Pretty Widows Quote by Rick Atkinson

“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

“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

“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

“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

Global war is a clash of systems, not just battalions biffing one another in some godforsaken forest.

— Rick Atkinson

“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

“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

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

“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

“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

“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

“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