By paying attention to less familiar campaigns, these recent histories  throw new light on the war.  At the end of the day, tanks, planes and blitzkrieg tactics had changed little. For the foot soldier, it was a dreadful slog.  Rick Atkinson Army At Dawn (Africa) and Day of Battle (Italy) reveals  tactics and  generalship no more imaginative than WWI.  Retribution by Max Hastings does a similar job by focusing on Burma, Peleliu, and the Philippines.