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War Diaries 1939 - 1945 Hardcover – June 15, 1998

by Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke (Author), Alex Danchev (Editor), Daniel Todman (Editor)

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For most of the Second World War, General Sir Alan Brooke (1883–1963), later Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, was Britain's Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) and Winston Churchill's principal military adviser, and antagonist, in the inner councils of war. He is commonly considered the greatest CIGS in the history of the British Army. His diaries—published here for the first time in complete and unexpurgated form—are one of the most important and the most controversial military diaries of the modern era. The last great chronicle of the Second World War, they provide a riveting blow-by-blow account of how the war was waged and eventually won—including the controversies over the Second Front and the desperate search for a strategy, the Allied bomber offensive, the Italian campaign, the D-day landings, the race for Berlin, the divisions of Yalta, and the postwar settlement.

Beginning in September 1939, the diaries were written up each night in the strictest secrecy and against all regulations. Alanbrooke's mask of command was legendary but these diaries tell us what he really saw and felt: moments of triumph and exhilaration, but also frustration, depression, betrayal, and doubt. They expose the gulf between the military and the politicians of the War Cabinet, and how often military strategy was misguided and nearly derailed by political prejudices. They also reveal the incredible strain on Alanbrooke of the Allied conferences in Washington, Moscow, Casablanca, Quebec, and Tehran, as he tried after intense and exhausting argument (not least with Churchill) to match Allied strategy with the reality of British military power and the fragility of the British Empire. These diaries demonstrate the true depth of Alanbrooke's rage and despair at Churchill's failure to grasp overall strategy. This was particularly acute in the winter of 1943–44 when Churchill, fueled by medicine and alcohol, no longer seemed master of himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Begun as a substitute for regular conversation on the day's events with his wife, War Diaries 1939-45 records Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke's (1883-1963) service as commander of the doomed corps in France, as head of the evacuation from Dunkirk, and then, beginning in 1941, as Churchill's chief of staff. The diaries inspired Sir Arthur Bryant's The Turn of the Tide (1957) and The Triumph of the West (1959), but are published here for the first time, in an edition carefully edited by Keele University professor of International Relations Alex Danchev, and Pembroke College history research graduate Daniel Todman.

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"Addressed to his wife, the diary is lively, humorous, gripping-and just plain fascinating." -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"Complete and unexpurgated, with an excellent introduction by Alex Danchev." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

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Product details

Hardcover: 763 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; First Edition edition (June 15, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520233018
ISBN-13: 978-0520233010
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 2 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 15 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,255,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6694 in Historical British Biographies
- #25173 in Great Britain History (Books)
- #35205 in United States Biographies

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Frank

A good read.

May 9, 2019

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I'd have to say this is one of the better of the published diaries/journals that I've read. It shows what happened in the not so public prosecution of the war. The stress that he had to deal with in his part of the planning and its attendant responsibilities were incredible. The fact that he had to deal with the personality clashes and attitudes and sometimes the outright incompetence that he came in contact with almost certainly added to that stress. He most certainly did not suffer fools gladly if at all. Sometimes he had the highly unpleasant task of telling other British officers that there was no longer a place for them due either to age or that it was decided that they simply were no longer up to the task. There were one or two times he had no problem in telling them this due to their own shortcomings. He wasn't afraid to give anyone a good dressing down when they deserved it.

As far as his dealing with Winston Churchill he could be highly critical of him or shower him with praise.

One thing that surprised me is that he did not have a very high opinion of many of the American commanders, especially Eisenhower!

If you want to know what was involved in the not so public planning and prosecution of WWII from the British side and what the responsibilities of THE senior British military officer were then this is a must read.

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Mr. Joe

Surviving Winston, the Yanks, and the Bosch - in that order

December 2, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"Running a war seems to consist in making plans and then ensuring that all those destined to carry it out don't quarrel with each other instead of the enemy." - Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke

WAR DIARIES is Alanbrooke's daily record of events, addressed to his beloved wife Benita, during the time that he was British II Corps commander in France, then head of (England's) Southern Command, then Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces, and finally Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from December 1941.

It isn't until page 205 of this monster 721 page narrative that Alanbrooke (AB) becomes CIGS. The reader would've been better served if this volume's editors had eliminated the first 204 pages, which are barely more than a series of entries with the flavor of that for 18 April 1941:

"Left 8:15 am for Dover where I met Bulgy Thorne and Charles Allfrey and went round with them defences 43rd Div round from Dover through Walmer, Deal, Ramsgate, Margate, Herne Bay and Whitstable. Finally returned at 6:45 pm and put in an hour in the office."

It isn't until AB becomes CIGS, when his perspective on the war becomes global and he interacts on a daily basis with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his generals, and attends periodic conferences with Roosevelt and Stalin and their military chiefs, that AB's nightly jottings become interesting in an historical and personal sense. It's then you realize the truth behind AB's observation that heads this review.

AB, rightly or wrongly, evidently considered himself to be the best war strategist available to the western Allies. His opinion of the strategic ability of Churchill and such military commanders as U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. General George Marshall, U.S. Admiral Ernest King, and Louis Mountbatten (Supreme Commander, Southeast Asia) is positively scathing. Indeed, AB doesn't consistently say nice things about anybody except Field Marshal John Dill (his mentor and predecessor as CIGS), Joseph Stalin, and (briefly) U.S. General Douglas MacArthur (whom he never actually meets between these pages).

