'This is WAR!'

Anthony Cotterell was a brilliant journalist, conscripted into the British Army in 1940. After the publication of his best-selling book on his time as a conscript, he became an official Army jouranlist, flying on bombing raids, sailing with convoys, crossing to France on D-Day and taking part in the Normandy Campaign. During his time he kept a diary, a hilarious and caustic record of his role in the war, a role which was abruptly ended in mysterious circumstance. Here Cotterell's diary and selected war journalism are presented together to give a new insight into the life and work of the man who created a unique and vivid form of war reporting. Covering his life as a junior infantry officer, the preparations and execution of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign in 1944, this is both informative and engaging primary source material that sheds new light not only on the British Army in the Second World War but also on the role of the press during times of war. The quality of Major Cotterell's writing justifies this book becoming part of a series dedicated to providing acknowledged classics for the military enthusiast, and works that are destined to become classics. This is War! is one of the latter. The journalists at the official publication War where Anthony worked made sure it was called that so they could bellow down the telephone 'This is WAR'!

Résumé
Anthony Cotterell wrote a unique form of war journalism witty, sharp,engaging, and so vivid it was almost cinematic. As an official British Army journalist during the Second World War, he flew on bombing raids, sailed with merchant shipping convoys, crossed to France on D-Day, and took part in the Normandy Campaign. During this time he kept a diary, a hilarious and caustic record of his role in the war, a diary which abruptly ended after he vanished in mysterious circumstances after the battle of Arnhem bridge in 1944. Cotterell's diary and selected war journalism, illustrated with previously unpublished photographs, are presented together here to shed new light not only on the everyday life of the British Army in the Second World War but also on the role of the press during times of conflict. The quality of his writing is truly captivating and his account of the Normandy campaign is surely the nearest that a modern reader will ever get to experiencing what it was like to be in the thick of a Normandy tank battle.