Play Book Tag discussion

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943-4 Stars

This book is the first in a Trilogy and begins in 1942 when the U.S first entered WWII. I was totally ignorant of this piece of history, I thank PBT member(s) who suggested it to me.

This is a whopper of a book at 681 pages. However, Rick Atkinson writes history like a novel and it held a place high in the rotation order this month.

After the landing and invasion of Morocco, Eisenhower is introduced as he sits in Gibraltar. As the newly named Supreme Commander of Allied Forces,he is more concerned with Politics than the coordination of events happening in Africa (with no combat experience behind him). The huge personalities and egos of the American Generals(Patton) VS the British Command(Alexander) overshadows the urgency to stop Hitler's Field Marshall Rommel AKA The Desert Fox. It shocked me to discover how much these "allies" disliked each other.

The British had already been entrenched in the war for years. They knew pushing the German's out of North Africa was essential to liberate Europe. The Mediterranean Sea was the key for supply lines and entrance onto the Continent.

The American Command was certain they should either 1) deal with the Japanese or 2) Invade through France. Either option would probably have been disastrous. The American Troops were untrained, not prepared for the madness and evil of the war that was waiting for them. Atkinson is forthright and honest when he says "North Africa was a training ground" for the American soldiers. Training they sorely needed and did not get before landing on the Moroccan Coast. The loss of life in North Africa was tremendous. However "green" these men were at start of the African campaign-by the time they reached their goal of capturing Tunis they had become battled-hardened with hatred of all things German embedded in their souls.

A gritty story of war, recommended to those who love history and want to know what truly happened "over there".

Kudos to you for reading this. I have all three books and have started and not finished the first one several times. My DNF status on the first has nothing to do with how good it is but more so my inability to hold my focus for as long as I need to. One day, hopefully...but good for you, very impressive.

Excellent review. I loved this too in a recent read and look forward to the next ones. There was so much movement and strategic actions in N. Africa, so the long stalemates in the Italian theater does not sound so compelling (progress like yards a day in the slow push to Rome). Still and can't wait to see Eisenhower gain his mastery over tough situations and divisive generals.

@ Charlie thanks-in an effort for full disclosure: I always have a non-fiction book on my nightstand, and it is always the last read of the night(or the one I read into the wee hours, when I am having trouble sleeping). There were times it actually put me to sleep :) and there were some pages I actually skimmed as they got so tedious. That being said, it is important to me to try to find out the why and the how. (see my reply below to Michael).

@Michael-Thank you-I am grinning right now because you say "There was so much movement"....I was screaming at points for them to not lose ground after only getting 10-20 miles and getting disgusted each time "the plan was changed". The Italian theater is the one that is important for me. My father was in Italy, I have no idea if he started in Africa, or just started out in Italy. I know there is a way to find out this out, I just never have. He talked about the war 1 day a year-on Christmas Eve. The same story-laying on a hill side, a cease fire in place and Silent Night being sung in choir of languages.