Provides eyewitness accounts of the European war with the Axis powers on land, sea, and air.

European theater --The beginning -- With their backs to the sea -- "Dunkirk" / David Divine -- England alone -- The battle of Britain -- "The crisis of fighter command" / Alexander Mckee -- Action in the Atlantic -- "The chase of the Bismarck" / Capt. Russell Grenfell -- The valorous island -- "Malta" / Ian Cameron -- The dagger's point -- "Tobruk" / Anthony Heckstall-Smith -- Duel in the desert -- "Behind Rommel's lines" / Capt. Douglas M. Smith (as told to Cecil Carnes) -- The tide turns -- "Attack at El Alamein" / Maj. H. P. Samwell -- Stand by to ram -- "The raid on Saint Nazaire" / C. E. Lucas Phillips -- Dieppe at dawn -- "The main assault" / R. W. Thompson -- The end in Africa -- The invasion of Sicily -- "Montgomery's mountain goats" / Farley Mowat -- The treetops raid -- "Target: Ploesti" / Leon Wolff -- Into Italy -- Avalanche -- "Salerno" / Samuel E. Morison -- Before Cassino -- "The battle for Casino" / Fred Majdalany -- Out of Anzio -- "Anzio to Rome" / Eric Sevareid -- Casting the net -- "Sinking of the Scharnhorst" / Fritz-Otto Busch -- Attack by air -- "Raid on Regensburg" / Lt. Col. Beirne Lay, Jr. -- Up to overlord -- "Air drop on Normandy" / Capt. Laurence Critchell -- Across the channel -- "Assault from the sea" / Chester Wilmot -- Off the beaches -- "Breakout St. Lô" / Alan Moorehead -- In the Hedgerows -- "Before St. Lô" / Glover S. Johns -- To the Rhine -- "Flame thrower" / Capt. Andrew Wilson -- On the border -- "In the Huertgen Forest" / Sgt. Mack Morriss -- Market garden -- "The road to Arnheim" /Chester Wilmot -- Before the bulge -- "The incredible patrol / Cpl. Russ Engel -- "In the Ardennes -- "Bastogne" / Capt. Laurence Critchell -- Into the Reich -- "Hide and seek in the Reichswald" / Lance-Cpl. R. M. Wingfield -- Over the Rhine -- "The capture of Remagen Bridge" / Capt. Ken Hechler -- The enemy at bay -- "Smashing the Siegfried line" / Lt. Col. Wallace Cheves -- The last of it -- Aftermath -- "The distant drum was still" / Capt. Laurence Critchell