James Holland is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of the best-selling Fortress Malta, Battle of Britain, and Dam Busters, he has also written nine works of historical fiction, five of which feature the heroic Jack Tanner, a soldier of the Second World War. He regularly appears on television and radio, and has written and presented a number of documentaries, most recently Cold War, Hot Jets, and Normandy 44 for the BBC. Co-founder and Programme Director of the Chalk Valley History Festival, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Holland is good on the mechanics of warfare and gives a thrilling blow-by-blow account of the fighting, which will please military buffs. There are also crisp vignettes of the commanders ... But it is the voices of the fighting men that lift this book above the level of a simple battle narrative. Holland has a good ear. The Times Up there with Rorke's Drift ... in rescuing the Battle of the Admin Box from oblivion, Holland has performed a signal service for all the men who fought - and died - in its defence Telegraph A gripping account of one of the war's lesser-known episodes Soldier