Liberation Trilogy – The Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, The Guns of Last Light

This trilogy chronicles the evolution of the American world war 2 experience from North Africa to Germany.  The first book, An Army at dawn was winner of the Pulitzer prize.

Army at dawn describes the inexperienced Americans entering the war. Expecting an easy time after intially brushing aside Vichy French forces in North Africa, their experience hitting hardened German troops was a rude awakening.  The Day of Battle moves the story to Siciliy and Italy, where experienced Americans who had expected some rest were moved onto a battle even tougher than their fight in Africa. The final book in the trilogy, The Guns at August, wraps up the saga with invasion of France and finally into Germany.

This trilogy is a fine telling and analysis of American  experience in Africa and Europe – as with all currnet histories, it spans from the personal to the grand picture, giving an indepth look at these campaigns and the individual experience.  Each volume is fairly hefty, so by the time you go through all three volumes – you would have absorbed a lot of information.  Well done, highly recommended.