I was in the Lake District two weeks ago on our annual family holiday there. There is little historical interest, but I visit a few second-hand bookshops. I was delighted to find a copy of Jumbo Wilson's WW2 memoirs in one at a reasonable price. I had only dipped into this in the British Library for my book, Chasing the Soft Underbelly , because Wilson was a key figure in British aid to Turkey during WW2.
Henry Maitland (Jumbo) Wilson started WW2 as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief British Troops in Egypt, launching Operation Compass in December 1940, which destroyed the Italian army. He had less success with the ill-fated expeditionary force to Greece in April 1941 and returned to be General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan in May 1941, which included the Iraq and Syria operations. He became GOC Persia and Iraq Command in August 1942 when it looked like the Germans would br
It is obvious from the above that Wilson was a central player in the Middle East and Mediterranean campaigns of WW2. However, he is a far less familiar public figure than say Montgomery or Alexander. This is probably because he was primarily the organiser of victory, ensuring that troops and equipment were there for the fighting armies. In this regard, he had to have the political skills a coalition commander needs, so it is no surprise that Eisenhower wrote the forward to this book, paying fulsome tribute