The Guinness Book of Military Anecdotes

Arranged under a variety of topics such as "Women", "Weather", "The Best of Enemies" and "The Whims of War", this is a collection of military anecdotes drawn from a wide range of sources, from Plutarch to the 20th century, and from medieval chronicles to the American Civil War. The text is accompanied by illustrations and snapshots of men and women at war. The anecdotes include the American admiral who tried to order a lighthouse to change course; the shy young Allied pilot forced to disguise himself as a prostitute in a Paris brothel, to escape from the Gestapo; and the Irish sentry in the Napoleonic wars who was found keeping guard for both sides while the French sentry went to buy some brandy.