This is a novel about many of the high profile characters of WWII involved in Africa and Italy before the Normandy invasion. Rommel is there, Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery, Hitler of course, President Roosevelt and many others. A few enlisted men’s stories are there as well and theirs are the ones where death is all around them, seeing their pals and even guys whom they hated blown to pieces. Yet some survived and not necessarily due to any special ability on their part.
This is the second book by the author I have read and although I don’t usually like reading about war, the battles and strategy, this book is interesting. I found myself looking forward to reading the next chapter to find out what happened. And then wondering, if Hitler hadn’t kept Rommel away from Africa just before the invasion of Sicily, would the Allies have prevailed? Maybe not, was my conclusion. I had always heard that Hitler kept his generals from succeeding by interfering with their plans. If he had left them to their jobs the outcome of WWII may have been different. But of course it was not in his nature to allow others to have their opinion. Rommel left Africa apparently to convince Hitler that he did not have the supplies needed to fight any longer, that while Mussolini promised ammunition it was never received in the amounts needed to win. Rommel’s plan was to withdraw his army quickly so that it might fight another day in Italy or Germany. Once he was with Hitler, he was kept nearby as an advisor. Much of the German army did escape into Italy, making the Allied invasion and attack much more difficult than the generals had hoped.
There are several historical events described in the book, most notably Patton’s slapping of a soldier in a hospital for a nervous condition. Patton had no patience for what he considered cowardly behavior and perhaps had the doctors and the press not protested so much this incident might not have cost Patton so dearly. And had Patton not been one of the best campaign generals on the Allied side, he would’ve been dismissed over it. Shaara gives a good indication of Patton’s’ personality so that you can see where he’s coming from, whether you agree with his actions or not. He was very strict, requiring men in full uniform including tie, even in the brutal heat of the African desert.
I’ll look for another one of these books by Jeff Shaara. Maybe he continued this story as many of the survivors of the Africa and Sicily campaigns moved to England to begin preparations for the Normandy invasion.