The Turn of the Tide, 1939-43

by Arthur Bryant

1939-1943.Hardback, ex-library, with usual stamps and markings, in poor all round condition, suitable as a reading copy

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Biography, Military History, Military Fiction, War

Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant was an English historian, columnist for The Illustrated London News and man of affairs. His books included studies of Samuel Pepys, accounts of English eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history, and a life of George V.

Bryant's historiography was often based on an English romantic exceptionalism drawn from his nostalgia for an idealised agrarian past. He hated modern commercial and financial capitalism, he emphasised duty over rights, and he equated democracy with the consent of "fools" and "knaves"

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

By leaps and bounds the best book I've read about World War 2. It provides a fly-on-the-wall recounting of Churchill and his right-hand military chief, Alan Brooks, who was instrumental in saving so many soldiers at Dunkirk and then was appointed by Churchill to lead Britain's military effort to take apart the Third Reich. The book is based on Brooks' meticulously kept daily war diary as well as his post-war commentary on that diary with added context by Bryant compactly describing what was happening in the major theaters of war as Brooks and Churchill, the rest of the military and the Americans, Russians and, to some extent, Free French argued and politicked each other about the direction of the war. It seems almost every consequential meeting and conversation between Churchill and Stalin and Roosevelt is recounted in simple but thorough detail. From the vantage point of decades into the future, the Allied war strategy looks so logical. In reality, no one knew what would work, the Americans and Stalin wanted an early attack on France even as Americans kept all the landing craft for their Pacific strategy. It was Brooks who figured out the best way was to begin to take away the Mediterranean from Germany and he fought everyone to keep his plan intact. This against the reality that Britain failed over and over in the beginning of the war. Finally, Brooks insisted Montgomery take over the 8th Army in the desert, and Montgomery succeeded where others failed miserably and finally beat Rommel, the first German domino that fell. Maybe most entertaining is the personal picture Brooks gives of Churchill, a supremely difficult boss who had to be corralled from pursuing creative adventures yet who single-handedly provided the British people needed, a spirit that barely existed before he became Prime Minister. This volume ends at the beginning of the Allies' invasion of Italy just as Mussolini is put to death. I luckily also found the second volume that continues to the end of the war along with this first volume but on separate racks at a fundraising book sale at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. I can't wait to begin that.

[Ian Rees · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astoundingly detailed recollection of the progress of the war from 1939 to 1943, written by one of Britain's ablest (and probably least known) generals and strategists.

Much of it concerns his role of Chief of Imperial General Staff and central to that was his relationship with Winston Churchill, and it is here that it is at its most interesting. I have read a biography of Churchill, but that did not get to the heart of what Churchill was really like. Alanbrooke describes him in sometime hilarious detail as both the most infuriating man he had ever had to work with and at the same time the most wonderful man he had ever met. He was probably the only man who could have worked well with Churchill over the dark early days of the war, with his incisive clarity of thinking about what was needed and his ability to endure Churchill's sudden changes of idea and mood.

It also reveals the true measure of the man Alanbrooke was. He was offered the opportunity to command British Forces in North Africa in 1942. He knew that this would bring him glory and recognition, but felt that his part in the war was to work in the background alongside Churchill. So he recommended Montgomery and Alexander to take the posts, and his diary reveals the personal cost he felt in doing so. As we know from subsequent events, Montgomery gained all the recognition. But the architect behind the victory was Alanbrooke.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, an eye-openning insight into the inner workings of the British High command (in the person of Alan Brooke). A must read.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well crafted testament to one of history's overlooked heroes. Bryant manages to make even the summit conferences an interesting read. I was particularly surprised by Brooke's accounts of flying to conferences and theater commands under amazingly primitive conditions - lying on the floor of a bomber flying over enemy controlled desert at night as an example. Churchill's childishness is also striking and he comes across as an ineffectual middle manager of the sort familiar to all of us.

Though the original diary shines, Bryant weaves it and Brooke's subsequent commentary into an historical context. Very well done, and a bit of a shame as I can't see how the subsequent book could be nearly as interesting given the time period.

[Richard1955 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkably candid account of the war as experienced by the English general who was for most of it the Chief of the Imperial General Staff - the equivalent of General Marshall for the Americans. Before he was so appointed however, he served in the breathtakingly described fighting in Normandy and then sent back to fight/rescue the British troops in Brittany. Then, succeeding General Dill (his beloved mentor who was sent to Washington to form a close cooperation with the American War Department) Brooke (his real name was Alan Brooke - and he just ran the names together as one - "Alanbrooke") when he was ennobled) was at Churchill's right hand every day until the War ended - strategies, tactics, appointments - they are all here in two absolutely riveting volumes of his diaries for himself and his wife. Once you've begun them, it's hard to read anything else. They are riveting!

[Alf Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should have read this book a long time ago. Fascinating!

[Roqsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume in a totally wonderful two volume set (The follow up is Triumph In The West) where Arthur Bryant presents an annotated version of the war diaries that Alan Brooke who was the chief of the imperial general staff (CIGS) for most of the war, wrote at the actual time the events occurred. Brooke (later Lord Alanbrooke) interacted with Churchill throughout the war, so as a bonus you get some wonderful glimpses and anecdotes. Sometimes Brooke was grumpy and frustrated, but in the end you get a portrait of a highly intelligent and able man, who could hold all the strings together and became a major part of the allied victory.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The actual title of the book is "The Turn of the Tide: A History of the War Years Based on the Diaries of Lord Alanbrooke." This is volume one. Covers the first part of WW II up to the invasion of Italy in the fall of 1943. Fascinating and candid, with diary entries amplified by comments from Brooke ten years later. The editor, Bryant, ties it all together. 600 pages.

[Marcus Devin]

Hardback

[kevin moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

greatest find at a book sale I've ever had. $2 for a book with startling insights into churchill thinking during war years.