The Liberator
One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau
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The Liberator
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Narrated by:
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Fred Sanders
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By:
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Alex Kershaw
About this listen
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 best-selling 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.
©2012 Alex Kershaw (P)2012 Random House AudioCritic Reviews
What listeners say about The Liberator
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Matthews
- 11-11-2023
A definite must read for WW2 enthusiasts.
A definite must read for WW2 enthusiasts. Hopefully we do not have to have more books like this to detail the madness of War.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adam Webb
- 21-04-2016
Stunning
This book is completely and utterly engrossing. It is simply one of the best accounts I've encountered. Sparks fought through 500 days of hell on earth that I just can't imagine. Even though the book revolves around the war, the pre and post war narratives are equally interesting. I find the ending poignant. The narration is excellent although Sanders' accents aren't the best. The book provides an interesting and new perspective through which to view the SS that I had not really considered before. I always find it difficult to reconcile the fact that young men were plucked from the best years of their lives, were required to do ungodly things, yet after victory they were simply returned to society from whence they came. This book encapsulates the lifelong trauma that accompanied these men.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dave
- 01-07-2020
Wow
I havw more than 30 WWII novels in my library. This is the first one to reduce me to tears at the end. Wow, what a man, what a story.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Geoff Alford
- 21-08-2019
Typically American
Originally sounded great but upon listening closely enough I kind of came up with the same conclusion his General did. Just a very lucky guy who didn’t seem to mind getting his guys into hopeless situations and not exactly in control usually. Getting an Aviators name scratched off the return to the US manifest to put your own on it when you’re in charge of that is not exactly heroic either. I’m sure that guys family wanted to see him too. If that’s the type of person you want to hear about then listen to this book.
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