TIME UNGUARDED THE IRONSIDE DIARIES 1937-1940-COLONEL RODERICK MACLEOD WW2

Time Unguarded: the Ironside Diaries 1937-1940 by Denis KELLY; COLONEL RODERICK MACLEOD ..Hardcover – CONDITION GOOD - EX-LIBRARY BOOK - PUBLISHED BY DAVID MCKAY - COPYRIGHT 1963 - 434 PAGES BOOK SIZE 6 X 9 .."Diaries," said a famous statesman, "are tricky material to publish," and Field-Marshal Lord Ironside, who was C.I.G.S. for the fist time nine months of the last war, expressly forbade the publication of his own Diaries in a Will made in 1930. After 1945, however, there appeared a number of factually misleading accounts of the opening months of the Second World War, and so the senior editor of this book, Colonel Macleod, a friend and brother officer of Ironside for more than thirty years, persuaded the Field-Marshal to change his mind some eighteen months before he died. It is thus that these extracts from his original daily account of events over the period 1937—1940, linked by editorial narrative, now come to be published. This selection reveals much information not hitherto made public, and Ironside's often unexpected assessments of Churchill, Hore-Belisha and Chamberlain—among many—are based on first hand experiences, details of which were unknown to earlier writers. These judgements and reflections cover the years prior to the outbreak of war, the months of the Phoney War, the black days of the Norwegian campaign and of the battle for France, and finally the months of fearful peril in expectancy of a German invasion.In 1937 Ironside was G.O.C.-in-C. Eastern Command. He moved to governor and Commander-in-Chief, Gibraltar, with a roving commission as Commander-in-Chief Designate, Middle East, and, later, Inspector General, Overseas Forces. On outbreak of war he was made Chief of the Imperial General Staff and after nine months took Command of Home Forces. He finally retired in 1940, having organised the defence of Britain against invasion.Standing 6' 4" tall and fluent in several languages, "Tiny" Ironside was John Buchan's original for Richard Hannay in The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, and Mr. Standfast, and his life was as romantic as Buchan's hero. He was a spy for British Intelligence in South West Africa in the Boer War. After Staff work and front line action in the First World War and after later commanding the Allied Expeditionary Forces at Archangel he returned to Staff jobs of continually increasing importance prior to the opening of these Diaries.Farsighted, patient, with immense reserves, a soldier in the great tradition, he was unquestionably one of the small number of men who saved Britain in 1940. these Diaries provide the first informed, day-by-day account of the personalities and events of the years 1937-1940. Ironside never rewrote his they are the raw material of history, and will lead to a reassessment of the characters and achievements of many of his contemporaries.Ironside was always unwilling to court publicity and perhaps because of this the great services he rendered his country have not been fully realised. In this posthumous publication the greatness and humility of the man is written on every page."...of uncommon interest and importance...more than the self-portrait of a major figure of our times. It is a document of considerable importance for the study of British defence policy in general."—Michael Howard, Sunday Times"Anyone who wishes to understand the 'phoney war' and the debacle which followed, the fiasco in Norway or the removal from the War Office of Hore-Belisha will find the book indispensable."—H. D. Ziman, Daily Telegraph"A valuable contribution to the history of the first years of the war...The editorial narrative is fluent and admirably objective...The diaries provide a lively account of the almost unbelievable confusion behind the scenes of strategic planning at the beginning of the war; but their greatest interest lies in the light which they throw on the character of a formidable and single-minded soldier."—The Times