Few British soldiers landing in Normandy in 1944 had more of a score to settle than the 51st Highland Division. The original 51st had gotten separated from the main British army before Dunkirk in 1940 and had been captured at St. Valéry, the surrender being taken by Irwin Rome in person. The reconstituted 51st had fought Rome in the desert and knew that 10,000 Scotsmen were now entering their fourth year in German prison camps.

The original edition of So Few Got Through appeared just after the war and chronicles the campaigns of the 1st Gordon Highlanders from Normandy to V-E Day. Martin Lindsay was the Gordons' commander and his book has long been considered the best account of a British battalion in the war.