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A couple more for you


Snapper

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WAVELL - SOLDIER AND STATESMAN by Victoria Schofield is a very readable biography of a great man who was deemed an unlucky general by many, loathed by Churchill for his taciturn approach, but highly rated by the Germans. His downfall came after the success of his army clearing the Italians out of Cyrenica and then in East Africa, but he also had to contend with Free French causing trouble in Vichy Syria, the revolt in Iraq by Raschid Ali and the never ending difficulties of the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. He was actually quoted in 1936 "Left to themselves the Jews will make mincemeat of the Arabs". It was his and various other generals job to try to stop it, but of course the Balfour Declaration had long let the genie out of the bottle. Wavell was lambasted by Churchill for his tactical decisions in Greece, where he was more or less left out to dry by HMG who had insisted he divert scarce forces there in the first place. They shoved him off to India and then had him trying to make the best of the whole of British Asia as the Japs moved in. His task was impossible. So they shunted him back to India and then eventually lumped him with being Viceroy of India which Churchill, the arch imperialist, was desperate to cling on to. He had the job of bringing the Muslim and Hindu nationalists to the table. Poor sod. He was sacked in 1947 by a scheming Clement Attlee and died of cancer in 1950. Wavell won the MC in the Great War where he lost an eye. He was a poet and writer and good friend of Allenby, Lawrence and Liddell-Hart. Not being friends with Churchill was his undoing. A shame.

 

At the other end of the book scale is a lovely slim volume called SPITFIRE PILOT by Flight Lieutenant David Crook DFC. This book is a modern re-issue with additional family photos and a forward by a historian that is very positive. He kept a diary throughout the Battle of Britain while he flew with 609 Squadron and paints a picture of a typically middle class life in an Auxiliary Squadron. All the "chaps" are great pals and mix for drinks and stuff after chasing the Hun. But the times dictate that the Sergeant Pilots are barely mentioned, as are none of the ground crew by name. But this is an observation, not a criticism. David Crook was a thoroughly decent brave young man with a young family. He died while training to be a photo recce pilot in 1944 and has no known grave. God bless him. This book is a stocking filler.

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