Andrew Roberts's Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses who led the West to Victory in WWII tells the story of how four great leaders fought each other over how best to fight Hitler.
During the Second World War the master strategy of the West was shaped by four titanic figures: Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, and their respective military commanders - General Sir Alan Brooke and General George C. Marshall. Each man was tough-willed and strong minded. And each was certain he knew best how to achieve victory.
Drawing on previously unpublished material, including for the first time verbatim reports of Churchill's War Cabinet meetings, Andrew Roberts's acclaimed history recreates with vivid immediacy the fiery debates and political maneuverings, the rebuffs and the charm, the explosive rows and dramatic reconciliations, as the masters and commanders of the Western Alliance fought each other over the best way to fight Adolf Hitler.
Chapter 1. First Encounters: ‘I had heard a good deal about him!’ 1880–June 1940
Chapter 2. Collecting Allies: ‘The finger of God is with us’ June 1940–December 1941
Chapter 6. Marshall’s Mission to London: ‘A momentous proposal’ April 1942
Chapter 8. The Masters at Argonaut: ‘Please make it before Election Day’ June 1942
Chapter 9. Torch Reignited: ‘A new and rather staggering crisis in our war strategy’ July 1942
Chapter 10. The Most Perilous Moment of the War: ‘I am convinced that man is mad’ July–November 1942
Chapter 12. The Casablanca Conference: ‘We go bald-headed for Husky’ January 1943
Chapter 13. The Hard Underbelly of Europe: ‘Total War requires total mobilization’ January–June 1943
Chapter 16. Eureka! at Teheran: ‘I wish he had socked him’ November–December 1943
Chapter 18. D-Day and Dragoon: ‘This world and then the fireworks!’ May–August 1944
Chapter 19. Octagon and Tolstoy: ‘It takes little to rouse his vengeful temper’ August–December 1944
Chapter 21. Yalta Requiem: ‘They were ending the war in no friendly spirit’ February–May 1945
Conclusion: The Riddles of the War
Appendix A: The Major Wartime Conferences
Appendix B: Glossary of Codenames
Appendix C: The Selection of Codenames