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

by Rick Atkinson

Book Overview

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of miscalculation and incomparable courage, of calamity and enduring triumph. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson focuses on 1942 and 1943, showing how central the great drama that unfolded in North Africa was to the ultimate victory of the Allied powers and to America's understanding of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805074481
• ISBN13: 9780805074482
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Owl Books (NY)
• Length: 681 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

what an incredible author Rick is finally appreciating my WW2 dad and uncles!

Keep a dictionary close at hand and improve your vocabulary while enjoying this fantastic Author.

Americans in a brutal war.

First, I must say, read this trilogy. Where some books get heavy on the bravery and make light of wars horrors, Atkinson's viewpoint conentrates on the numerous mistakes and the unbelievable brutality of war. But in the end I feel that is his Achille's Heel. He dwells on the mistakes. An honest appraisal of war shows that mistakes ALWAYS happen. When something goes "according to plan," it's the exception to the rule. Take the bombing of Monte Cassino for instance. Not one soldier involved wanted to bomb this historic sight, but the crucial fact is the GERMANS chose to dig in underneath the apron of the building and had successfully slaughtered brave men trying desperately to take that objective without damage to that place. Thousands of men were slaughtered, yet Atkinson lays the blame heavily on the allies. Perhaps if he could have been there he might have come up with a brilliant plan that hundreds of others failed to see. So do read his trilogy, but be ready to put up with his biases.

Touching "Big Picture" Of My Folks'' Life During Wwii. Should Be Required Reading!

I'd give this work more than just 5 stars if possible. Born near end of WWII, father & all uncles served, but never spoke of it around us kids. WAR IS INDEED HORROR. Now I think I better know why, and better understand the alcohol issues, etc., although not practiced to excess in my direct family, thank goodness. Was armed with BA in history, but chose another professional direction, Now have time in retirement to receive this great gift from this excellent, deep-souled author, better understanding the depth and complexity of an event that no doubt touched my own life and times. One cannot but note the far reaching, very likely threatening shadows cast upon our current lives & times (Try 9-11 & Afganistan right now!), especially with his revelatory look at what life must have been like for the Muslem folk living in those places (both the good and the bad aspects of how they coped with the events), in those times, and how we humans and our cultures even now treat and regard each other. Although end of life issues are an every day reality at my age, there is also a paradoxical relief that I may not be around to be forced to witness yet more hatred expressed. Indeed, Indeed: LOVE IS THE ANSWER! WILL WE, THE HUMAN RACE, EVER LEARN???

An Excellent account of the War in North Africa

Rick Atkinson has been writing military history for about a decade now. He started with books on West Point (which covered Viet Nam rather thoroughly) and the Gulf War, and now he's turned his sights on World War II. He definitely has a modern appraisal of war: the one previous reviewer who complains about Atkinson not recounting any acts of "selfless heroism" by U.S. troops is basically correct. The difference is in focus, though, not that Atkinson doesn't want to portray American soldiers as brave. He doesn't recount any instances of selfless heroism on the part of Germans, Italians, or British soldiers either. To Atkinson, war is a nasty, merciless, vicious, bloody mess, where mistakes cost lives, and almost everyone makes these mistakes, at least starting out.For one thing, while the book does concentrate a good deal on the front-line soldiers and their ordeals, it spends more time concentrating on the command structure of the U.S. Army, and its compatriots and opponents. While he doesn't name *every* regimental commander, he sure names a lot of them, and the division commanders in the American army at least are described in some detail. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of the first president Roosevelt and cousin of the second one, gets a wonderful portrait that makes you sympathize with him, and almost gives you the feeling you know him, though he died in 1944. The author's particular favorite among the generals (he's said this in an interview) is Terry de la Mesa Allen, the commander of the 1st Infantry Division (and Gen. Roosevelt's boss), but even he isn't spared when he makes an unwise attack and loses several hundred casualties.There are things the book doesn't cover, that's true. It makes almost no mention of the technical difficulties American troops had when first confronting the Axis armies, and almost no mention of the inferiority of early equipment like the Stuart tank or early tank destroyers. When later equipment arrives (the M-10 Wolverine for instance) you only know it when the American army has some destroyed. Atkinson, however, is much more interested in the people, and especially the leaders, than he is in the gizmos.I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's not that long (less than 600 pages of text) and the narrative flows wonderfully. There are numerous anecdotes that are priceless: Italian soldiers surrendering carrying dirty pictures in their pockets along with the address of a cousin who lives in Detroit or Brooklyn, Patton complaining at Casablanca that the president's Secret Service agents all smelled of liquor, Ernest Harmon (the second commander of the 1st Armored Division in the campaign) is described as a cobra without the snake charmer. The narrative flow is wonderful, the maps illustrate the action well. The only quibble I did have was wondering which actions involving the British Army he was choosing to include, or exclude. Never could tell what his criteria was. That aside, and the note about the author not wanting t

