Milton conveys quite well the horror and bloodshed of this epic event. However for someone writing on a military topic he displays abysmal ignorance of the technical aspects of the conflict. For example he describes nearly all artillery including big naval guns and German 88mm as “mortars” and at one point he confuses the “stalling” of a troop-carrying plane's wing with the stalling of its engines (a very basic error). For me, these technical blind-spots spoiled what was otherwise an absorbing read. The book will annoy anyone who knows about WW2 weapons and technology.