This book is based on the wartime recollections of Heathcoat S. Grant, captain of HMS Canopus from 1914–1916. It is published in conjunction with the War Letters 1914–1918 series. For anyone interested in the war at sea during the First World War, Grant provides a highly readable insider's view of the action at Coronel, the Battle of the Falklands and the attempt to force the Dardanelles.

本书讲述了前线普通士兵鲜为人知的故事，为审视二战提供了全新的视角。被军方忽视、被历史遗忘的逃兵群体究竟有怎样曲折悲伤的经历？知名记者查尔斯·格拉斯深入挖掘军队档案、法庭记录、日记和回忆录，揭开了这段尘封的往事。
本书的写作手法和叙事节奏更像小说，作者原前线战士的真实经历。他记录的人物有列兵艾尔弗雷德·怀特黑德——一名美国田纳西州的农场小伙，曾在诺曼底英勇作战，荣获银星和铜星勋章——后来却在解放后的巴黎沦为匪徒，劫掠盟军补给站和普通市民。还有英军列兵约翰·贝恩，他曾战斗在北非和法国北部，双腿被德军机枪射伤；他从未逃避战斗，却又三次离开部队。核心人物是来自布鲁克林的列兵史蒂夫·韦斯，他入伍时还未满18岁。他随第36步兵师征战安齐奥滩头和阿登森林，还曾阴差阳错地加入了法国抵抗军。军旅生活打破了他对战争的崇高幻想，让他认清了美军军官的失误。

Captain Alan William Frank Sutton's enthralling biography starts when, as a young midshipman he was in command of a small rowing cutter returning a potentially mutinous crew to the battle-cruiser HMS Repulse in which he served. Amazingly it ends in the open cockpit of a Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber during the legendry night attack which destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto. This biography has been written with the full cooperation of Captain Sutton who has given the author every detail of his lengthy naval ship and airborne career during World War II.

Originally published anonymously in 1941, this was the first and finest story of a fighter pilot in World War Two. Based on the author's personal journal, it is the classic account of the part played by RAF No.1 Squadron in the air battles that preceded the fall of France in 1940. Beginning on the day the squadron arrived in France, the book recounts the unnerving lull of the 'Sitzkrieg' and the sudden crescendo of violence and crushing fatigue of almost non-stop combats during the 'Blitzkrieg'. Imbued with the Great War traditions of chivalry, Richey and his comrades accorded the enemy fighter squadron mercy and respect, until the disillusion of witnessing the Luftwaffe's callous attacks on helpless refugees changed all that. It was then that the skills and elan of the RAF's premier fighter squadron were turned to even greater account, and the result was a remarkable combat record. By the time they withdrew from France on 18 June 1940, No.1 Squadron had destroyed a total of 155 enemy aircraft, 114 of them in only ten days - for the loss of three pilots killed, two wounded, and one prisoner of war. As Paul Richey wrote: "It seems - and I believed it was - a miracle."

威廉•丹尼尔•莱希，美国海军五星上将。美国参加二战后，担任新设置的总统参谋长职务并主持美军参谋长联席会议，是事实上的第一任参谋长联席会议主席，参与了二战时期盟军的一系列重大军事决策。1944年成为美国历史上首位获五星上将军衔的军官。
《身历其境》是莱希将军的回忆录，根据其日记整理撰写而成，是研究美国在二战期间战略规划和决策过程的一部权威著作。书中极为详尽地记录了莱希主持美军参谋长联席会议、英美联合参谋长会议和参加盟国最高级政治会议的情况，极具史料价值。