THOSE who followed the television adaptation of Stephen Ambrose's excellent book Band of Brothers, about an American Army unit during the latter part of the Secon World War, will need no prompting over Alastair Borthwick's equally engrossing book Battalion.

It's the boyonet sharp story of a British infantry unit's actions from El Alamein in the Western Desert of North Africa, to the final encounters with German armed forces near the Elbe at the end of the conflict.

At the end of the war the commander of the 5th Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders, realised he had to get the wartime recollections of his men down in print before demoblisition, when events were still fresh in their minds, and before officers and men all went their separate ways.

Because the book is factual and the events recalled just months and not years after they took place, the end result is a wartime history that's hard to put down and brings home the hardships. grim reality and humour of war. The realism surpasses most works of fiction and the front line action contrasts vividly with those times when the bullets and shells weren't flying. Published by Baton Wicks at £12 99 and further details from them at Clough House, Cockhall Lane, Langley, Macclesfield SK11 ODE (01260 253787).