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.


an unbalanced story   November 4, 2002
 104 out of 135 found this review helpful

There can be no doubt that this book represents an impressive synthesis of its massive source material with flashes of stylistic brilliance glinting in the narrative, but, it is not so much history as historical journalism written with a pre-conceived point of view that can be found on p. 4 of the author's Prologue: "The brave and the virtuous appear throughout the North African campaign, to be sure, but so do the cowardly, the venal and the foolish." It is the latter group on which Atkinson dwells throughout this unremittingly grim account of the North African campaign. And when a would-be historian has an agenda, all bets are off.
The book's title suggests he's going to tell the story of the American army in its baptism of fire in the European theater. Fine, then tell the whole story. There is precious little information here about the combat training the participating divisions prior to deployment. There is zero info on their amphibious training, and TORCH was the largest amphibious assault ever attempted.
If the author is going to tell the reader how green the troops were, he needs to tell them why.
Intent upon stressing the horror of combat and ugliness of war, the author cannot bring himself to offer the reader countervailing views, such as the generosity and selfless heroism of the American GI.
As an example of this tunnel vision, we read on pp. 143-44 about 60th Infantry's attempt to take the Kasbah and the nearby lighthouse. We're told only that its commander, after meeting heavy resistance, ordered that objective bypassed. We're not told that two of LTC Dilley's men, LT Dushane and Cpl. Czar, did take the lighthouse after charging across barbed wire to, then bringing out enemy POWs. Or that, during the Kasbah attack, those same 2 heroes commandeered a damaged artillery piece and fired it at advancing French armor, Dushane being killed in the process. (Atkinson doesn't name the 60th's CO in his & does not put names to other such persons throughout his book.)
The author provides many quotes from Ernie Pyle, but you won't read the one from HERE IS YOUR WAR about GIs giving emaciated Arab children their rations, the only ones they had coming ashore, so that for days they had to eat oranges.
And while Atkinson cites numerous accounts from books and diaries written by commanders and troops, plus other official and unofficial sources, not once does he describe at length one act of selfless valor. And there were many. For instance, during the months of April and May 1943 alone, 10 Distinguished Service Crosses (2nd only to the Medal of Honor) and 100s of Silver Stars were awarded to officers and men engaged in combat during that period. After all, this would contradict his grim, negative thesis.
This is not to say that instances of cowardice, lousy leadership and command snafus weren't evident throughout the campaign, but it is meant to state that this author owes his readers a more balanced view than the one he delivers in this exercise in journalistic history.


A Brilliant Synthesis   October 15, 2002
 98 out of 108 found this review helpful

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 British about the Americans, and vice-versa. The author is also very good at pointing out the numerous strategic and tactical errors made on the various battlefields. Mistakes were made by not only the top brass, but also by people in charge at lower levels. Very basic errors were made....such as not sending out reconnaisance units, initiating tank attacks without proper artillery or air support, etc. Many brave men were sent to their deaths in useless and ill-conceived actions. Sometimes just the sheer confusion of the battlefield was responsible, or just plain error....planes bombing their own men or artillery falling short, etc. Another area where Mr. Atkinson excels is in the "thumbnail" sketch of the numerous personalities that are integral to the story. The writing is sharp, witty and, quite often, eloquent. Here are just a few sentences concerning General Patton: "More than a quarter-century had gone by since his first intoxicating taste of battle and fame, during the Punitive Expedition to Mexico in 1916, when he had briefly become a national hero for killing three banditos and strapping their bodies to his automobile running boards like game trophies.....At the age of fifty, upon reading J.F.C. Fuller's classic 'Generalship: It's Diseases and Their Cures,' Patton had wept bitterly because eighty-nine of the one hundred great commanders profiled were younger than he. Now, when he was fifty-six, his hour had come round." Mr. Atkinson is also very good at describing the nuts and bolts of the various battles. The descriptions are clear, vivid and exciting. Some readers with a strong interest in the military aspects may be a bit disappointed in the maps. They are few and, barely, adequate. But this is a minor quibble. A more serious criticism might be that there is very little here concerning the view from the German and Italian side. But I don't think such criticism would be fair, because Mr. Atkinson's intent was never to show the war in North Africa from all points of view. He wanted to show the difficulties involved in the U.S. becoming an effective fighting force, the animosity that had to be overcome so that the Americans and British could start to form an effective alliance and, lastly, to set the stage for volume II of his "Liberation Trilogy"- the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943. He has accomplished what he set out to do, and he has done so brilliantly.


An Excellent account of the War in North Africa   December 2, 2002
 41 out of 44 found this review helpful

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 to emphasize heroism, this is an extraordinary and compelling book, perhaps the best on World War II in a decade, perhaps even longer.


Great WWII History and Easy Reading   November 4, 2002
 35 out of 40 found this review helpful

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 hardly the perfect coordinator. In North Africa he made mistake after mistake, something he would improve on later. Patton is shown as a mediocre commander who was often much to harsh on his staff and soldiers. Only later would he get to his storied glory. The British are leary of their American allies, never really trusting them. Derision is saved mostly for Montgomery and the French, justifiably. Also shredded was most of the pre-Kasserine Pass American leadership, many of whom were dangerously inept. Atkinson doesn't take any prisoners.

It's great to hear that Atkinson has two more books coming. If they continue to be of such quality, Atkinson could be seen as one of the best WWII historians around.