Accurate. Most of us are doing the best we know how...

I've got a lot to do. Yet Mr. Atkinson has forced me to put my affairs on hold until I finish his 700 pages. The United States could no more "decide" to field a professional, effective fighting force than a first grader could "decide" to be a college student. Arming a crowd is not all it takes to make an army. I was not aware what an important chapter North Africa was in the largest war the U.S. has ever fought. The description of our learning process is fascinating.It's not a flaw that Mr. Atkinson has been mistaken for a journalist by the professional reviewers. As if the job of history requires a scholar. Critics tend to forget we are no longer in school. They've forgotten that a work can be entertaining without being fiction. Mr. Atkinson is a first-rate storyteller. I won't repeat what was covered in the excellent reviews by the professional critics. I agree. But I'm not concerned by what has been labeled "melodrama" or "journalism". Men were dying by 10 or 1,000 at a time. The British really did lose an empire that they had spent 350 years building, and became a second-tier power. The French were humilliated, occupied and never have learned to cope with it as a nation. The Germans were better soldiers, and the Itallians were not. Topology is certainly key, although I think Logistics is just as underated and unrecognised(I've got opinions, too). The description of what occured is well told and an important part of that conflict. I see parallels as we prepare to nationalize my brother's National Guard unit for this conflict today. I just bought him a copy of the book. I hope it gives him a perspective as his unit gears up to be shipped out.

Great WWII History and Easy Reading

I loved Army at Dawn because it accomplished so much in it's relatively short 700 pages. It provides a detailed and insightful overview of almost every facet of the North African campaign. The book is honest, does not sugar coat failure or any other tragedy. The best part of the book is that it is very readable, accessible to the public at large. Atkinson's training not as a historian but as a journalist really shines here, as he can turn history into a very engaging literary journey like few others can. The book begins by describing the planning of the Torch landings and the early invasions. It does not spare the US Army and its leadership at all. Even people like Eisenhower are portrayed as being ignorant to what it really took to launch a major invasion. The US Army at every level was absolutely unprepared for any kind of massive fighting. Troops were inexperienced, equipment was inferior, many units were scattered and undisciplined. Just a mess. Atkinson describes all of these factors very well, showing the reader how lucky we were that the first landings were opposed not by the Germans but by their cowardly and irritating Vichy French allies.As US forces move inland, they begin to coordinate with the British. The famous back fighting between the American leadership and the British is in full display in this book. The fights often became very serious, with several campaigns being delayed because of the feuding. Even worse than this cousins feud was the initial battles between the US and the Wehrmacht. Simply put, we were the minor leagues taking on the Yankees. For months the Germans advanced and paried, smashing American formations constantly. Atkinson describes these failures, but is careful to point out silver linings. American troops, contrary to rumor, were not given to panic. They were merely green, untrained. Once they gained experience and proper leadership was in place, they could fight just as well if not better than their German counterparts.The massive American tidal wave of supplies and men wore down the Germans, as did Allied attacks on Axis supply shipping. The battles were still fierce however, all the way to the end. The Germans could be extremely good fighters, especially under the leadership of Erwin Rommel. The battle descriptions are top notch, some of the best you are going to find. The conditions the Allied troops lived and fought under were just horrific. Probably the most touching part of the whole book is when Atkinson takes a short look back at the homefront. It's just very powerful to read of small towns, especially in the midwest, who would lose dozens of men in single battles. Whole families were sometimes wiped out. Atkinson obviously did years of research and interviews for this book, and it shows on every page.Another great facet of this book are the biographies and portrayals they provide. No new ground is broken, but we see these storied men in somewhat different lights. Ike is

