Puir Bluidy Swaddies Are Weary

The dust has barely settled after El Alamein when Captain Douglas Tulloch and the Lothian Rifles are drawn into the next stretch of the Allied campaign. From chasing retreating Axis forces across North Africa to preparing for combat in Sicily, Tulloch must navigate the violence of war and the hidden schemes unfolding behind enemy lines. While Tulloch's heart remains with Amanda, the intelligence operative who refuses to accept his proposal, his instincts as a soldier drive him to the front line.

As the Lothians are thrust into a deadly confrontation with elite German paratroopers, Tulloch uncovers a betrayal that shakes the foundations of everything he believes in, and the cost of survival is higher than ever. The principal historical frame is Allied Invasion of Sicily. The military action is linked to the operational history of the Second World War, but the central concern is how repeated defeat, recovery and command responsibility alter a regiment and its officers.