Pieces of publicity covering battle honours (6)
I believe the answer is:
awards
'honours' is the definition.
(I know this)
'pieces of publicity covering battle' is the wordplay.
'pieces of publicity' becomes 'ads' (adverts).
'covering' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'battle' becomes 'war' (I've seen this in other clues).
'ads' placed around 'war' is 'AWARDS'.
(Other definitions for awards that I've seen before include "Prizes for merit or accomplishment" , "Prizes and payments given for merit" , "Prizes or honours" , "Tony and Oscar perhaps" , "Gives officially as prizes or penalties" .)