Listen free for 30 days
-
An Army at Dawn
- The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Categories: History, Africa
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Day of Battle
- The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price.
-
This Sovereign Isle
- Britain in and out of Europe
- By: Robert Tombs
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geography comes before history. Islands cannot have the same history as continental plains. The United Kingdom is a European country, but not the same kind of European country as Germany, Poland or Hungary. For most of the 150 centuries during which Britain has been inhabited it has been on the edge, culturally and literally, of mainland Europe.
-
-
Retired historian's musings on Brexit
- By papapownall on 31-01-21
-
Britain's War
- Volume 2, A New World, 1942-1947
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 49 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A triumph of narrative, empathy and research, as gripping in its handling of individual witnesses to the war - those doomed to struggle with bombing, rationing, exhausting work and above all the absence of millions of family members - as of the gigantic military, social, technological and economic forces that swept the conflict along. It is the definitive account of a drama which reshaped our country.
-
-
Answers the question of why Churchill lost the peace
- By Mr Andrew J Walley on 06-04-20
-
Britain's War
- Volume 1, Into Battle, 1937-1941
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 35 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War, required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. The outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe.
-
-
Dreadful Narration
- By G. Williams on 10-04-20
-
Burma '44
- The Battle That Turned Britain's War in the East
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In February 1944, a rag-tag collection of clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers and other base troops, stiffened by a few dogged Yorkshiremen and a handful of tank crews, managed to hold out against some of the finest infantry in the Japanese Army and then defeat them in what was one of the most astonishing battles of the Second World War. What became known as the Defence of the Admin Box, fought amongst the paddy fields and jungle of Northern Arakan over a 15-day period, turned the battle for Burma.
-
-
History of an often overlooked aspect of WW2.
- By Ian David Williamson on 26-05-20
-
Mussolini's War
- Fascist Italy from Triumph to Collapse, 1935-1943
- By: John Gooch
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. Then, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in Southern France and Africa. This decision proved a horrifying miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties and an Allied invasion in 1943 which ushered in a terrible new era for the country.
-
-
Succint and enilighening
- By Wilhelm Snyman on 18-05-20
-
The Day of Battle
- The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price.
-
This Sovereign Isle
- Britain in and out of Europe
- By: Robert Tombs
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geography comes before history. Islands cannot have the same history as continental plains. The United Kingdom is a European country, but not the same kind of European country as Germany, Poland or Hungary. For most of the 150 centuries during which Britain has been inhabited it has been on the edge, culturally and literally, of mainland Europe.
-
-
Retired historian's musings on Brexit
- By papapownall on 31-01-21
-
Britain's War
- Volume 2, A New World, 1942-1947
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 49 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A triumph of narrative, empathy and research, as gripping in its handling of individual witnesses to the war - those doomed to struggle with bombing, rationing, exhausting work and above all the absence of millions of family members - as of the gigantic military, social, technological and economic forces that swept the conflict along. It is the definitive account of a drama which reshaped our country.
-
-
Answers the question of why Churchill lost the peace
- By Mr Andrew J Walley on 06-04-20
-
Britain's War
- Volume 1, Into Battle, 1937-1941
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 35 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War, required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. The outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe.
-
-
Dreadful Narration
- By G. Williams on 10-04-20
-
Burma '44
- The Battle That Turned Britain's War in the East
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In February 1944, a rag-tag collection of clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers and other base troops, stiffened by a few dogged Yorkshiremen and a handful of tank crews, managed to hold out against some of the finest infantry in the Japanese Army and then defeat them in what was one of the most astonishing battles of the Second World War. What became known as the Defence of the Admin Box, fought amongst the paddy fields and jungle of Northern Arakan over a 15-day period, turned the battle for Burma.
-
-
History of an often overlooked aspect of WW2.
- By Ian David Williamson on 26-05-20
-
Mussolini's War
- Fascist Italy from Triumph to Collapse, 1935-1943
- By: John Gooch
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. Then, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in Southern France and Africa. This decision proved a horrifying miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties and an Allied invasion in 1943 which ushered in a terrible new era for the country.
-
-
Succint and enilighening
- By Wilhelm Snyman on 18-05-20
-
Nemesis
- The Battle for Japan, 1944-45
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Stewart Cameron
- Length: 29 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With an introduction read by Max Hastings. A companion volume to his best-selling ‘Armageddon’, Max Hastings’ account of the battle for Japan is a masterful military history. Featuring the most remarkable cast of commanders the world has ever seen, the dramatic battle for Japan of 1944-45 was acted out across the vast stage of Asia: Imphal and Kohima, Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Soviet assault on Manchuria.
