The Day of Battle
The invasion of Sicily and the brutal Allied advance up the Italian peninsula.
The Verdict
The middle volume of the Liberation Trilogy, and the one about the war's hardest slog. Rick Atkinson follows the Allies from the invasion of Sicily up the spine of Italy — Salerno, Cassino, Anzio — into a grinding, mountainous campaign often dismissed as a sideshow and paid for in appalling cost. Atkinson restores its weight without inflating its importance, capturing the mud, the attrition, and the strategic frustration with the same narrative mastery as the rest of the trilogy. The forgotten campaign, given its due.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The Italian campaign in full narrative sweep
- Readers of the other Liberation Trilogy volumes
- The grind between North Africa and Normandy
- Literary popular history
Look elsewhere if you want
- A quick read (nearly 800 pages)
- Readers wanting the decisive theatres
- Operational analysis over narrative
Why We Rated It 4.5
Historical Context
The Day of Battle covers the invasion of Sicily (July 1943) and the long Allied advance up the Italian peninsula, including Salerno, the battles for Monte Cassino, and the Anzio beachhead. It is the second volume of the Liberation Trilogy, between An Army at Dawn and The Guns at Last Light. Published in 2007.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Collector's Corner
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0805088618
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
Frequently Asked Questions
- Where does The Day of Battle fall in the trilogy?
- It is the second volume, covering Sicily and Italy, between An Army at Dawn (North Africa) and The Guns at Last Light (Western Europe).
- Why was the Italian campaign so costly?
- Mountainous terrain favoured the German defenders, turning the advance into a series of brutal, slow battles like Monte Cassino and Anzio.