ALSO BY JEFF SHAARA
Gods and Generals
The Last Full Measure
Gone for Soldiers
Rise to Rebellion
The Glorious Cause
To the Last Man
Jeff Shaara’s Civil War Battlefields
The Rising Tide is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Jeffrey M. Shaara
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Maps © 2006 by David Lindroth
eISBN-13: 978-0-345-49533-4
eISBN-10: 0-345-49533-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaara, Jeff.
The rising tide : a novel of World War II / Jeff Shaara.
p. cm.
1. World War, 1939–1945—Italy—Sicily—Fiction. 2. World War, 1939–1945—North Africa—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.H18R58 2006
813'.54—dc22 2006042936
www.ballantinebooks.com
v1.0
Table of Contents
T ITLE P AGE
D EDICATION
T O THE R EADER
R ESEARCH S OURCES
L IST OF M APS
I NTRODUCTION
P ART O NE
P ART T WO
P ART T HREE
A BOUT THE A UTHOR
A LSO BY J EFF S HAARA
C OPYRIGHT
N ORTH A FRICA AND S ICILY ( FROM C ASABLANCA IN THE W EST TO C AIRO IN THE E AST )
R OMMEL’S B REAKTHROUGH AT G AZALA (“T HE C AULDRON ”)
T HE B RITISH W ITHDRAWAL TO E L A LAMEIN
R OMMEL’S D EFEAT AT A LAM H ALFA R IDGE
O PERATION T ORCH —A LLIED L ANDINGS IN N ORTH A FRICA
E L A LAMEIN —P OSITION ON O CTOBER 26, 1942
T HE B ATTLE OF E L A LAMEIN —M ONTGOMERY’S B REAKTHROUGH
O PERATION T ORCH —C ENTER T ASK F ORCE L ANDINGS AT O RAN , A LGERIA
T HE F INAL F IGHT FOR O RAN
R OMMEL’S R ETREAT ACROSS L IBYA TO M ERSA EL B REGA
R OMMEL R ETREATS TOWARD T UNISIA
P OSITIONS IN T UNISIA (C HRISTMAS 1942)
R OMMEL’S P LAN TO A TTACK THE A MERICANS
G ERMAN A TTACK AT S IDI B OU Z ID
A MERICAN R ETREAT FROM S BEÏTLA
R OMMEL’S P LAN TO A TTACK T ÉBESSA
R OMMEL’S A CTUAL A TTACK
F INAL G ERMAN P OSITION AT K ASSERINE
T HE B ATTLE OF M ÉDENINE
P ATTON AND M ONTGOMERY O FFENSIVES (S PRING 1943)
P OSITION FOR F INAL A TTACK IN T UNISIA
P LAN OF A TTACK FOR S ICILY “O PERATION H USKY ”
P LAN FOR 82 ND A IRBORNE P ARATROOP D ROP
A LLIED P OSITION ON J ULY 14—A CTUAL P ARATROOP D ROP P OSITIONS
M ONTGOMERY’S P LAN FOR S ICILY —P ATTON’S R ESPONSE
T HE R ACE FOR M ESSINA
O PERATION A VALANCHE —C LARK’S I NVASION AT S ALERNO