Colville’s Downing Street Diaries have led me on to General, Sir Alan Brooke’s wartime diaries. He later became Field Marshal, Viscount Alanbrooke, slightly confusingly. The diaries are a daily record of his war.
So far I have read about the first year of the war, from September 1939 until September 1940. My initial impressions are that Brooke is a serious, reserved character, putting duty first and not sparing himself or his subordinates, should they be found wanting. His affection for his wife and children and love of nature, particularly ornithology, makes him slightly more endearing but he is an aloof cove.
One of the most interesting aspects of the early months of the war is the boring routine of inspecting defences, liaising with the French army, expecting an imminent German invasion of Belgium and worrying how to counteract it. Throughout these cold winter months Brooke is acutely aware of how unprepared the British Expeditionary Force is and often frustrated by the blindness of other commanders, both British and French, to the situation.
He is posted back to England at the end of May but almost immediately is ordered back to France to command the remnants of the retreating British forces, so there is a day by day account of that harrowing defeat. I am looking forward to getting to know him better through the pages of these diaries. It is an astonishing thing to have maintained a daily record in such difficult times and while doing such important jobs.
Christopher. This is a wonderful read and one of those books it is easy to dip into when a specific instance bears examination or comes up in conversation about WWII. Perhaps unfashionably, I think Alanbrooke could justifiably be hailed as – if not the ‘man of the match’ – the strength behind the power: his controlling influence on Churchill has to be recognised and commended.
An equally compelling read is ‘Douglas Haig. War Diaries and Letters 1914-1918’ edited by Gary Sheffield and John Bourne. It’s another great expose of the man rather than his reputation.