Point of Failure – British Brigadiers in France and Norway 1940
With Philip McCarty
Part of our 1940 series on WW2TV
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lDUOzzS8OSueMl7s1HzhnLg&si=xL2RU7GtaoI-rq9V
Also part of our British Army ongoing series
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lDaP6weOYku3l9ZkUOMsszq&si=6qKjaTfJ-yyy8jpP
By the early summer of 1940, the British Army had suffered two simultaneous strategic failures in Europe – in France & Belgium from May to June and in Norway from April to May. In today’s show, Philip McCarty will talk about his forthcoming book – Point of Failure, which considers a specific set of British Army officers, Brigadiers, who served there. In 1940, while the rank of Brigadier existed, it was more a holding rank for an officer occupying a post temporarily to fulfil a role, after which he would either revert to Colonel or be advanced to Major General. Therefore, Brigadiers were, in a sense, the Army’s ‘middle management’ – heading for the top or making no further progress. Point of Failure aims to examine this set of officers and to see whether their professional survival and/or advancement after 1940 was influenced by factors prevailing before it.
Factors which may have contributed to the advancement of officers, be they professional, social or operational before 1940, are addressed. Also considered are those presumed to do so, but which this book shows were either ineffectual or less influential than prior presumptions arising from the literature on the British Army in the Second World War, such as the influence of patronage by senior officers, most notably Bernard Montgomery and Alan Brooke.
Philip McCarty is a retired civil servant and academic. He worked in the Ministry of Defence and the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office for 26 years. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Manchester, a master’s degree from King’s College London and a doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton. He served in the Territorial Army, sits on the Members’ Advisory Group of the National Army Museum and has served similarly on other academic military history bodies. He is a Visiting Lecturer in Military History at the University of Wolverhampton.
Buy the Book:
Uk https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/point-of-failure-british-brigadiers-in-france-and-norway-1940.php
USA https://bookshop.org/a/21029/9781804514276
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Excellent show, Phil delivered a depth of knowledge of a subject that one would not nessacarily think of.
Good show on a topic I didn't know about…per the usual WW2TV MO! Thanks Woody!!
I only met one of my Brigadier Generals once when I was a member of the 229th Attack Helicopter BN, 101st Airborne Division in 1982. A Brigadier General Allen appeared one morning before a Battalion level run. He gave us a rousing talk, including some old fashioned cheer leader type motivation. He then proceeded to lead the run of 5 miles at an 8 minute per mile pace, which considering he was in his 60s was pretty good. He was our Assistant Division Commander at the time. A famous American Brigadier I think of often was BG Anthony McAuliffe, the Artillery Commander of the 101st Airborne who commanded the unit at Bastogne in December, 1944. It was rare for the average enlisted soldier to have met one's Brigadier.
Excellent presentation Woody, the level of details is amazing on a subject that is often overlook. I recently see a presentation on US Submarine Commander at the start of the War. A large percentage were beached due to be caution.
My God this was brilliant! At only 12 minutes in… Btw pause often to read the entire slide.
Very interesting subject. Great show
Brilliant! This gave me insight into the importance of Monty’s ‘tidying up’ of the British Army.
Excellent topic and well discussed 😊
As Salaam. What a presentation Phil and Woody. So much information, so many pre conceived ideas broken, and more questions arising, all presented in a academic yet casual style. Thank you so very much for this insightful presentation on what would become the upper echelon of the British staff in 1943 onwards. thanks again gentleman.
Great research by Phil. Some familiar names and not so familiar names brought to light. Some myths confirmed – Monty/Brooke patronage, other myths deunked – e.g. age of brigadier increasing in war. Great stuff.
One of the major contributions ascribed to George Marshall was the “retirement” of large numbers of US Army senior officers who were considered too old or incompetent prior to the official American entrance into WW2. Though he had major institutional obstacles to overcome I’m betting the obstacles in the British Army were even greater precisely because of its long history and sense of tradition.
You had me at Norway! 😁💪
A great debunk, strangely compelling.
I spotted ‘Ginger’ Hawkesworth right away, always good to see the GOC of the mighty 46th Division mentioned! A great presentation, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Brooke needs his own episode on WW2TV… is Andrew Sangster available?
Unusual topic but had me hooked, such knowledge and insight from Phil, thanks for the presentation Woody.
For those interested, "Point of Failure" will be available through Amazon in the United States on 31 January 2025 for $36.11
I got Montagu Stopford but struggled with the others! McCreery is pretty underrated but I wouldn't recognise him right off the bat
Woody another great historian with a refreshing and interesting path of research! I had no idea that Brigadier had become an appointment not a formal rank! This was a very interesting presentation! Thanks to you both!!
Great stuff! I would love to see a comparison with the AIF / AMF given the stereotype of the Australian forces being more egalitarian.
Michael Calvert was a Brigadier aged 29!
Not Europe until 1944-5.
I have a friend/mentor who is a retired Brigadier, and famous in all of NATO in the nineties. Brigadiers are a special breed.
Great show, lot of names I've never heard off
This was fascinating. A change from the arrows on a map tales to which war history can often descend. Gorgeous Paul has produced another classic 🙂
That was really interesting, another eye-opener. Didn't have a lot of time so thought I'll just grab the first 15, ended up listening to the end riveting stuff.