-
-
Brilliant as usual
- By Jim on 02-11-14
-
Crucible of Hell: Okinawa
- The Last Great Battle of the Second World War
- By: Saul David
- Narrated by: William Roberts, Saul David - introduction
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 83 blood-soaked days, the fighting on the island of Okinawa plumbed depths of savagery as bad as anything seen on the Eastern Front. When it was over, almost a quarter of a million people had lost their lives, making it by far the bloodiest US battle of the Pacific. In Okinawa, the death toll included thousands of civilians lost to mass suicide, convinced by Japanese propaganda that they would otherwise be raped and murdered by the enemy. On the US side, David argues that the horror of the battle ultimately determined President Truman’s choice to use atomic bombs in August 1945.
-
-
Download the book in parts
- By Mr. M. S. Cranmer on 06-04-20
-
Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Nigel Harrington
- Length: 28 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war. Nineteen fourteen was a year of unparalleled change. The year that diplomacy failed, imperial Europe was thrown into its first modernised warfare and white-gloved soldiers rode in their masses across pastoral landscapes into the blaze of machine guns. What followed were the costliest days of the entire war.
-
-
Highly recommended
- By Tommy on 08-04-17
-
Hue 1968
- A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.
-
-
Outstanding Military History
- By Stephen on 02-08-17
-
Normandy ‘44
- D-Day and the Battle for France
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 24 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned World War Two historian James Holland presents an entirely new perspective on one of the most important moments in recent history. Unflinchingly examining the brutality and violence that characterised the campaign, it's time to draw some radically different conclusions. D-Day and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed have come to be seen as a defining episode in the Second World War. Its story has been endlessly retold, and yet it remains a narrative burdened by both myth and assumed knowledge.
-
-
New perspectives on D-Day
- By Ian David Williamson on 28-05-19
-
The Korean War
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 25 June, 1950, the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam.
-
-
A missing piece of history
- By Mark P on 14-12-14
-
Destiny in the Desert
- By: Jonathan Dimbleby
- Narrated by: Jonathan Dimbleby
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a unique single-volume history of the road to El Alamein - 'the end of the beginning' - and the bloody battle that followed...It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'it is not the end nor is it the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning'. And yet the true significance of this iconic episode remains unrecognised.
-
-
A great overview
- By Mr. T. P. Quinn on 18-05-20
-
Stalingrad
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand-to-hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe and the start of his decline.
-
-
Simply the best
- By Dave on 29-09-17
-
Tank Action
- An Armoured Troop Commander's War 1944-45
- By: Captain David Render, Stuart Tootal
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1944, David Render was a 19-year-old second lieutenant fresh from Sandhurst when he was sent to France. Joining the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry five days after the D-Day landings, the combat-hardened men he was sent to command did not expect him to last long. However, in the following weeks of ferocious fighting in which more than 90 per cent of his fellow tank commanders became casualties, his ability to emerge unscathed from countless combat engagements earned him the nickname of the 'Inevitable Mr Render'.
-
-
A vivid recollection of war by a young officer
- By Iolis on 28-09-19
-
Waterloo
- By: Tim Clayton
- Narrated by: Phillip Franks
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bloodbath at Waterloo ended a war that had engulfed the world for over 20 years. It also finished the career of the charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte. It ensured the final liberation of Germany and the restoration of the old European monarchies, and it represented one of very few defeats for the glorious French army, most of whose soldiers remained devoted to their Emperor until the very end.
-
-
Maps & diagrams needed to get the real effect
- By Alexander Patterson on 25-07-15
-
The British Are Coming
- The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Rick Atkinson
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now, he turns his attention to a new war, and in this book about the American Revolution recounts the first 21 months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force.
-
-
The British are Coming and so is a cure for insomnia
- By David Van de Wiel on 17-07-19
-
The Reckoning
- The Defeat of Army Group South, 1944
- By: Prit Buttar
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prit Buttar retraces the ebb and flow of the various battles and campaigns fought throughout the Ukraine and Romania in 1944. January and February saw Army Group South encircled in the Korsun Pocket. Although many of the encircled troops did escape, in part due to Soviet intelligence and command failures, the Red Army would endeavour to not make the same mistakes again. Indeed, in the coming months the Red Army would demonstrate an ability to learn and improve, reinventing itself as a war-winning machine, demonstrated clearly in its success in the Iasi-Kishinev operation.
-
-
A tightening grip
- By T. Rattigan on 30-11-20
Summary
The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is an epic story of courage and calamity, of miscalculation and enduring triumph. An Army at Dawn begins on the eve of Operation TORCH, the daring amphibious invasion of Morocco and Algeria. After three days of hard fighting against the French, American, and British troops push deeper into North Africa.
But the confidence gained after several early victories soon wanes; casualties mount rapidly; battle plans prove ineffectual, and hope for a quick and decisive victory evaporates. The Allies discover that they are woefully unprepared to fight and win this war. North Africa becomes a proving ground: it is here that American officers learn how to lead, here that soldiers learn how to hate, here that an entire army learns what it will take to vanquish a formidable enemy.
Many great battle captains emerged in North Africa, including Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and Montgomery. Atkinson brings these commanders vividly to life. He takes us to the front lines of every major battle - from Oran to Kasserine to Tunis. In North Africa, the Allied coalition came into its own, the enemy forever lost the initiative, and the United States - for the first time - began to act like a great power.
