Point of Failure – British Brigadiers in France and Norway 1940



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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25 thoughts on “Point of Failure – British Brigadiers in France and Norway 1940”

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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!!

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