Brilliant, compulsively readable, and well balanced

I read the first two pages of the prologue to this hefty volume and I was HOOKED! Mr. Atkinson writes beautifully, sensitively, and fairly about this huge, complex historical era.The first of a projected three volumes about the U.S. role in the World War II liberation of Europe, _An Army at Dawn_ deals with the North Africa campaign, which many general readers have tended to neglect in favor of Italy, Normandy, and beyond. Atkinson admirably addresses this problem.Somehow, the author has found just the right mix of detail -- from personal notes out of soldiers' diaries and letters home, to the reparations paid to Algerians for traffic fatalities caused by Allies -- versus big picture aspects, from the British and American political maneuverings at Casablanca to the larger troop movements and battle strategy. I got a kick out of the references to GI passwords in various battles, jokes and ditties (although it's not clear whether Atkinson realizes the couplet quoted on p. 526 is from Spike Jones's wartime hit, "Der Fuehrer's Face"), as well as the graver tales of of triumph and tragedy.Don't let the size of this tome intimidate you (541 pages of text, 83 pages of notes, 28 pages of bibliographical source listings) -- because the book reads smoothly and compulsively. And there are plenty of excellent maps sprinkled throughout the book, at just the right places.The author does not spare us the details of Allied political and personal squabbles (particularly British condescension toward American battleworthiness and courage -- not altogether undeserved, but not fair, either), absurdities, and atrocities. Hard core historians may quibble with some of Atkinson's judgments, or even his facts, but I can't imagine anyone writing a more excellent account for the general reader. General Fredendall is said to be "unencumbered by charisma." With excellent intelligence, Ike's team decided there would be no German offensive on the eve of Kasserine Pass, which was "measured, reasonable, and wrong."Don't take my word for it: Read those first two pages, and I guarantee you'll want to read this book (and await the other two volumes breathlessly) too.

A Brilliant Synthesis

This book will be the definitive work, from the American point of view, on the war in North Africa, covering the period when the United States got involved (November 1942) up until the German surrender in Tunisia (May 1943). Mr. Atkinson effectively sets the stage by showing the sorry state the U.S. military had fallen into prior to the decision to invade North Africa. He points out that in September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the U.S. Army had ranked seventeenth in the world in size and combat power, just behind Romania. When 136 German divisions conquered Western Europe in the Spring of 1940, our War Department reported that we could only field five divisions! Mr. Atkinson writes, "Equipment and weaponry were pathetic. Soldiers trained with drainpipes for antitank guns, stovepipes for mortar tubes, and brooms for rifles...Only six medium tanks had been built in 1939.....This in part reflected an enduring loyalty to the horse...The Army's cavalry chief assured Congress in 1941 that four well-spaced horsemen could charge half a mile across an open field to destroy an enemy machine-gun nest without sustaining a scratch." This sort of information helps you to appreciate what had to be overcome in order for us to play our part in the expulsion of the Axis forces from North Africa! Mr. Atkinson doesn't fail to show us what other problems had to be overcome...Eisenhower having to learn "on the job" how to be Supreme Commander; having to build and then hold together the Allied coalition...this was very difficult, as many top men in the British military had nothing but disdain for Eisenhower's abilities and also for the abilities of the American troops (and many of the top American brass, such as Eisenower, Bradley and Patton were Anglophobic, so it worked both ways!); the administrative and logistical nightmares....the actual amphibious landings, getting supplies to the troops, coordinating the actions of the British and American forces, etc.; plus the number one problem of building an effective fighting force, made up of officers who hadn't been in battle since WWI (and that was a type of battle that had little relevance in the current situation!) and green troops that had never experienced combat. So, as Mr. Atkinson states, North Africa was the place where U.S. forces (and their superiors) learned to integrate and coordinate their actions both with themselves and with their Allies; and on a more basic level, where we learned how to hate and kill the enemy. North Africa prepared us for what we had to do later on in Italy and, of course, after June 6th, 1944. Mr. Atkinson is very evenhanded in his account. He doesn't hesitate to point out the mistakes made by both the British and the Americans. Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery, Alexander, etc. all come in for their share of criticism as well as being praised, when praise it due. One thing that really surprised me was the sheer level of backbiting that went on...the nasty comments made by the B