The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944

[b:The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 716532 The Day of Battle The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 Rick Atkinson https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1384185057s/716532.jpg 702783] is the second book in Rick Atkinson's three-part history of World War II. It picks up pretty much right where [b:An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 541920 An Army at Dawn The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 Rick Atkinson https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1383352833s/541920.jpg 1795751] ends.The battle for Italy was one of the toughest of the war. By the end of the 608 day campaign to liberate Italy, Allied forces had lost about 312,000 casualties. German losses, while uncertain, were similar in scale. The fighting was particularly brutal at the Anzio beachhead and along the Gustav line.The multiple attacks, the first three of which were bloodily repulsed, on the Gustav line seems to me to have showed a distinct lack of imagination on the part of the Allied high command. Perhaps that was dictated by the terrain and couldn't be helped. However, I find it interesting that the breakthrough, when it finally came, was due to French general Juin personally going forward to find out why his army's attack was stalling. As a result of the intelligence gained, he pulled back, made a new and timely plan, and launched a successful night attack that severed the Gustav line.I am writing this on Veteran's day. This book had many poignant points for me as my father was there – at Anzio. His unit of tank destroyers took part in the defense of the beachhead, the breakout, and then the capture of Rome. He fought on to the end of the war in northern Italy. (Would that he were still here to discuss this with.)In summary, Atkinson's obviously did a lot of research for this book. His depiction of the war in Italy is filled with a wealth of detail. The many maps are a good complement to the text. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the biggest and most brutal war ever fought.