Global war is a clash of systems, not just battalions biffing one another in some godforsaken forest. — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
The U.S. Army records alone for World War II weigh 17,000 tons, and even the best historians have not done more than… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“The balance of the campaign—indeed, the balance of the war—would require learning not only how to fight but how to rule.” — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
There were almost 11,000 American soldiers killed in Germany in April of 1945, the last full month of the war. That's almost… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“nothing is more difficult in war than to adhere to a single strategic plan” and to resist the “constant temptation to desert… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“Few commanders in this war could function without arriving at a sensibility in which thousands of dead and wounded men could be… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“If you don’t succeed, I don’t want to see you alive,” he advised. “I see no point in surviving defeat, and I… — 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… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
The American army between world wars after World War I had virtually disintegrated. It was a very small force, given largely to… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“In a phone call one evening the corps commander grew incensed when Ward mentioned his good fortune in losing no officers in… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“Matthew Ridgway to command the XVIII Airborne Corps, Gavin had taken over the 82nd in mid-August. At thirty-seven he would be not… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“Like any army moving from war to peace, this Army was entering a period in which it would search high and low… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
Hitler had a police state of the first order. And those who showed any sign of being weak-kneed faced prison or often… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“Derrien had issued his battle cry, he annulled it by order of Vichy. “November 8, we fight everybody,” he wrote privately. “November… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“In the first half of 1944, battle casualty rates for every 1,000 bomber crewmen serving six months in combat included 712 killed… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
In searching for a rationale to go to war, Bush settled on the notion of Saddam as an incarnation of evil, basically,… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“In less than three years he would be the most celebrated American battle captain of the twentieth century, a man whose name—like… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“Ten miles to the southeast the war went on, badly, for Drake and his men. With nearly a thousand troops already dug… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
I'm going to leave WWII. I considered and rejected doing something on the Pacific. Fourteen years is enough. I'd like to take… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
Almost everything about American society is affected by World War II: our feelings about race; our feelings about gender and the empowerment… — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
It's my belief that by demonizing Saddam, by raising the stakes in this war to the point where we're talking about a… — 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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
Global war is a clash of systems, not just battalions biffing one another in some godforsaken forest. — Rick Atkinson Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
