The first complete and unexpurgated edition of the war diaries of Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke – the most important and the most controversial military diaries of the modern era.
Alanbrooke was CIGS – Chief of the Imperial General Staff – for the greater part of the Second World War. He acted as mentor to Montgomery and military adviser to Churchill, with whom he clashed. As chairman of the Chiefs of Staff committee he also led for the British side in the bargaining and the brokering of the Grand Alliance, notably during the great conferences with Roosevelt and Stalin and their retinue at Casablanca,Teheran, Malta and elsewhere. As CIGS Alanbrooke was indispensable to the British and the Allied war effort.
The diaries were sanitised by Arthur Bryant for his two books he wrote with Alanbrooke. Unexpurgated, says Danchev, they are explosive. The American generals, in particular, come in for attack. Danchev proposes to centre his edition on the Second World War. Pre and post-war entries are to be reduced to a Prologue and Epilogue). John Keegan says they are the military equivalent of the Colville Diaries (Churchill’s private secretary), THE FRINGES OF POWER. These sold 24,000 in hardback at Hodder in 1985.
Alanbrooke was CIGS – Chief of the Imperial General Staff – for the greater part of the Second World War. He acted as mentor to Montgomery and military adviser to Churchill, with whom he clashed. As chairman of the Chiefs of Staff committee he also led for the British side in the bargaining and the brokering of the Grand Alliance, notably during the great conferences with Roosevelt and Stalin and their retinue at Casablanca,Teheran, Malta and elsewhere. As CIGS Alanbrooke was indispensable to the British and the Allied war effort.
The diaries were sanitised by Arthur Bryant for his two books he wrote with Alanbrooke. Unexpurgated, says Danchev, they are explosive. The American generals, in particular, come in for attack. Danchev proposes to centre his edition on the Second World War. Pre and post-war entries are to be reduced to a Prologue and Epilogue). John Keegan says they are the military equivalent of the Colville Diaries (Churchill’s private secretary), THE FRINGES OF POWER. These sold 24,000 in hardback at Hodder in 1985.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Superb
The diaries provide a fascinating daily snapshot of the direction of the greatest war in history by one of the key decision makers
Those who thought the major documents of the war against Hitler had already appeared must think again. For with the publication of the unvarnished text from the diaries of Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke of Brookeborough, we can all focus more sharply on how high command in a great war works
These are almost certainly the last secrets to be unlocked about the British high command in World War II
The Alanbrooke diaries chart a deeply troubled journey by a deeply moral man through the confusion and indecision of high command at the most difficult time in world history ... This is a marvellous book, one that finally honours a man who helped save European civilisation
This welcome publication of [Alanbrooke's] unexpurgated diaries - earlier versions were censored - should make him more widely known ... an essential tool for students of the war ... It is also to the credit of the editors that we see beyond the fascinatingly personal to the truly historical