On D-Day 27 officers and 565 men of 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders landed on the coast of Normandy. By the time 51st Highland Division reached Bremen the following April, after ten months continuous fighting, 1st Gordons had lost 75 Officers and 986 men in battle.

So few got through, but amongst them was Martin Lindsay, and seldom, if ever, can a trained writer have been presented with such a splendid opportunity. The author, a former distinguished explorer, commanded the Battalion in 16 operations, who was wounded, mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO, here tells his epic story.

With him we can live through the life of a regimental officer in the orchards of Calvados and on the mudflats of Holland, in show of the Ardennes, the Siegfried Line Break-through, the assault crossing of the Rhine forward to the very heart of Germany.