Massacre at Malmedy

UK: Leo Cooper. Very Good/Very Good. 1971. Hard Cover. 8vo 0850520819 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Red cloth boards with bright gilt titling, bump. No ownership marks. Plates. 240 pages clean and tight. It was certainly not through the foresight of his senior officers that Charles Carrington, a veteran of the First World War, was enabled to put his experience in that earlier conflict to good use in the Second, as readers of this remarkable book will soon learn. However, by great good fortune, he found himself in a position where his experience of things past could be adapted to the needs of a virtually untried aspect of warfare - that of Army/ Air Force Co-operation. As an Army Officer in a world of high-ranking Airmen, it was his task to walk the delicate tightrope between the two Services in an effort to persuade both parties that neither could win the war without the other and that co-operation was preferable to self-interest. The words 'prima donna' crop up frequently in the story and one is not surprised when the author remarks that "while we were organizing signals exercises... and such necessary menial chores, at which the Services worked together without a hitch, our problem was to get the Great Chiefs to stop quarrelling". Although he describes his experiences with cheerful modesty, it is clear that this unsung "armchair soldier" played a vital role in the backroom battle that had to be resolved before the war proper could be waged with efficiency. Apart from his being privy to much information that remained "Top Secret" for many years after the war, readers will soon see that his views on some of the Top Brass might have had unpleasant repercussions had they been aired too soon! But those who have read his earlier works, as well as those who come afresh to the work of this fluent and clear-sighted writer will surely agree that the wait has been worthwhile. .