Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke
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Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (23 July 1883 - 17 June 1963) was a British career soldier, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War, and was promoted to Field Marshal in 1944. As chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee he was the foremost military advisor to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He is regarded as one of the chief architects of the Allies' victory in 1945. In retirement he served as Lord High Constable of England during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. His war diaries have attracted attention for their criticism of Winston Churchill and other leading figures of the war.
Background and early lifeHe was born in 1883 at Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France, to a prominent Anglo-Irish family with a long military tradition. He was the sixth son and ninth child of Sir Victor Brooke, Bt. of Colebrooke, Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, and Alice Bellingham Brooke, second daughter of Sir Alan Edward Bellingham, Bt., of Castle Bellingham in County Louth. Alan Brooke was educated in France where he lived to age 16, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Thanks to his upbringing in France he became a fluent speaker of French. During World War I he served with the Royal Artillery in France, ending the conflict as a Lieutenant-Colonel and with a reputation as an outstanding planner of operations. Between the wars he was a lecturer at the Staff College, Camberley and the Imperial Defence College, where Brooke knew most of those who became leading British commanders of the Second World War. World War IIFollowing the outbreak of World War II, Brooke commanded the II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force - which contained the 3rd Division, commanded by the then Major-General Bernard Montgomery, whose superior he thus was - and distinguished himself in the handling of the British forces in the retreat to Dunkirk. Shortly after the evacuation from Dunkirk he was again sent to France to take command of the remaining British troops in the country. Brooke soon realized that the situation was untenable and, in his first conversation with the prime minister Winston Churchill, he recommended that all British forces should be withdrawn from France, which they subsequently were.[1] In July 1940 he was appointed to command United Kingdom Home Forces to take charge of anti-invasion preparations, and in December 1941 was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS); he later also became chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, holding both posts until retirement from active service in 1946. For most of the Second World War, Brooke was the foremost military adviser to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (who was also Minister of Defence), the War Cabinet, and to Britain's allies. As CIGS, Brooke was the functional head of the Army, and as chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, which he dominated by force of intellect and personality, he took the leading military part in the overall strategic direction of the war effort. In 1942, Brooke joined the Western Allies' ultimate command, the US-British Combined Chiefs of Staff, in Washington D.C. 
Alan Brooke's focus was primarily on the European theatre of operations. Here, one of his key issues was to keep a strong pressure on the Axis in North Africa and Italy, thereby opening up the Mediterranean for Allied shipping, and then, when the Allies were ready and the Germans sufficiently weakened, mount the cross channel invasion.[2] This strategy was essentially the one which was implemented, not always in initial agreement with the American allies whose strong commitment to an invasion of western Europe was in contrast to Brooke's and the British view on the importance of the Mediterranean operations. Not all of Brooke's plans were however ultimately met with success. For example he had great hope of bringing Turkey into the war on the Allied side, but this hope he admitted after the war remained a "wild dream".[3] The post of CIGS was less rewarding than command in an important theatre of war, but the CIGS chose the generals who commanded those theatres and decided what men and munitions they should have. When it came to finding the right commanders he often complained that many would be good generals had been killed in World War I, and that this was one reason behind the difficulties the British had in the beginning of the war. However, he does not seem to have reflected on that the Germans did not suffer from the same problem, which they would have had to the same extent. When General Claude Auchinleck was to be substituted as the commander of the Eighth Army in 1942, Brooke preferred Bernard Montgomery instead of Lieutenant-General William Gott who was Churchill's candidate. Soon thereafter Gott was killed in an air crash and Montgomery got the command. Brooke would later reflect upon the tragic event which led to the appointment of Montgomery as an intervention by God.[4] Earlier in 1942 Brooke had himself been offered the command of British forces in the Middle East, Brooke declined, believing he now knew better than any other general how to deal with Prime Minister Churchill, who too often seemed vulnerable to unwise advice from unqualified people.[5] A year later, the war had taken a different turn and Brooke no longer believed it necessary to stay at Churchill's side. He therefore looked forward to take the command of the Allied invasion of Western Europe, a post Brooke believed he had been promised to have by Churchill on three occasions. But during the first Quebec conference, in August 1943, it was decided that the command would go to US General George C. Marshall. (Although in the event Marshall's work as US Army Chief of Staff was too important for him to leave Washington DC, and a different US General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was in fact appointed.) Brooke was bitterly disappointed, both of being passed over and of the way the decision was conveyed to him by Churchill, who according to Brooke "dealt with the matter as if it were one of minor importance".[6] 
