Leadership in War 1939-1945; The General in Victory and Defeat
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1974. First American Edition [stated], presumed First printing. Hardcover. 247, [1] pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. Covers Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, The Campaign in North Africa, Disaster in the Far East, and the Victorious Generals (Alexander, Montgomery, Slim, and Brooke). Brigadier Sir John George Smyth, 1st Baronet, VC, MC, PC (24 October 1893 – 26 April 1983), often known as Jackie Smyth, was a British Indian Army officer and a Conservative Member of Parliament. Although a recipient of the Victoria Cross, his military career ended in controversy. After passing out from Sandhurst, Smyth was commissioned as a second lieutenant on the unattached list for the British Indian Army on 24 August 1912, and was commissioned into the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs on 5 November 1913. He was promoted to lieutenant on 24 November 1914, three months after the outbreak of the First World War. He was 21 years old, and a lieutenant in the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, 3rd (Lahore) Division, Indian Army during the First World War, when his actions earned him the Victoria Cross (VC). In September 1920, when brigade major of the 43rd Indian Brigade, Smyth was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for distinguished service in the field in Waziristan. At the 1950 election, he defeated the sitting Labour MP for Norwood. He was made a baronet 23 January 1956 with the style Sir John George Smyth, VC, MC, 1st Baronet Smyth of Teignmouth in the County of Devon and a privy counsellor in 1962. He retired from Parliament at the 1966 general election; as at 2015 he was the last VC recipient to sit in the Commons. Smyth was also an author, a journalist and a broadcaster. General Smyth posed several 'eternal' questions: What makes a general? Why did one general fail whilst another succeeded? How does one general compare with another? What constitutes leadership in battle?--still remain unanswered and perennially fascinating. How much continued strain and ill-health can affect the judgment of a high commander in battle? The autocrats of the battlefield are the commanders-in-chief, the prime minister and, finally, the war historians, all of whom are prone to error. Many people have tried to define leadership but few of them have agreed--except is that a leader is someone whom people will follow. The author noted that most of the generals he wrote about made their reputations in the mud and blood of World War I, when they were comparatively junior officers, and they emerged from that cauldron really knowing what leadership meant from the bottom up--and then put their knowledge to good effect when they gained high command. Condition: Good / Very good.
Keywords: Leadership, Generalship, Victory, Defeat, Circumstances, Gort, Ironside, Auchinleck, Ismay, Wavell, Rommel, Gordon-Bennett, Alanbrooke, Bernard Law Montgomery, Tedder, Dobbie, Harold Alexander
[Book #83090]
Price: $55.00