by David Zucchino
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Product Description
Based on reporting that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Thunder Run chronicles one of the boldest gambles in modern military history. Three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launched a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart of a city of 5 million people and in three days of bloody combat ended the Iraqi war. Thunder Run is the story of the surprise assault on Baghdad—one of the most decisive battles in American combat history—by the Spartan Brigade, the Second Brigade of the Third Infantry Division (Mechanized). More than just a rendering of a single battle, Thunder Run candidly recounts how soldiers respond under fire and stress and how human frailties are magnified in a war zone. The product of over a hundred interviews with commanders and men from the Second Brigade, Thunder Run is a riveting firsthand account of how a single armored brigade was able to capture an Arab capital defended by one of the world's largest armies.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 A different view, 2008-02-13
This book certainly has won praise by many amazon.com readers as witnessed by the numerous five star ratings it has received. True, it is written as a fast-paced narrative, and flows well. You might call it an "easy read" as a result. However, if we take it as a work of history, rather than a "war story," it has some faults. The chief flaw in this book is that it lacks context, as do so many of these modern war tales ("instant histories") we find rushed to print seemingly before the smoke has cleared from the ruined enemy vehicles in the wake of US armored columns. Mr. Zucchino unfortunately gives us VERY little background information about the reason for these runs, why they were important, how they were really supposed to topple Sadam, and what they really did. There's very little perspective from above. We get lots of shooting, good impressions of the men involved, and get a great picture of what these mostly young soldiers were required to do, but not much else to put things in perspective, esp. at the high command level. For example: Zucchino has a great description of when the task force's TOC gets hit by a missle or rocket, and the utter confusion and devastation this event caused for men and equipment. However, we never find out more details about the attack--where did the rocket come from? How'd they make such a direct hit? After the battle, did anybody in the Army figure out who fired it and were these "bad guys" taken out? Several places like this in the book make it limited in its scope.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A gripping read!, 2007-12-28
I picked this up to read on a month long travel trip. I ended up reading it in one sitting! Consequently, Im very glad I had also purchased a few other titles on the same topic. I really good read, disturbing and terrifying at times with a great deal of insight, but a great read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
You won't be able to put it down, 2007-10-20
This is hands-down the most compelling book I've read so far on the war in Iraq. It made me late going back to work during several lunch hours because I just couldn't put it down until I finished another chapter.
I think too many people have this image of the invasion being an absolute cakewalk -- this book will put that notion to rest in a big hurry. The soldiers faced some ferocious fighting during their push into Baghdad and Zucchino paints a very vivid picture of it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Must Read for Cadets and Young Officers , 2007-05-15
Outstanding account of the two Thunder Runs into Baghdad by TF 1-64 Armor (5 Apr 03) and 2nd Bde, 3rd ID(M). From individual tank/Bradley commanders and Soldiers to the brigade and battalion commanders, this riveting account of the battles gives a good view of the planning and execution involved. This shows the gritty side of war at the lower tactical level, bringing home timeless lessons on the battlefield. A great addition to any military professional's library!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent book on Thudner Run for either the casual reader or someone who wishes to study the invasion, 2006-10-29
Zucchino's book Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad seems to be one of teh best accounts of the 3rd IDs "Thunder Run" into Baghdad. I've recelently read a lot of literature on the invasion of Iraq, including excellent books such as One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick and Generation Kill by Evan Wright which highlight the Marine advance and feign that helped contribute to the fall of Saddam, as well as other books about the Army's advance, to include Rick Atkinson's excellent account on the 101st Airborne. However, there have been relatively few books out there that have been able to concentrate on a specific battle. That's not to say that its such a bad thing. Many of the books listed above provide incredible insight into the commander's thoughts and the experiences of the troops through the 23 day advance and even the pre-invasion deployments of the 3rd ID to camp Doha, then Yankee, etc.
Nonetheless, Zuccino's book is an excellent overview of the troubles and successes of the Spartan Brigades experiences in Baghdad, the ferocity of the battle, the trepidation and elation of the soldiers, and the brutality that goes with war and the loss of comrades. Immediatley the author is shot en-media-rez into the action during the night that the brigade receives the WARNO and then the hasty OPORD to go to battle. Zuccino then takes the reader on a harrowing adventure of the first Thunder Run which killed or wounded an estimated 1,200 enemy and then the brave decision to move the brigade to the center of the city and hold it.
But the adventure isn't as easy as it seems and the reader begins to understand the complexities of keeping this force alive, supplied, and preventing it from being isolated. Zuccino takes you to the brutal intersections of Larry, Moe, and Curly, Saddam's palace, and the staging point of BIAP, then Saddam International Airport. Zuccino's task, like Mark Bowden with the Battle of Mogadishu, was immense: to study and disseminate the pivitol battle of the war, and he succeeds magnificiently.
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