Excerpt fom the author's intoduction:
This book is not essentially a military history; there are lots of excellent publications that do justice to the 504 PIR’s fine combat record during the Second World War. What I have attempted to do is to tell the story of the five-month period in 1944 when the men of the 504 PIR, battered and bruised from campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, found themselves neighbours – and in a lot of cases good friends – to the villagers of Evington, Stoughton and Oadby in Leicestershire, England. It is dedicated to all those who served with the 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War Two.