Anthony Gross was among the first artists to be commissioned as a British official war artist in the Second World War. He was also one of the longest serving. Given a temporary commission in 1940, Gross was continuously employed as a war artist from 1941 until 1945. He experienced everything from the London Blitz to fighting theatres in the Middle East, North Africa and Burma, producing over 350 artworks.

In 1944, Gross returned to Britain in time to witness the build-up to the momentous D-Day landings. Using his distinctive style of ink and watercolour drawing, he completed group portraits of British and American soldiers and officers assembled for the operation and the huge preparations involved. Gross sailed with the attacking troops during D-Day on 6 June 1944, setting foot on French soil after the beach-head had been secured and the fighting had moved inland. He stayed on in Normandy as the intensive fighting continued, his drawings often showing the debris left behind.

Gross followed the progress of the Allied forces through France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and later into Germany. He finally ended his period as an official war artist in May 1945, by which time Nazi Germany had been defeated in Europe.