Search results for ""Author Andrew Sangster""
Casemate Publishers Blind Obedience and Denial: The Nuremberg Defendants
A revealing yet accessible examination of the Nuremberg trial, and most crucially all 23 men who stood accused, not just the most infamous—Speer, Hess, and Göring. This account sets the scene by explaining the procedures, the legal context, and the moments of hypocrisy in the Allies’ prosecution—ignoring the fact that the Katyń massacre was a Soviet crime and overlooking carpet bombing.Author Andrew Sangster discusses how the word “Holocaust” was not used until long after the trial, probably due to Russian objection as they had lost many more people, and because the Allies generally were not innocent of anti-Semitism themselves, especially Russia and Vichy France. However, the defendants to a person immediately recognised that this was the singular issue which placed them on the steps of the gallows, and their various defences on this charge are therefore crucial to understanding the trial. Sangster also explores how the prisoners related to one another in their approach to defending themselves on the charge of genocide and extermination camps, especially in facing the bully-boy Göring.This new study utilises not only the trial manuscripts, but the pre-trial interrogations, the views of the psychiatrists and psychologists, and the often-overheard conversations between prisoners—who did not know their guards spoke German—to give the fullest exploration of the defendants, their state of mind, and their attitudes towards the Third Reich, Hitler and each other as they faced judgement by the victors of the war.
£22.50
Casemate Publishers Alan Brooke: Churchill's Right-Hand Critic: A Reappraisal of Lord Alanbrooke
Lord Alanbrooke was Churchill's right-hand man during World War II, and as Chief of the Imperial General Staff he had an integral part in shaping the strategy of Britain and the Allies. Despite this crucial role, he is very little known compared to military commanders such as Montgomery, Alexander, Slim, Mountbatten, Patton, or Eisenhower. This new biography of Lord Alanbrooke uses archival material and his diaries to trace his life, including his experiences in World War I and the development of his military career in the interwar years, with a focus on his post as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War II.Voted the greatest Briton of the 20th century, Churchill has long been credited with almost single-handedly leading his country to victory in World War II. However without Brooke, a skilled tactician, at his side the outcome might well have been disastrous. Brooke more often than not served as a brake on some of Churchill's more impetuous ideas. However, while Brooke's diaries reveal his fury with some of Churchill's decisions, they also reveal his respect and admiration for the wartime prime minister. In return Churchill must surely have considered Brooke one of his most difficult subordinates but later wrote that he was "fearless, formidable, articulate, and in the end convincing".As CIGS, Brooke was integral to coordination between the Allied forces, and so had to wrestle with the cultural strategy clash between the British and Americans. Comments in his diaries offer up his opinions of both his British and American military colleagues – his negative assessments of Mountbatten’s ability, and acerbic comments on the difficult character of de Gaulle and the weaknesses of Eisenhower. Conversely he was clearly over-indulgent in the face of Montgomery's foibles. Brooke was often seen as a stern and humourless figure, but a study of his private life reveals an little-seen lighter side, a lifelong passion for birdwatching, and abiding love for his family. The two tragedies that befell his immediate family were a critical influence on his life. Sangster completes this new biography with a survey of the way various historians have assessed Brooke, explaining how he has lapsed into seeming obscurity in the years since his crucial part in the Allied victory in World War II.
£22.50
Pen & Sword Books Ltd How Hitler Evolved the Traditional Army Establishment
Under the surveillance of General von Seeckt the Germans re-established their military, which Hitler utilised for his aggression of recovering Germany's military greatness. This book explores some of the leading military figures. The often-ignored Field Marshal Keitel is explored, to see if there were any substance in the Allied belief that this Chief of the OKW was the driving force behind initial German success or was he merely Hitler's lackey and bureaucrat. He was derided by his contemporaries because of his unstinting Prussian obedience to Hitler. This sense of total compliance was also reflected by General Paulus, who although obedient, was reluctant to carry out Hitler's barbaric orders relating to Jews and prisoners, but otherwise was obedient and trusting of Hitler even though he knew it would lead to military disaster. It took time in a Russian prison camp to turn him against the once adored German dictator where he eventually became anti-Nazi. In striking contrast to the
£22.50
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Pug Churchill's Chief of Staff: The Life of General Hastings Ismay KG GCB CH DSO PS, 1887 1965
General Hasting Ismay, invariably referred to as Pug', was one of the most intriguing, yet less well known, leading military characters of his era. This overdue biography describes how an officer who fought tribesmen in India and Dervishes in North-East Africa, thereby playing no significant role in The Great War, found himself as Winston Churchill's Chief of Staff throughout the Second World War. In this hugely influential position, he eased the often fraught relationship between a determined and obstinate Prime Minister and his top military advisors. His tact and diplomacy were tested to their limits oiling the wheels with our American allies, both political and military, even those with Anglophobic tendencies. Based in 10 Downing Street, Pug accompanied Churchill on his overseas visits and to the major conferences. Post-war Ismay assisted Mountbatten in the partitioning of the Indian sub-continent before becoming the first NATO Secretary General, a measure of the high regard the United States and other nations held him in. Despite the influence he wielded during and after the Second World War, Ismay remains a mysterious figure who somehow managed to maintain the trust of those with whom he worked and dealt with under the most testing and stressful conditions. This insightful biography is a most welcome and valuable addition to the history of the period.
£22.50
Casemate Publishers Flawed Commanders and Strategy in the Battles for Italy, 1943–45
Wars never run according to plan, perhaps never more so than during the Italian campaign, 1943-45, where necessary coordination between the different armies added additional complexity to Allied plans. Errors in the strategies, tactics, the coalition tensions, and operations at campaign command level can be clearly seen in first-hand accounts of the period. This new account examines the Italian campaign, from Sicily to surrender in 1945, exploring the strategy, intentions, motives, plans, and deeds. It then offers a detailed insight into the five commanders who led the battles in Italy - the two British commanders: Montgomery and Alexander; two American: Patton and Clark; and the leading German commander, Field Marshal Kesselring. Their personal notes and accounts, taken alongside archival material, provides some surprising conclusions - Montgomery was not quite the master of war he is portrayed as; Patton had serious flaws, exposed by wasting men’s lives to save a relative and overlooking the shooting of prisoners of war; Clark lost lives to bolster his image; Alexander the gentleman was far too vague to be effective as a senior leader. Meanwhile, condemned war criminal Kesselring appears to be the most efficient and also, like Alexander, one of the most popular leaders.
£22.50