Day of Battle, by Rick Atkinson

Pick of the Month: Day of Battle, by Rick Atkinson, is the second book in the Liberation Trilogy, depicts the allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian Peninsula during World War II. It is a gruelling and riveting story. Atkinson tells the story from the perspective of both the general's and the privates, with vignettes of Churchill, Patton, Clark and others. The real hero of the whole campaign is a little known Major General Fred Walker who found a seam in the German line and exploited it, breaking open the tough German defenses and allowing the 5th Army to reach Rome one day before the D-Day invasion. An excellent read.

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