Summer Reading: Winston Churchill and His Generals

In a harrowing story describing the agonizing days of WWII, Martin Rubin writes that no matter how many books you’ve read on Winston Churchill and his relationship with his generals, you will want to read Churchill and The Generals: 1939-45. Well-known British historian Mike Lepine has written an informative, concise, lively account that make the characters “sparkle as they seem to leap off the pages.”

Mr. Churchill “emerges magnificent in his qualities and in his contradictions, a very human character who could also seem almost superhuman in his resilience, fortitude and indomitable courage.”

In thumbnail portraits of nine British and two American generals, Mr. Lepine gives “masterpieces of concision” and information. He also peppers the account with well-known Churchill quips. On Montgomery: “In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable.”

According to Mr. Rubin’s review, the one thing missing from Mr. Lepine’s book is a portrait of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, which elicited one of Churchill’s perhaps most memorable and heartfelt quips: “The heaviest cross I have to bear is the Cross of Lorraine.”

Read more from Martin Rubin on Churchill and The Generals: 1939-45 here.

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