Relationship with ChurchillDuring the years as CIGS, Alan Brooke had a stormy relationship with Winston Churchill. Brooke was often frustrated with the Prime Minister’s habits and working methods, his abuse of generals and constant meddling into strategic matters. At the same time Brooke greatly admired Churchill for the way he inspired the Allied cause and for the way he bore the heavy burden of war leadership. In one typical passage in Brooke’s war diaries Churchill is described as a “genius mixed with an astonishing lack of vision -- he is quite the most difficult man to work with that I have ever struck but I should not have missed the chance of working with him for anything on earth!”.[7] When Churchill’s many fanciful strategic ideas collided with sound military strategy it was only Alan Brooke on the Chiefs of Staff Committee who was able to stand up to the Prime Minister. Churchill said about Brooke: “When I thump the table and push my face towards him what does he do? Thumps the table harder and glares back at me. I know these Brookes – stiff-necked Ulstermen and there's no one worse to deal with than that!” [8][9] It has been claimed that part of Churchill's greatness was that he appointed Brooke as CIGS and kept him for the whole war.[citation needed] A general complaint from Brooke was that Churchill often advocated diversion of forces where the CIGS preferred concentration. Brooke was particularly annoyed by Churchill's idea of capturing the northern tip of Sumatra.[10] But in some cases Brooke did not see the political dimension of strategy as the Prime Minister did. For example, Brooke was sceptical about the British intervention in Greece in late 1944, an operation which he believed drained troops from the central front in Germany. But at this stage the war was practically won and Churchill saw the possibility to prevent Greece from becoming a communist state.[11] The balance of the Chiefs of Staff Committee was tilted in October 1943 when Admiral Andrew Cunningham succeeded Admiral Dudley Pound as First Sea Lord. Brooke now got a firm ally in his arguments with Churchill.[12] This was reflected in the most serious clash between the Prime Minister and the Chiefs of Staff, regarding the British preparations for final stages of the Pacific War. Brooke and the rest of the Chiefs of Staff wanted to build up the forces in Australia while Churchill preferred to use India as a base for the British effort. It was an issue over which the Chiefs of Staff were prepared to resign, but in the end a compromise was reached.[13] Despite their many disagreements Brooke and Churchill held an affection for each other. After one fierce clash Churchill told General Hastings Ismay that he did not think he could continue to work any longer with Brooke because “he hates me. I can see hatred looking from his eyes.” Brooke responded to Ismay: “Hate him? I don't hate him. I love him. But the first time I tell him that I agree with him when I don't will be the time to get rid of me, for then I can be no more use to him." When Churchill was told this he murmured, ”Dear Brooke.”[citation needed] AssessmentAlan Brooke, or "Brookie" as he was generally known, is reckoned to be one of the foremost of all the heads of the British Army. He was quick in mind and speech and deeply respected by his military colleagues, both British and Allied, although his uncompromising manners could make the Americans somewhat wary. His influence on the Western Allied grand strategy was strong, perhaps the strongest any individual had. Among the most important of his contributions to the course of the war ranks the delaying of the second front. The partnership between Brooke and Churchill was a very successful one. The combination of Churchill's vision and Brooke's down to earth-method of running the war led Britain to victory in 1945.[14] War diariesAlan Brooke kept a diary during the whole of World War II. Originally intended for his wife, Benita, the diaries were later commented by Brooke in the 1950s. The diaries contain descriptions on the day-to-day running of the British war effort (including some quite indiscreet references to top secret interceptions of German radio traffic),[15] Brooke's thoughts on strategy as well as frequent anecdotes from the many meetings Brooke had with the Allied leadership during the war. The diaries have become famous mostly because of the frequent remarks on and criticisms of Winston Churchill. Although the diaries contain appraisal and admiration of Churchill, they also served as a vent for Brooke's frustration with working with the Prime Minister. The diaries also give a rough opinion on several of the top Allied leaders. The American generals Eisenhower and George Marshall are for example described as poor strategists and the British Field Marshal Harold Alexander as unintelligent. Among the few individuals who Brooke seems to have only positive opinion of are General Douglas MacArthur,[16] Field Marshal John Dill and Joseph Stalin (for his war leadership). Edited by historian Arthur Bryant the diaries were first published in 1957 (The Turn of the Tide) and in 1959 (Triumph in the West). Originally the diaries were never meant to be published. One reason why Brooke changed his mind was the lack of credit to him and the Chiefs of Staff in Churchill's own war memoirs which essentially presented their ideas and innovations as his own. Although heavily censored, the books became controversial not only as a result of the many comments on Churchill and others, but also because they launched Brooke as the sole man behind the Allies' victory. Winston Churchill himself did not appreciate the books.[17] In 2001 the publication of the uncensored "War Diaries", edited by Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman, again attracted attention to one of the most influential strategists of World War II. Post war career and honoursAfter retirement from the Army Alan Brooke served on the boards of several companies, both in industry and in banking. He was director of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the Midland Bank, the National Discount Company and the Belfast Banking Company. Brooke was particularly fond of being a director of the Hudson's Bay Company where he served for eleven years from 1948.[18] Brooke was created Baron Alanbrooke, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, in 1945, and Viscount Alanbrooke in 1946.
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