Holroyd, Jack The Second World War Illustrated. The Fifth Year

The Second World War Illustrated: 1944 follows the author's visual tour of the war by means of painstakingly researched and digitally restored pictures from the period of the key battlefields and events of the period from September 1943 to the late summer of 1944. This year marked a defining change in the balance of the war; by its end the Axis powers were in serious trouble on all their fronts.

The book begins with a visual history of the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno and the subsequent slow progress made in Italy, including the battle for Monte Cassino, the landings at Anzio and the liberation of Rome. The focus then shifts to the planning for the Normandy landings: we are reminded of the magnitude of the task facing the Allies, with an analysis of the formidable defences of Hitler's Atlantic Wall and the beach defences along the French coast. There are fascinating pictures of preparations by the Allies during Operation Tiger and detailed maps that explain the build-up and execution of the invasion beaches. There is detailed coverage of the D Day landings and the fierce fighting involved in the breakthrough of the German defences in Normandy to the liberation of Paris, as well as the often neglected Allied landings in the south of France.

The author provides a fascinating photographic history of Operation Valkyrie, the plot to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944, including key players, the planning and the aftermath of the failed attempt on the Führer's life.

There is a chapter on Hitler's new terror weapon the V2 rocket, including the men and women who designed them and the Allied attempts to disrupt their development with the Peenemünde raid; a separate chapter looks at the growing air offensive against Germany. Although overshadowed by events in the west, there is chapter on the increasingly evident collapse of the German army on the Eastern Front, which included the loss of his Army Group Centre.

Latter chapters turn our attention to the war in the east. The American advance continued in the South Pacific, involving bloody battles to take what appear to be insignificant islands and island groups, bringing the Allies ever closer to the Japanese mainland. The British and Indian armies continued to be threatened by the Japanese armys push to India via Burma, which was finally halted at Kohima and Imphal.

With hundreds of original photographs, this is a true labour of love and an ideal purchase for anyone interested in the history of the Second World War in a more accessible form.