The U.S. Army records alone for World War II weigh 17,000 tons, and even the best historians have not done more than just scratch the surface. The story is such that 500 years from now people will be writing and… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
There are a number of World War II historians I admire: Cornelius Ryan, Mark Stoler, Antony Beevor, to name a few. As for generals, there are those I admire as combat leaders and others I admire because they're great fun… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“To his brother Edgar he confided, “I suffer from the usual difficulty that besets the higher commander—things can be ordered and started, but actual… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“To make it perfectly clear to you: suppose you lose a hand or an ear is shot off, or perhaps a piece of your… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“I could hear them yell and laugh each time and there was nothing I could do about it…. I saw them do it, like… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“The largest contingent of invaders—drawn from the U.S. 1st Infantry and 1st Armored divisions aboard thirty-four transport ships—would storm ashore at Beach Z near… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
Global war is a clash of systems, not just battalions biffing one another in some godforsaken forest. — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“fifty-six, his hour had come round. He was a paradox and would always remain one, a great tangle of calculated mannerisms and raw, uncalculated… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“If U-boats torpedoed a transport during the Atlantic passage, how many destroyers should be left behind to pick up survivors? Hewitt was not certain… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
There were almost 11,000 American soldiers killed in Germany in April of 1945, the last full month of the war. That's almost as many… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“TWO hundred and thirty nautical miles southeast of Gibraltar, Oran perched above the sea, a splinter of Europe cast onto the African shore. Of… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“blared “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” clearly audible on the hillcrest, where a lieutenant who was immune to the prevailing confidence of his seniors… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“The troops also edged toward that timeless state common to veteran armies in which the men trusted no one less wretched than themselves. Still… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“In the first half of 1944, battle casualty rates for every 1,000 bomber crewmen serving six months in combat included 712 killed or missing… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“In less than three years he would be the most celebrated American battle captain of the twentieth century, a man whose name—like those of… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
“If you don’t succeed, I don’t want to see you alive,” he advised. “I see no point in surviving defeat, and I am sure… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
In searching for a rationale to go to war, Bush settled on the notion of Saddam as an incarnation of evil, basically, and convinced… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share
