Coward on the beach

An ordinary chap in extraordinary circumstances, Dick Coward is Flashman for the 20th century. Caught in all the major events in WWII, he crash lands in Dunkirk, flies Spitfires during the Battle of Britain, sees action in the Western Desert, is captured in Crete and ends up in Stalingrad, where he fights on both sides. He's also at D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and the Crossing of the Rhine. Through it all his Jeeves-like cynical batman Price keeps Coward alive to fulfill his goal to amass sufficient military glory to satisfy his difficult father--and keep the family estate from his undeserving brother, James.