04-12-2008, 05:12 PM
I have recently read an excellent book about the war in Sicily and Italy by Rick Atkinson . The title is THE DAY OF BATTLE and was recently published on late 2007 .He previously published AN ARMY AT DAWN about the war in North Africa .
There is much detail about the campaigns and the conditions under which our soldiers had to conduct battle . An example, on page 252 he quotes ... " it soon became evident that Italy would be a battle of engineers : the speed of advance would be determined by bulldoziers, if not by nervous soldiers on hands and knees, prodding for mines with a bayonet."
I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the combat engineers .