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2 reviews (below) |
BLOOD, SWEAT AND ARROGANCE
by
CORRIGAN, GORDON
Gordon Corrigan investigates one of the great mysteries of British military history: why was it that the British, who had managed to beat the Germans in 1918, were unable to match them in 1940? In World War I the British pioneered the use of tanks and ground-attack aircraft, yet in World War II the Germans were the masters. When the British finally did win battles, they were against tiny detachments of the main German army, most of which was in Russia. It was said of Churchill's own account of the conflict, 'Winston's written another book about himself, and called it The History of the Second World War.' Britain's wartime leader was a consummate politician and a brilliant writer: he concealed his own role in weakening British defences in the 1920s and shifted the blame on to his opponents. Gordon Corrigan reveals how Churchill micromanaged the war - trying to control individual ships at sea from his office during the Norwegian fiasco - meddling that nearly cost us the war. Britain's most famous general of the war emerges with equally little credit. Montgomery inherited a winning position at El Alamein, took the credit for his predecessor's work, and, as commander in Normandy, single-handedly wrecked Anglo-American relations. Like Churchill, he leapt into print after war with a highly contentious version of events that has remained largely unchallenged this side of the Atlantic. These are just the two most famous icons that Gordon Corrigan deals with in this devastating new account of Britain's war in Europe and North Africa.
Stock: In Stock, Delivery: Standard 2-3 Days (inc BFPO), £2.65
Format: Hardback
Published: 13/04/2006
Publisher: ORION PUBLISHING CO
ISBN: 029784623X
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Our Price £16.00
List Price £20.00
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Reviewed By: |
Additional Info |
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Date: |
24/06/2006 |
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Reader Rating: |
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Review:
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Gordon Corrigan's "Mud, Blood and Poppycock" overturned the myths that surround the First World War. Now he challenges our assumptions about the Second World War in this brilliant, caustic narrative that exposes just how close Britain came to losing. He reveals how Winston Churchill bears a heavy responsibility for the state of our forces in 1939, and how his interference in military operations caused a string of disasters. The reputations of some of our most famous generals are also overturned: above all, Montgomery, whose post-war stature owes more to his skill with a pen than talent for command. But this is not just a story of personalities. Gordon Corrigan investigates how the British, who had the biggest and best army in the world in 1918, managed to forget everything they had learned in just twenty years. The British invented the tank, but in 1940 it was the Germans who showed the world how to use them. After we avoided defeat, but the slimmest of margins, it was a very long haul to defeat Hitler's army, and one in which the Russians would ultimately bear the heaviest burden.
This is a magnificent reassessment of Britain's War, from the policy decisions in the 1920s to the great battles and campaigns of 1939-45.
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Reviewed By: |
BBC History Magazine |
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Date: |
24/06/2006 |
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Reader Rating: |
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Review:
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Corrigan, who in Mud Blood and Poppycock mounted a defence of "Butcher" Haig, returns with relish to his favourite bete noire, the interfering politican with a taste for grand strategy. However, he goes over the top in attempting to prove Churchill could have lost us the war. His straining over debacles like the Norweigian and Greek campaigns undermine the major point in the thesis, that, between the wars, government parsimony left our forces totally ill- equipped for conflict.
John Crossland |
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