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An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy Review

Simply put, this is possibly the best WWII book I've ever read, and easily ranks up there as one of the best history books I've ever read, right up there with The Armada by Garrett Mattingly. At the beginning of the book you aren't too familiar with the North Africa Campaign, but by the end of the book you know it so intimately that you feel as though you were there.

Going into this I had read extensively on Europe after D-Day and a little of the Italian Campaign, as well as a lot on the Pacific Theater. The struggle for Algiers and Tunisia was important, I knew that, but it never captured my interest enough to read more. A few pages into An Army at Dawn and I was 100% invested and couldn't believe that I hadn't read more on it sooner. This is where the first allied success with the British in Egypt came about, this was where many a general either sank or swam and, more importantly, where Ike and the US Army grew into a mean fighting machine. Atkinson captures the true essence of the early American Army in not only the officers but in the soldiers as well. He meticulously combed through a plethora of sources that painted a picture that was real and alive.

What he illustrated so beautifully, and came as a complete shock to me, was how the allies weren't too fond of one another. They used one another for their own purpose. The British were so elitist it was almost comical, constantly berating and belittling the American Army and its generals, especially Ike, their supreme commander. They went so far as to scheme to put their three top guys below Ike so as to elevate him in title and yet remove all power from him for England. Quite a shock. And oftentimes they may have been speaking honestly, but most of the time it was the top dog mentality that made them feel so superior. In some cases this was the case. After all, they had been fighting the Axis for 2 years by the time the US got involved and they had already separated the wheat from the chafe as so often combat does. The US did not have this benefit as they had to learn from trial and error who the standout officers were and who had to go home. But the elitist feeling certainly blinded them to the fact that their very own generals and soldiers were having the same problems as the US. I mean the German army in 1942-3 was at the top of its game. They had air superiority and top panzer divisions battling it out. Rommel bloodied the Allies repeatedly before material and soldier superiority in numbers overwhelmed them.

This isn't to say that the American generals didn't have their flaws. They also thumped their chest and played at top dog, especially Patton. They went in to the war thinking of the glory they would obtain and that nobody could best them and their mighty army. This, of course, was the dear lesson that the Allies had to learn through destruction in North Africa before their fighting machine learned what it meant to go to war and began to excel at it. Bradley stood out in the end, although he may have stepped in at just the right time.

Another shocker was that we fought the French in WWII! This blew me away that the French resisted as though they were part of the Axis, which makes sense considering the hostages held by Germany and the threat to invade the rest of France. Nonetheless, the whole Algiers campaign was the US and British against the French! WWII never ceases to amaze me.

Atkinson, too, amazed me. His narrative history is a masterpiece of meticulous research and extensive descriptions. You understood the mentality of all sides and could understand the where, why and how of what was happening. I cannot wait to read the second book in the trilogy and see if he can repeat his performance in the liberation of Italy. A definite recommend for both the author and the book.

5 stars.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy Feature

ISBN13: 9780805087246
Condition: New
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An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy Overview

In the first volume of his monumental trilogy about the liberation of Europe in WW II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the riveting story of the war in North Africa

The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the moment when the United States began to act like a great power.

Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.

Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and vivid insights, Atkinson's narrative provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy Specifications

In An Army at Dawn,, a comprehensive look at the 1942-1943 Allied invasion of North Africa, author Rick Atkinson posits that the campaign was, along with the battles of Stalingrad and Midway, where the "Axis ... forever lost the initiative" and the "fable of 3rd Reich invincibility was dissolved." Additionally, it forestalled a premature and potentially disastrous cross-channel invasion of France and served as a grueling "testing ground" for an as-yet inexperienced American army. Lastly, by relegating Great Britain to what Atkinson calls the status of "junior partner" in the war effort, North Africa marked the beginning of American geopolitical hegemony. Although his prose is occasionally overwrought, Atkinson's account is a superior one, an agile, well-informed mix of informed strategic overview and intimate battlefield-and-barracks anecdotes. (Tobacco-starved soldiers took to smoking cigarettes made of toilet paper and eucalyptus leaves.) Especially interesting are Atkinson's straightforward accounts of the many "feuds, tiffs and spats" among British and American commanders, politicians, and strategists and his honest assessments of their--and their soldiers'--performance and behavior, for better and for worse. This is an engrossing, extremely accessible account of a grim and too-often overlooked military campaign. --H. O'Billovich

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Customer Reviews

Confusing and Irritating - Brenda C. Meade -
I wanted to know the history of our country's involvement in North Africa so I purchased this book w/o reading others' reviews. BIG MISTAKE. 188 pages in I am extremely fed up with the constant, negative commentary about Eisenhower, Clark, Patton, our Navy, Army, etc. So much negativity in fact, that I began to wonder what Atkinson's agenda was? He wasn't supposed to whitewash the truth but he could have been more objective. We were new at this game and had a lot to learn. We made tons of mistakes and learned the hard way.

The book was so confusing that it was hard to understand where "I was" in any given moment. One moment you're with Patton, the next Terry Allen and it's not clear how you got there. I would not have minded those tidbits of info regarding the humanity of those men, even the comments regarding their weaknesses, to a point. But, this book is a constant put down of everything American.

So, Atkinson won a Pulitzer Prize. I don't know what he won for, nor do I care, but I do know that if it hadn't been for Eisenhower, Patton, our Army and Navy, he wouldn't have had the right to make a comment much less write a book criticizing his country.

I will never touch another one of his books.

Army At Dawn-Best Trilogy - tski52 -
I have read Army At Dawn along with the sister book, The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson and was greatly pleased with both selections. Through the excellent story-telling of Mr. Atkinson, I was able to follow my own father's war adventure from Casablanca to Tunisia, to Sicily, and up through the Italian boot. Don't be put off by the volume of the works, as both books are fast and easy reading. Mr. Atkinson has included many valuable stories of heroism, mistakes, and interesting characters of World War 2. I cannot wait for the third installment of this trilogy to be published, as it too will be an addition to my collection.

Fantastically written, throughly engrossing - bobk26 -
Other commenters did a great job of reviewing this book. Just wanted to put my two cents in for a very well written book that impressively captured both broad strategic strokes and personal vignettes that made the battles real. Highly recommended, and I will be buying more of Mr. Atkinson's books after reading this one.

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Thursday, September 23, 2010