Synopses & Reviews
The true story of the bloodiest and most dramatic march to victory of the Second World War: the battlefield odyssey of a maverick U.S. Army officer and his infantry unit as they fought for over five hundred days to liberate Europe - from the invasion of Italy to the gates of Dachau. From July 10, 1943, the date of the Allied landing in Sicily, to May 8, 1945, when victory in Europe was declared – the entire time it took to liberate Europe – no regiment saw more action, and no single platoon, company, or battalion endured worse, than the ones commanded by Felix Sparks, who had entered the war as a greenhorn second lieutenant of the 157th “Eager for Duty” Infantry Regiment of the 45th “Thunderbird” Division. Sparks and his fellow Thunderbirds fought longest and hardest to defeat Hitler, often against his most fanatical troops, when the odds on the battlefield were even and the fortunes of the Allies hung in the balance – and when the difference between defeat and victory was a matter of character, not tactics or armor.
Drawing on extensive interviews with Sparks and dozens of his men, as well as over five years of research in Europe and in archives across the US, historian Alex Kershaw masterfully recounts one of the most inspiring and heroic journeys in military history. Over the course of four amphibious invasions, Sparks rose from captain to colonel as he battled from the beaches of Sicily through the mountains of Italy and France, ultimately enduring bitter and desperate winter combat against the diehard SS on the Fatherland’s borders. Though he lost all of his company to save the Allied beach-head at Anzio and an entire battalion in the dark forests of the Vosges, Sparks miraculously survived the long bloody march across Europe and was selected to lead a final charge to Bavaria to hunt down Adolf Hitler.
In the dying days of the Third Reich, Sparks and his men crossed the last great barrier in the West, the Rhine, only to experience some of the most intense street fighting and close combat suffered by Americans in WWII. When they finally arrived at the gates of Dachau, Hitler’s first and most notorious concentration camp, the Thunderbirds confronted scenes that robbed the mind of reason. With victory within grasp, Sparks confronted the ultimate test of his humanity: after all he had faced, could he resist the urge to wreak vengeance on the men who had caused untold suffering and misery?
Written with the narrative drive and vivid immediacy of Kershaw’s previous bestselling books about American infantrymen in WWII, The Liberator is a story for the ages, an intensely human and dramatic account of one of history’s greatest warriors and his unheralded role in America’s finest achievement – the defeat of Nazi Germany.
About the Author
Alex Kershaw is the New York Times bestselling author of several books on World War II, including The Bedford Boys and The Longest Winter. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
Contents
Prologue – The Graves
PART ONE – THE DUSTBOWL
Chapter 1 – The West
Chapter 2 – Off To War
PART TWO – ITALY
Chapter 3 – Sicily
Chapter 4 – The Race for Messina
Chapter 5 – Mountain Country
PART THREE – ANZIO
Chapter 6 – Danger Ahead
Chapter 7 – Hell Broke Loose
Chapter 8 – A Blood Dimmed Tide
Chapter 9 – The Battle of The Caves
Chapter 10 – Crossing The Line
Chapter 11 – The Bitch-head
Chapter 12 – The Break Out
Chapter 13 – Rome
PART FOUR – FRANCE
Chapter 14 – DAY 401
Chapter 15 – The Champagne Campaign
Chapter 16 – The Vosges
PART FIVE - GERMANY
Chapter 17 – Black December
Chapter 18 – The Breaking Point
Chapter 19 – Defeat
Chapter 20 – The River
Chapter 21 – The Siegfried Line
Chapter 22 – Cassino on The Main
Chapter 23 - Downfall
PART SIX – THE HEART OF DARKNESS
Chapter 24 – The Day of the Americans
Chapter 25 – The Hounds of Hell
Chapter 26 - The Coal Yard
Chapter 27 - The Linden Incident
Chapter 28 - The Long Day Closes
PART SEVEN – LAST BATTLES
Chapter 29 – The Last Days
Chapter 30 – Victory in Europe
Chapter 31 – Peace Breaks Out
Chapter 32 – The Last Battle
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index