The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau

Alex Kershaw's "The Liberator" is an excellent, well-written historical narrative in the tradition of Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers." Much as Ambrose focused on the leadership career of Dick Winter, Kershaw tells the story of Felix Sparks, an American citizen soldier who served as an officer in the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th "Thunderbird" Division. Sparks fought from the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 through the liberation of Dachau in April 1945, quickly rising in the ranks from Lieutenant to Lt. Colonel. He led some of the first soldiers to reach Dachau--his men were so enraged by what they saw there that a few began executing SS soldiers, and Sparks had to use his discipline and leadership to stop those few from compounding one war crime with another.German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who may have been the Wermacht's most capable general officer in World War II, once said that the 45th Division was one of the two best units he had ever fought against. The Division's story deserves to be told and remembered, but its great accomplishments are often overshadowed by battles and theaters that have drawn more attention from historians. The 45th was engaged in some of the toughest fighting of the war, and the 157th Infantry Regiment was the tip of the spear. The Regiment fought in Sicily, Italy, in defense of the Anzio beachhead and in the little-remembered second invasion of France, when Allied forces landed on the French Riviera and began moving north and east into Germany, ultimately reaching the death camp of Dachau (near Munich)."The Liberator" gets high marks for telling the story of these campaigns, which deserve to be much better remembered than they are. But it also tells the story of a remarkable leader and the young men he fought with, many of whom never returned home from battlefields in Europe. "The Liberator" pulls no punches: the casualties are gruesome, the losses are personal and traumatic, the experiences are horrifying. I can only marvel at how a young man like Felix Sparks took on such enormous responsibility and bore his burdens so courageously, both during the war and for the rest of his life as a lawyer, leader and activist. This book is both a history and an inspiration.

Very detailed account of one man's war. He was very lucky

Kershaw ably depicts the terror and struggle of the Second World War through the eyes of Felix Sparks, an officer with the 45th Division (The Thunderbirds) composed of men from the southwest. A poor boy from a depression mining town in Arizona, Sparks enlisted in the 30s, thrived in the army, and then was recalled as an officer for the war.To paraphrase Sparks, getting promoted in the infantry is easy, all you need to do is survive. Now, surviving is the hard part. The 45th landed at Sicily, Salerno, the meatgrinder of Anzio where Sparks' company was ruthlessly destroyed in the Battle of the Caverns. They were reconstituted, and sent through the forgotten campaigns of the war-the invasion of the South of France, and another brutal mini-Battle of the Bulge in the Vosges Mountain, where his regiment was surrounded and destroyed by the SS. Rebuilt again, Sparks fought through Germany to liberate the Dachau concentration camp, where he personally intervened to prevent a massacre of SS prisoners. Sparks' principles got him in trouble with his commanders. He survived, had a distinguished career as a lawyer in Colorado, and spent his final years fighting gun violence.I have some quibbles, like why would any World War 2 writer try to excuse even normal military operations of the Waffen-SS by the phrase 'they were just following orders', but this is an a great biography that reveals some corners of the war you won't see on the History Channel.

Alex Kershaw, a British born journalist, historian, and author who has lived and worked in America for twenty years, has written an astounding book about an outstanding Army officer and his equally outstanding men. The name of the book is The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey From the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau. The officer's name was Felix Sparks, and Kershaw tells his story, a story that covers over 500 days of fierce combat in World War II involving four amphibious landings starting in Sicily, through Italy, into France, and ending in the hell of Dachau in Germany. Sparks started out in Sicily as an infantry captain and ultimately became a colonel of the Thunderbird division of the 157th Regiment, an outfit that saw more combat than any other regiment or division in World War II. "The men he had commanded had achieved something of lasting greatness, something of permanence. They had defeated barbarism...The graves of his men stretched across Europe, over two thousand miles. They had died in Sicily, in France, at the dark heart of Nazi Germany. There had been several hundred killed under his command, half of them buried in Europe."Kershaw is an adept researcher, and he did his homework, spending time with Sparks before he passed away to capture his gripping story. The descriptions of the firefights as Sparks and his men battled the Germans are harrowing. Kershaw has a knack for using his literary gifts to put you amid all the fierce and vicious action. You experience the pain and trauma of fighting the good fight. The famous battles of Anzio, Salerno, and Monte Cassino in Italy, the Vosges mountains in France, the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and France, and the Siegfried Line, Aschaffenburg, and Nuremberg in Germany are all chronicled expertly. There is a heartbreaking and extremely disturbing section on the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.Along the way, we get fascinating sketches about the major players including Churchill, Hitler, Himmler, Montgomery, Stalin, Patton, Eisenhower, and FDR. There are also not-so-famous players such as Allied generals Mark Clark ("the Germans' favorite enemy General"), Robert Frederick (awarded "eight Purple Hearts by war's end" but making a huge mistake at the town of Reipertswiller in southern France) and Henning Linden (an infuriating headline grabber at Dachau's gate), and German generals Kesselring ("arguably Germany's finest World War II field commander"), Jodl ("one of Hitler's most despicable generals"), and Lamberth (the butcher of Aschaffenburg).The staggering amount of casualties and destruction of World War II are revealed at the end of the book. The casualties also extended to the emotional life of the Americans who fought it. Audie Murphy, the most decorated Allied infantryman of World War II, who fought alongside the Thunderbird Division from Sicily to Germany, said this at the end of the war: "There is V-E Day without but no peace within." A Thunderbird infantryman Guy Prestia echoed this emotion: "People were damaged. It was like we'd been in a car crash. There was trauma. It takes a while to get over that.""It was indeed America's greatest achievement: Two highly advanced forces of immense inhumanity and destruction had been defeated in less than four years." And Felix Sparks and the men who fought with him had a huge hand in that achievement in Europe. "He [Sparks] had fought in eight campaigns and earned two Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Croix de Guerre, among many other honors." His "career in the U.S. Army [was] one of the most distinguished of any American in combat in World War II."This book is highly recommended as a fine addition to any history of World War II collection.

Houve problema com o transporte e o vendedor enviou de imediato um novo livro.

Just loved reading this book which Alex Kershaw has written so well. The life set out of one man Felix Sparks and especially his wartime service from Sicily then mainland Italy, France and Germany. Just an enthralling read.

L histoire méconnue de Felix Sparks et de la 45eme division d infanterie « Thunderbird ». Sujet qui a inspiré une mini serie de Netflix.Je la recommande a tous ceux qui s interessent aux destins individuels de la seconde guerre mondiale

What a well researched, engaging true story of Felix Sparks and the battle of WW 2 in Europe. The author has written an informative tale that teaches and keeps you gripped. I learned a great deal about the battles through Italy, France and Germany. The characters involved are gritty and real.An admirable book about an amazing man and the soldiers he cared so much about.Highly recommended.

Excellent read