- Joined
- Apr 18, 2005
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Just finished reading this book by Rick Atkinson. It's the first of a WWII trilogy and this volume covers the war in North Africa, 1942 - 1943. It's an excellent read and I learned a lot about Operation Torch from it.
I had always thought that, at the time of the 'Torch' landings, the Vichy French threw up their hands and welcomed the Allies, who then just drove across North Africa, joined up with 8th Army, surrounded the Axis in Tunisia, then finished them off. NOT SO!
It was a long, hard, bloody slog, where the Americans in particular, learned how hard and costly a fight it was going to be. Here they developed and honed their fighting skills which were going to be needed in the future battles in Sicily, Italy and Western Europe. For instance, I never realised that Kasserine was actually a series of battles which took place over almost 2 weeks, or that a lot of fighting was done in mountainous terrain and not all desert!
Highly recommended and if the next 2 books are as good, they'll be well worth waiting for! More info can be found at this website:
http://www.anarmyatdawn.com/
There's also an interactive map about the 'Torch' landings.army; army; army;
I had always thought that, at the time of the 'Torch' landings, the Vichy French threw up their hands and welcomed the Allies, who then just drove across North Africa, joined up with 8th Army, surrounded the Axis in Tunisia, then finished them off. NOT SO!
It was a long, hard, bloody slog, where the Americans in particular, learned how hard and costly a fight it was going to be. Here they developed and honed their fighting skills which were going to be needed in the future battles in Sicily, Italy and Western Europe. For instance, I never realised that Kasserine was actually a series of battles which took place over almost 2 weeks, or that a lot of fighting was done in mountainous terrain and not all desert!
Highly recommended and if the next 2 books are as good, they'll be well worth waiting for! More info can be found at this website:
http://www.anarmyatdawn.com/
There's also an interactive map about the 'Torch' landings.army; army; army;
