The imagery works better for the second world war than it does for viet dam. A lawn mower that cuts human beings instead of blades of grass, or an assembly line that's reliably heading towards a furnace. So why is the last year of the war still going on? Neil ferguson quotes an aid to us general omar bradley who is fighting the third rike in europe. He says if we were fighting reasonable people, they would have surrendered long ago. But they're not fighting reasonable people. Clearly, they're fighting a fanatical regime which is committed to going down with the ship and taking the entire country down with them.