"

And these are just of few examples of his butchery of words commonplace in the vocabulary of World War 2 history.

Also laughable was the narrators attempt to any accent that wasn't some form of English, American or Anzac. No matter the other nationality (French, Polish what have you) they came off as German. Apparently, once the Germans occupy your country you start sounding like them according to this narrator.

The book itself of course is fabulous and Rick Atkinson is a towering voice in accessible modern military history.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

His contempt for the text was obvious in his inability to research even the simplest background of what he was reading beforehand. Apparenlty if you're not American, English or ANZAC you sound like a German as apparently the French, Polish, Russians, Indians all came across with a German accent.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes! Though it would make a better HBO mini-series

Any additional comments?

Read the book.

Italy We must never forget the lessons and the sacrifice

Those who demand American investment of human capital in war need to read the words of those who pay that bill in blood

The Day of Battle Entertainment

This was a great read with good historical detail of the conflict in Italy during WW2. However, I cannot overcome the feeling that lots of it was sensationalized. A very good read overall but I just expected more from it.

Great & unvarnished recount of a brutal campaign

Loved it.. Add images to the audiobook, or links to the maps and the experience would be complete.

Great reading.

I knew the challenges faced by the Allied Armies North Africa and Italy, but this made it so much more clear.

Another superior epic narrative

Atkinson continues with his sweeping prose in this second book covering WWII. The Italian Campaign is not as well known but many of the most well known names were shaped there.

From the largest amphibious landing in history (Sicily) to the slog up the Apennines, through the eventual breaking the Gothic Line and the liberation of Rome. Atkinson has a knack for capturing the most minute details, like soldiers’ letters home, or the sheer danger of a bombardier. And he weaves those details in to an epic tapestry that accounts for geopolitical strategy, human error, and all the complexities of warfare.

This is another must read to understand how the character of modern warfare evolved but the devastating nature has not changed. How even in modern war, a grinding attrition can achieve some aims, though leaders will be hard pressed to justify them. How the battle field is never clean, and atrocities abound alongside valor and sacrifice.

The narration is clean and well paced. Another excellent job.

Puts everything in context

Where does The Day of Battle rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the top ten books I have listened to. Usually, military history is tough to listen to. Too many places and names. This was well written, and well read, and because I had a significant background in the topic it was easy to follow.

If you are like me and watched movies like Patton and The Big Red One as a kid, this book and its predecessor puts it all in context. For military enthusiast, this book is a must.