Allies: Pearl Harbor To D-day Review

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(More customer reviews)John S.D. Eisenhower is a very competent historian who has written half a dozen outstanding books about war. What he lacks in flash and dash he makes up for with clarity and an interesting sustained narrative.
"Allies" is about the making of joint British/American strategy to defeat Germany in World War II. It was not an easy relationship. The Brits and the Yanks often disagreed on fundamental issues of how to fight the war. The British regarded the American as rank unrealistic amateurs and the Americans were suspicious that they were being used to preserve the British empire. The opening quote from Winston Churchill describes the relationship: "There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them."
"Allies" is enlivened by many ancedotes illustrating both the foibles and the virtues of the high and mighty in the two commands. It was brought home to me the difficulty and dangers of traveling in those days -- even for prime ministers and commanding generals.
The principal characters of the book are Churchill, Roosevelt, and Marshall and their staffs -- but Dwight David Eisenhower comes into his own during the book. He seems to have been the one man on both sides who could forge a workable military partnership and the book ends with his laconic decision to invade Europe, "OK, we'll go." (The author apologizes for his emphasis on his father -- but such emphasis seems justifed.)
"Allies" was written more than 20 years ago, but is not out of date in any way that I can find. I recommend it highly for the strategic overview it provides to the conduct of the war in Europe by the United Kingdom and the United States.
Smallchief

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