Anthony Tucker-Jones - Churchill, Master and Commander: Winston Churchill at War 1895–1945

Contents

I felt as if I were walking with destiny, wrote Sir Winston Churchill of the day he became Prime Minister in May 1940, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial. The distinguished historian Anthony Tucker-Jones shows brilliantly just how accurate that self-observation was, by putting Churchills achievements during his trial of World War II squarely in the context of all that he had learned about warfare since even before he attended Sandhurst half a century earlier.

Tucker-Jones is particularly strong on the ethos, assumptions, tactics and strategic overview of the British Army at the time when the young Churchill was at his most receptive, and proves that time and again personal experience was put to astoundingly good use decades later when Churchill was Minister of Defence during the greatest existential crisis in British history. Readers will be impressed by the authors extremely wide and detailed knowledge of every aspect of this extraordinary story, as well as his willingness to engage in issues forthrightly.

Churchill felt he was qualified to act as Britains pre-eminent master and commander in 1940 in part because a quarter of a century earlier he had been taught by the Dardanelles Expedition that campaigns cannot be won by committees of politicians. Tucker-Jones examines every major influence on his thinking regarding civil-military relations, what Churchill called the brass hats and frock-coats.

This fine book also explores and highlights areas that are often misunderstood or elided in other works. Churchills enthusiasm for mustard gas; his defiance of David Lloyd George over British intervention in the Russian Civil War; his implementation of Hugh Trenchards controversial Air Control; his access to secret intelligence regarding Nazi rearmament; how well informed he was during the Battle of Britain; what he learned from Lawrence of Arabia that helped him set up the Commandos; his appalling dilemma over saving either Cairo or Singapore in 1942; the impact of the Quit India movement on the campaign in Burma; the two occasions when he seriously considered invading neutral Ireland during World War II: all get full and fascinating treatment.

This book is certainly no hagiography; the author points out that Churchill could get important things wrong occasionally, instancing the time that he favoured the Japanese over the Chinese in the 1930s, and also showed too little interest in the Spanish Civil War. Over the issue of Churchills involvement in the Bengal Famine of 1943, Tucker-Jones rightly concentrates on the Viceroy Lord Wavells full awareness of the threat posed by the Japanese Navy in the Bay of Bengal.

Churchills adherence to the Mediterranean strategy in 194344 ultimately brought him to loggerheads with the Americans, to the point that he threatened to resign as Prime Minister over the projected Operation Anvil landings on the French Riviera in August 1944, because of the way they weakened the campaign in Italy. Tucker-Jones rightly argues that Churchills unilateral but ultimately justified intervention without President Franklin Roosevelts approval in the Greek Civil War needs to be seen in that context of testy Anglo-American relations towards the end of the war in Europe.

This well-researched, well-written and soundly argued book is a real addition to the avalanche of books on Winston Churchill, illuminating where the military views came from that were so profoundly to affect the twentieth century and beyond.

Andrew Roberts
London
July 2021

Winston Churchill was one of the greatest military and political chancers of all time. This is not meant as a criticism, as these were the very qualities that made him such a dynamic and energetic leader. From a young age he craved fame, or even notoriety, as long as it brought him to public attention. It was clear he had achieved this goal by 1899, when even school girls in Pretoria knew who he was. His propensity to take risks did mean that inevitably on occasions he gambled and lost spectacularly. The focus on Churchills life tends to be his phenomenal political career and wartime premiership. Arguably his short army and long political careers ably prepared him for that pivotal moment in 1940. Despite his limited time as a soldier, his connection with the armed forces through numerous regimental and then ministerial posts was considerable. Crucially this experience with the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force gave him an almost unique insight into the British armed forces.

Churchills lust for military adventure was quite remarkable. In his quest for self-promotion and glory he essentially became a war tourist. Thanks to brazen doorstepping of senior commanders and his mothers extensive network of contacts he saw action in Cuba, India, Sudan and South Africa. All of this was in a semi-official capacity and had nothing to do with his parent regiment the 4th Hussars. Churchill notably combined being a soldier, a war correspondent and an author, though this made him enemies who were annoyed by his impertinence and jealous of his rising profile. In doing so he was prepared to travel thousands of miles and at his own expense. Like many young subalterns or lieutenants, he dreamed of winning the Victoria Cross or the Distinguished Service Order, but what set him apart from many of his contemporaries was that he actively sought to gain them by deliberately putting himself in harms way. To get himself noticed by senior officers he regularly exposed himself to enemy fire.

On numerous occasions Churchill could have been killed, but miraculously survived his close encounters with death. These narrow escapes seem to have convinced him that he was somehow invincible. This, in consequence, persuaded him to take more risks with his safety even in later life. His dangerous behaviour on a bombed bridge over the Rhine in 1945 beggars belief, but goes a long way in illustrating what kind of man he was. Quite simply he loved to be in the thick of it. Throughout his long life he was drawn to the sound of the guns like a moth to a flame. At a young age, unable to fast-track his military career nor prepared to put the time in, he sought to emulate his father by taking up politics as soon as possible.

Churchills monumental political achievements so eclipsed his soldiering that it is not generally appreciated that, apart from being commissioned with the 4th Hussars, he served with numerous other units. While on the North-West Frontier he was attached to the 31st Punjab and 35th Sikh Infantry and then in the Sudan to the 21st Lancers. During his time in South Africa he was first with the South African Light Horse and then the Imperial Yeomanry. Prior to World War I he was in the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars. During that conflict, after resigning from the government, he was attached to the 2nd Grenadier Guards, before commanding a battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. He liked his time in the trenches and by all accounts was respected by the men under his command. He made a point of leading by example rather than from the safety of his dugout. Once more his luck held, although he almost lost a hand to enemy shrapnel and was regularly at risk from German snipers when on patrol.