The « Liberation Trilogy » by the American best-selling author Rick Atkinson is absolutely amazing. According to all specialists, these three books are a reference on the history of the liberation of Europe from the Nazi yoke. In two volumes and nearly 2000 pages, they tell with infinite precision the conception of Operation Torch, the landing in North Africa and the success of the Allied troops before detailing the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. The first volume of this trilogy is entitled “An army at dawn” and was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2002. The writing is alert, the details are precise and the story is drawn from the best sources. All the details of the preparation and crossing of the Operation Torch crews are recorded on 80 pages. In particular, Atkinson explains that eight dummy plans were adopted by the Allies to make it look like a landing in France or Norway. The author finally quotes the British Prime Minister as explaining that “…to get all these ships to the Straits of Gibraltar in battle order and to arrive on time at various beaches in North Africa, the two-week journey had, in Churchill’s words, to be set like the stones on a string of gems…”. Atkinson thus suggests that every detail of the ships’ departure, their speed at sea, their route, the obstacles to be avoided… had to be worked out. Nowhere in his book is there any mention of convoy SL-125 and the false trail it might have constituted… Why is that? Did he not find any trace of it?
