The War Between the Generals: Inside the Allied High Command

by David Irving

Book Overview

This is one of the great untold stories of our time - that of the little band of generals entrusted with a historic task: invading and liberating Nazi-occupied Europe. They were supposed to be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031292920X
• ISBN13: 9780312929206
• Release Date: January 1981
• Publisher: Congdon & Lattes, Inc.
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Inner War

David Irving's "The War Between The Generals" focuses on personal rivalries, strategic disputes, national conflicts and other forces that threatened the Allied command from within. Irving's writing style is superb, with the pacing and detail of a thriller novel and the facts and insights of real history. Why can't more historians write like this? The most serious Allied dispute dealt with Eisenhower's "Broad Front Strategy", in which Anglo-American forces would move across large sectors of France in the final push into Germanny vs. Montgomery's "Full Blooded Thrust", wherein a huge Allied Army would march on a narrow axis directly into the Ruhr Valley to capture and destroy Germany's industrial region. This broad front vs. full blooded thrust originated out of each commander's national needs. Montgomery knew that the British Empire teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and was down to her last manpower reserves. A quick victory in Europe would thus preserve the Empire. Eisenhower sought to maintain the Anglo-American coalition and pursue a low risk strategy of incremental advance across the entire Western Front. Eisenhower also wanted to maintain the autonomy of American commanders like George S. Patton. Ultimately, Ike decided that America, the major contributor of men, material and money, would call the strategic shots. The arrogance and incompetence of the French is examined in great detail. Shockingly, De Gaulle routinely fed the names of dissidents who loved France but not De Gaulle to the Gestapo so as to eradicate any rival political forces. Irving packs in great details such as the German V-1, V-2 and V-3 superweapons, the Allied VX proxmity fuses and many other fascinating facts. I highly recommend this work of history as it demonstrates how the Allies first had to overcome themselves before they could vanquish the Axis Powers.

Appreciate Ike for what he was

This was the first book by David Irving which I read, with great trepedation given his reputation as a Holocost debunker. However, it is an excellant book which should be read by anyone seeking to understand Eisenhower's role in the Second World War. Ike had never led troops in combat, was promoted over many others, to achieve Allied High Commander. His skill lay in his ability to manage such diverse personalities as Patton and Monty. And that quality is detailed in this book as never before. Ike's skill and forebearance is detailed in this book and my appreciation of it gains with each passing page. It is a people skill which allowed Eisenhower to hob nob with the regular GI as easily as with George Marshall and FDR. And he could manage such diverse personalities as Patton, Bradley, Clark and Monty without blowing a gasket. This is a must read for the WWII student. Irving has done a magnificent job.

A good book.

I read this book, here in Brazil.Even being an (unemployed) agronomist, I love to read Military history.This book shows you, many things about the generals who fought against Hitler in non soviet Europe. David Irving talks about Eisenhower, De Gaulle,etc.The failures in this book are such things, like don't tells about many details in military affairs.Other tipical failure happens in chapter 16, when Irving claimed that Germany's tanks were better then US's tanks.In some topics, they were, but when you have 20 american Sherman tanks, against a single Panther tank, you must see America had to win that war.All German's tanks had tecnical failures and, they didn't had enough spare parts.

Authoritative. It flows like a novel

Irving's book demands a lot of time and concentration from the reader due to the multitude of personalities which cross its pages. The characters, the strengths and also the weak points of the top Generals of the Allies are very well described and the author follows the action of the Western Front from the arrival of Eisenhower to Britain in January 1944 through the end of the war in Europe. The reader will be surprised to see that the allied strategy was not a product of smooth relations among the Allies and that political and military leadership often clashed violently but without affecting disastrously the operations. I especially enjoyed the peculiar deeds of Patton, the maneuvering of overambitious DeGaule, and admired the way that Ike handled Montgomery during successive crises of egotism and national pride. The strong point of the book is that Irving unearthed a wealth of written material and the first hand accounts and letters which were exchanged between the Generals (in an era when no computers and modern communications existed) are a real pleasure to read.

Wonderfully entertaining

In this wonderfully entertaining book, author and military historian David Irving examines World War II in Europe from an entirely different angle. As Mr. Irving unfolds his story of the war in Europe he shows that there was not just a war between Allied and German soldiers, but also between the Allied generals themselves! Many have heard of the rivalry (often bitter) between U.S. General George Patton and British Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery, but in this book one gets to see how the different generals, air marshals and admirals worked with each other, across each other, and even against each other. Overall, I found this to be an absolutely fascinating book. I purchased it new in 1981, and have read the book through numerous times. The author does an excellent job of giving a history of the war in Europe from the inside, showing how the different decisions were made (or not made), and how the politics of the situation affected the operation of the war. This is a great book that I think should be read by anyone interested in knowing what really happened. I give this book my highest recommendations!