Atkinson casts a clear eye on the dark tragedies that haunt every war. The first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, An Army at Dawn is history of the highest order - brilliantly researched, rich with new material and surprising insights, the deeply human story of a monumental battle for the future of civilization.
Critic reviews
"A fascinating story...that is hard to stop reading, even though one knows the outcome." ( Library Journal)
"An absolute masterpiece....This book is storytelling - and history - at its most riveting." (Andrew Carroll, author of War Letters)
More from the same
What listeners say about An Army at Dawn
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- J. P. Kennedy
- 28-08-08
A must read.
Well written, well researched book. Draws you in and makes it very easy to understand the events. Nice to have an account from the allied point of view.
Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the second world war or indeed military history.
-
Overall
- John
- 25-02-08
Heavy duty history
This book is not for all military history buffs. The reading can be dense at time, not boring, just full of facts and details. It is very well written and is the result of a vast amount of well thought out and organized research. Although it has some, I wish it were laiden with more personal accounts and quotes which gives you more a feeling of being told a story rather than reading history.
-
Overall

- Jeremy
- 19-02-03
Abridging too far?
As an avid WWII buff and audible.com listener, I was looking forward to this history of the US Army in it's earliest campaign in the Atlantic Theater.
The first part of the campaign was a near-disaster, and it was fortunate the Americans had barely motivated Vichy French forces as its first oppenents. The Americans improved, but unfortunately, the British Allied Command retained their negative first impressions of the American Army until very late in the war. Eventually, thanks as much to advantages in air superiority and cryptological intelligence (both subjects not brought up much, although touched on - it is a history of the <ib>Army</ib>, after all) as to improved fighting qualities, the Allied forces prevailed.
The story is well told, albeit briefly. As someone who already knows the general outlines of the campaign, I was looking for detail and new analysis. I didn't get much, listening to this book.
I was interested enough in the book to take a look at it in our local B&N, and I found that the book is far richer in detail - and also had some decent maps, always a help in understanding. So, in my case, I found the abridgment too severe.
One other point: as the previous reviewer suggests, the author is not a professional narrator!
In conclusion, "An Army at Dawn" is interesting, and worth a listen, but it could have been much more. beta inappVoteInfo
37 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- James S. Cox
- 02-09-08
Another disappointing abridged version
The unabridged version would be excellent. The abridged version was full of gaps that continually interrupted the story line. I would not recommend downloading this version. It leaves one unfulfilled.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- John
- 26-04-04
A Very well researched Book of Military History
This reading is for the casual observer of military history. It isn't for someone looking for a major in depth review of the Allied struggle in North Africa. It is abridged somewhat too much, even with a 7 plus hour length. If you really want to know the history of events in North Africa my recommendation is to read the book. Having said that, if you want to get an excellent outline of the North Africa campaign get this reading. Audible should offer the unabridged version.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- JR
- 03-03-03
Disappointing but Informative
I wanted very badly to like this book. It's a part of WWII I would like to know more of. Unfortunately the book left me feeling flat. There was no passion. Even the battle descriptions were lacking. There is a lot of good information, but you really have to struggle to stay involved.
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Mark
- 22-04-06
Slow Death
A book filled with interesting facts and figures but beyond that has absolutely no redeeming qualities. The pace of this story was deadly slow with little detail on the deployments, locations and directions of the battlefields or of the flow of armies. (Maybe the book had maps). This story lacked the emotion that is so desperately needed to make the history of a military campaign enjoyable, interesting and leaves you yearning for more.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Roger
- 12-02-03
Army at Dawn or Yawn
Good informative war audio but lacking something. Maybe it's the
narrator's somewhat monotone presentation or maybe it's in the
repeating stories of conflict which sound familiarly the same.
As a history lesson it's OK but not overally interesting.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Nate
- 20-12-05
Very good
I found the story behind the history to be very entertaining and informative. In addition, this text reminds the listener of the problems of assuming that the US has always been the great superpower. Historical figures are presented as they really were and that should be applauded. I am wishing that audible had an unabridged version.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 02-07-12
Less Known Fighting
Any additional comments?
This book sheds light on an area of WW2 that is less known. The fighting in D-Day was so much more covered. This is a really good book to fill in your knowledge of WW2.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Alexis
- 17-05-08
Brilliantly Told Untold Story
The African campaign comes to life in amazing detail with Atkinson's brutally honest retelling of the men and times that made the US Army. Brilliant even if you are not a WWII buff.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Ron
- 20-01-08
History - light
If your looking for a quick and somewhat detailed history of the north African campaign, then this may work for you.
It didn't for me. As an historical work, An Army at Dawn skips over too many details. But as a personal account it gets to dragged down into those same details. It is as if the author wanted to combine both a factual review and oral accounts into a single work. Unfortunately neither part worked that well.
1 person found this helpful