Hi all; I am still reading on "An Army at Dawn" and it is a real rocket ride. Was the American Army of 1942/1943 ready to go up against the Wehrmacht? Well Rommel taught our guys a few hard lessons during the Kasserine Pass battles! These real life accounts are hard to take-especially the destruction of the Iowa regiments (my friends and neighbors some!). The American Armed forces had much to learn before they were ready for Normandy-a process Atkinson is still taking us through. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, by Rick Atkinson JeffinMNUSA PS. And Winston Churchill's "Soft Underbelly" strategy seems to have proven the correct one. PSS. Rommel confided in his son about Hitler "Sometimes I do not think he is normal." This after Hitler went into a tirade about "If the German people fail...blahblahblah" when Rommel begged him to pull the Tunisian Front back to more defenisible lines. PSSS. The inadequecy of American tanks vis a vis the Panzers was glaringly apparent at the Kasserine battles (6:1 casualties in the German's favor). And still our forces hit the NOrmandy beachheads with Shermans. PSSSSS. Interesting that historians for the Big Red One account Tunisia as their toughest battle-not Normandy. Of course they were up against The Afrika Korps in Tunisia. MOre on Atkinson; the author does not think much of George Patton's technical performance during the North African campaign-a lot of shrieking (the man DID NOT have the George C. Scott growl!) and theatrics and very little technical competence. Omar Bradley rates much better-cooly ignoring Eisenhowers orders to attack at draws-obvious ambush points-and sending his regiments in flanking movements against the high points.