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Author: Raymond Callahan
Publisher:
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 328
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOn the eve of World War II, the British army was more an international police force than a combat ready fighting force. This book examines its transformation in a look at Great Britain's top commanders in the field.
Author: John Keegan
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2012-09-06
Total Pages: 516
ISBN-13: 1780224982
DOWNLOAD EBOOKJohn Keegan has assembled a cast of seventeen generals whose reputations were made (and some of them broken) by Churchill and the Second World War. Churchill's reputation as prime minister during the Second World War fluctuated according to the successes and failures of his generals. Most of them were household names, and often heroes, during the war years. All of them were prey to the intolerance, interference, irascibility - and the inspiration - of the man who wanted to be both the general in the field and the presiding strategic genius. He sacked his warlords ruthlessly, yet in the end he came to be served by perhaps the greatest generals this country has ever produced. Includes chapters on Wavell, Ironside, Ritchie, Auchinleck, Montgomery, Alexander, Percival, Wingate, Slim and Carton de Wiart. Note: The Publisher regrets that the biographical note for Gary Sheffield is incorrect in the book. Please refer to the Orion website (www.orionbooks.co.uk) for the correct version.
Author: John Keegan
Publisher:
Published: 1991
Total Pages: 408
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA unique collection of essays by eminent historians-and edited by one of the world's most acclaimed military writers: John Keegan. Churchill's reputation as Prime Minister during World War II fluctuated according to the successes and failures of his generals. Most were household names-even heroes. Yet all were prey to the intolerance, interference, irascibility, and inspiration of Britain's leader, who wanted to be both the general in the field and the presiding strategic genius. Yet, despite sacking his warlords ruthlessly, in the end Churchill was served by perhaps the greatest generals England has ever produced. The chapters cover such outstanding military men as Wavell, Ironside, Ritchie, Auchinleck, Montgomery, Alexander, Percival, Wingate, and Carton de Wiart.
Author: Douglas S. Russell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-11-19
Total Pages: 517
ISBN-13: 1844862046
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs a young man Winston Churchill set out to become a hero, to make a name for himself in the public eye as a soldier and so make possible a life of politics and statesmanship. There were many chances to fail and many close calls in the face of sword, spear and bullet along the way. Yet Churchill survived and succeeded – an early measure of his courage and stubborn will that the world would come to know so well in the Second World War. This is the first full-length, fully-researched biography of Churchill's colourful military career. Using an unrivalled range of sources, and with previously unpublished photographs, and detailed maps by Sir Martin Gilbert, it brings to life Churchill's motives, abilities, experiences, successes and failures, and his unswerving sense of destiny as an officer in the British Army. The result is a story to echo the man himself – rich in action, courage, charismatic self-belief, patriotism and humour. Making extensive use of the contemporary accounts of Churchill and his fellow soldiers and archival documents from three continents, illustrated with many maps and previously unpublished photographs, Douglas S. Russell vividly brings to life the military career of the vigorous young officer of hussars who later became the greatest Briton of the twentieth century. From Sandhurst to the mountainous North-West Frontier of India, to the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, from the South African veldt to the deadly trench warfare of the Great War, the author – whom Sir Martin Gilbert calls 'a keen portraitist' – tells the gripping story of Churchill's army life with careful attention to historical detail and all the drama that the real life adventures of his subject deserve.
Author: Anthony Tucker-Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2023-05-09
Total Pages: 401
ISBN-13: 1472847342
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn engaging and detailed study of Winston Churchill's career as a military commander, from his early experiences in Britain's colonial wars, through his battlefield experience in World War I, to his strategic command in World War II. This book examines how in high office he got it both right and wrong. From his earliest days Winston Churchill was an extreme risk taker and he carried this into adulthood. Today he is widely hailed as Britain's greatest wartime leader and politician. Deep down though, he was foremost a warlord. Just like his ally Stalin, and his arch enemies Hitler and Mussolini, Churchill could not help himself and insisted on personally directing the strategic conduct of World War II. For better or worse he insisted on being political master and military commander. Again like his wartime contemporaries, he had a habit of not heeding the advice of his generals. The results of this were disasters in Norway, North Africa, Greece, and Crete during 1940–41. His fruitless Dodecanese campaign in 1943 also ended in defeat. Churchill's pig-headedness over supporting the Italian campaign in defiance of the Riviera landings culminated in him threatening to resign and bring down the British Government. Yet on occasions he got it just right, his refusal to surrender in 1940, the British miracle at Dunkirk, and victory in the Battle of Britain, showed that he was a much-needed decisive leader. Nor did he shy away from difficult decisions, such as the destruction of the French Fleet to prevent it falling into German hands and his subsequent war against Vichy France. In this fascinating new book, acclaimed historian Anthony Tucker-Jones explores the record of Winston Churchill as a military commander, assessing how the military experiences of his formative years shaped him for the difficult military decisions he took in office. This book assesses his choices in the some of the most controversial and high-profile campaigns of World War II, and how in high office his decision making was both right and wrong.
Author: Richard Mead
Publisher: Spellmount, Limited Publishers
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 543
ISBN-13: 9781862274310
DOWNLOAD EBOOKCertainly one of the most important reference works on the Second World War ever published. Full narrative histories of 125 generals, with detailed information on their units and the theatres in which they served. Chronological details in tabular form of the wartime appointments of a further 125 generals. Foreword by Lt General Sir Alistair Irwin, K.C.B., C.B.E.
Author: Barrie Pitt
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2004-06-30
Total Pages: 298
ISBN-13: 1473813166
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book vividly brings alive the dramatic situation facing Europe and the Allies after the loss of Dunkirk. Churchill and his generals—Alexander, Brooke, Wavell and Montgomery—were faced with many disasters that required courageous decisions in order to pursue their aim of victory. This is the inside story of the situations they faced, the decisions they made and the outcome of those choices. An incredible portrayal of the courage, the nerve and the commitment of those brave men who affected the course of history.
Author: Thomas E. Ricks
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2013-10-29
Total Pages: 578
ISBN-13: 0143124099
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA New York Times bestseller! An epic history of the decline of American military leadership—from the bestselling author of Fiasco and Churchill and Orwell. While history has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—it has been less kind to the generals of the wars that followed, such as Koster, Franks, Sanchez, and Petraeus. In The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that is. In chronicling the widening gulf between performance and accountability among the top brass of the U.S. military, Ricks tells the stories of great leaders and suspect ones, generals who rose to the occasion and generals who failed themselves and their soldiers. In Ricks’s hands, this story resounds with larger meaning: about the transmission of values, about strategic thinking, and about the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.
Author: Allen Packwood
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
Published: 2018-10-30
Total Pages: 374
ISBN-13: 1473893917
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.
Author: Barrie Pitt
Publisher: Millefleurs
Published: 1981
Total Pages: 223
ISBN-13: 9780809575039
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