The Sharp End of War

The fighting man in World War II

Plot

Originally published in 1980, "The Sharp End" has been through several editions on both sides of the Atlantic and has established itself a classic work of military history, Aurum is delighted to be publishing this new edition with the addition of a specially commissioned Foreword by one of today's most distinguished historians, Sir Max Hastings.In any army, it is only a minority of men who end up as combat soldiers, at the 'sharp end' where they have to shoot and be shot at, but it is, of course, their experiences which are the most intense and which tell us most directly what war is actually like. In this book John Ellis has drawn together the testimony of men who fought with the British, Commonwealth and American armies in all theatres of the Second World War, from Western Europe to Burma and from North Africa to the Pacific. He uses these eyewitness accounts to explain how they were trained, the different landscapes and climates in which they fought, their attitudes and aspirations, how they relaxed when they were out of the line and, above all, how they reacted to the experience of battle.This is a reissue of an established classic of military history with a new Foreword by Max Hastings. It is an account of the experience of the combat soldier based upon first-hand testimony from men who fought in the British, Commonwealth and American armies in all arms and on all fronts in World War II. It conveys as no other book has ever done exactly what it was like to be at the 'sharp end' of the most violent war in history.