The first post-war publication of AB's diary caused a stir on both sides of The Pond for its excoriation of Eisenhower and Churchill. Indeed, though AB admired and loved Winston as the superman without whom England would've lost the war, the latter's inconsiderate treatment of those around him and his gadfly approach to war strategy caused AB to write in frustration on 10 September 1944:

"Never have I admired and despised a man simultaneously to the same extent."

What comes across in WAR DIARIES is that Alanbrooke was the consummate staff officer - competent, dedicated, meticulous, organized, hard working to a fault, intelligent, honest, honorable, and persistent - upon whom Winston relied upon (without giving public credit) to haul the Empire back from the brink of defeat. Outside of his duties, however, AB was an oddly mild and unprepossessing man. His chief hobby was birdwatching; he liked to show bird films to friends who came to dine with him and Benita. Also, he seems a rather dour individual who took himself too seriously. There's no evidence in his writing of any humor, self-deprecating or otherwise.

WAR DIARIES contains a small section of sixteen photographs that's inadequate when considering those individuals often mentioned, but who don't appear: Roosevelt, King George VI, Stalin, de Gaulle, Eisenhower, AB's elder son Tom, Polish Lt. General Wladyslaw Anders, British generals "Jumbo" Wilson, Claude Auchinleck, and Ronald Adam, South African Prime Minister Smuts, and Canadian generals Andrew McNaughton and Henry Crerar.

Despite the first 200 pages, which are virtually useless except that they introduce one to AB's way of thinking and writing style, I'm awarding four stars because the remainder of WAR DIARIES is a fascinating worldview rarely encountered by Yanks, a perspective in which the American icons of WWII mythology - Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and Churchill - aren't painted as the heroes we're familiar with. And, because honor is due Alanbrooke's Herculean but largely ignored and unappreciated service to his King, country and the Allies.

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Piako

The best book about Churchill in WWII ever written

May 24, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Lord Alanbrooke, as other reviewers have mentioned, was CIGS, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, during a large part of World War II, which means head of British and Imperial forces, commanding Naval, Land, and Air resources across multiple fronts during the war. This book (his own diary) paints a picture of an alarmingly self-focused and self-absorbed man, a friend to few, a military administrator (in wartime) obsessed with his own view of the universe, and a military strategist focused on his own narrow objectives -- to which he brooked no criticism by his Prime Minister, his War Cabinet, or his American fellows in arms.

Brooke was a man apart. You will discover him leaving his office (during the Blitz) for an appointment with the artist painting his portrait. You will audit his reviews of British and Empire officers, Generals and below, who receive his esteem or his prejudice. You will seem him declining a combat assignment in North Africa in order (as he says) to 'manage' Churchill and Churchill's strategic extravagances. You will come away admiring, perhaps loving Alan Brooke for his amazing candor. But you will not admire a great many things about him, including his obsessive focus on himself and his own ideas, his failure and his pathological inability to participate in constructive dialog, particularly with American commanders, and his extraordinary impatience with many British officers, many of whom actually helped to win the war, notably the brilliant General Freyberg of the Second New Zealand Division, probably the best fighting General in World War II (according to Montgomery) and, in addition, his loyal Prime Minister Fraser of New Zealand, whom Brooke said 'wasted' 20 minutes of his time (!). Amazingly, New Zealand sent more men per head of population to WWII than any other nation, including Britain. But this didn't matter -- or register -- with Brooke. Not much that didn't have a Brooke tag registered with Brooke.

However, the big event in Brooke's book is Churchill. Churchill doesn't appear in the title, but you this is the best WWII book written about Churchill -- he appears on virtually every page. Brooke's war revolved around Churchill and what he thought, what he said, what he wrote, what he did, how he engaged with leaders political and military, and how he and Brooke worked together. To Brooke, Churchill was an amazing and inspired leader, a giant among men. He was also a strategic lunatic, who needed to be in a straight jacket of Brooke's design.

The truth is, both won the war.

Churchill channeled America into the war, which saved everything. Brooke appointed Montgomery in North Africa, which ultimately assured Brooke's reputation, elevated General Alexander, and saved North Africa. Once American power was massed and focused in Italy, and later France, the war was over. This is a very long book, with excellent footnotes, that belongs in every library of military history. Churchill fans must read it for its unique portrait of WLSC. At the end of the book, you don't have to love Brooke to respect him. But respecting him is one thing. Loving him is another. This man doesn't need your affection. He has enough of his own to keep him warm, even in death.

An amazing portrait, written by himself.

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guy j.carson

What a diary!

May 17, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A very interesting diary supposedly written not to be published.
Extremely revealing,about Eisenhower, De Gaulle , Marshall , Bradley, Patton and most important Churchill
As a detailed history fan of this period. It's a fascinating book.
Alanbrooke was indeed a great strategist who was. Absolutely correct in his pragmatism about world strategy and History proved him right on all fronts.
Exceptional!
A classic!

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5 star		53%
4 star		14%
3 star		21%
2 star		12%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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