Book excerpt: The world is at war, from the steamy jungles of South America to the high ice of mountain glaciers. This is the third of a five part tale of global war, and the people under arms, on both sides of the conflict. NATO won the Battle of the Atlantic at terrible cost, and not only in men, women and material but to the planet also. In Europe the NATO army is close to exhaustion, grimly holding its ground along the Elbe and Saale rivers, buying time for the US and Canadian 4 Corps to arrive, but their grit and determination are frustrating an enemy becoming ever more desperate and a finger hovers over a button marked 'Nuclear Release'.