Next week AfterShock Comics will release The Lion & The Eagle #4, the final issue of the series from writer Garth Ennis, artist P.J. Holden, colorist Matt Milla, letterer Rob Steen, and cover artist Tim Bradstreet. The series follows a British special forces unit fighting behind enemy lines during World War II. Today The Beat is pleased to present an exclusive preview of the series finale.

Here’s how AfterShock describes The Lion and the Eagle #4:

At last, the Chindits are on the move, although not at all in the direction they were hoping. As vengeful Japanese forces descend on the dwindling little band, British and Gurkha alike must fight like animals to survive. And to Alistairs horror, Keith must now make the most terrible decision of all. 

In a statement back when the series was first announced, Garth Ennis described shedding light on a little-known aspect of World War II:

“The conflict between the British and Japanese in Burma is almost lost to history now; indeed, the British soldiers who fought there came to refer to themselves as The Forgotten Army. That’s partly what drew me to their story, a chance to keep alive the memories of the men who faced Imperial Japan. There’s also the political aspect, as the two warring nations find themselves fighting for possession of Burma and India, two countries who by and large would have preferred to have neither of these foreign powers on their soil.

Finally there’s the sheer intensity and savagery of the combat. The British made what seemed like a bold strategic play in airlifting a massive force of highly trained men behind enemy lines; unfortunately they failed to reckon with either the tenacity of the Japanese or the sheer lethality of the jungle itself. The war in the Far East was famously lacking in humanity, with none of the occasional civility that leavened the slaughter of the Anglo-American-German conflict. The Japanese neither gave nor asked for quarter, and the British force soon found themselves in an unusually vicious struggle to the death.”

Check out the exclusive preview of The Lion and the Eagle #4 below. The final issue of the series is due out in stores and digitally next Wednesday, June 8th. A collected edition of the full four-issue series is also due out in August.