FIELD MARSHAL LORD ALANBROOKE; DANCHEV, ALEX; TODMAN, DANIEL — War Diaries 1939-1945

Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. First edition, first printin. Hard cover in dust jacket. Published Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. Large, thick 8vo, li+763pp, illustrated b/w plates, facsimile endpapers. Green cloth with gilt titles. "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. As new in as new dust jacket.. As New .