Publisher's Synopsis
General W. J. Slim was one of the finest and most unorthodox commanders of the Second World War, the equal of Patton and Guderian, whose smart style of soldiering paved the way for how we make war today.
In this deft, atmospheric account of Slim's extraordinarily successful Burma campaign, Robert Lyman explores the brilliantly maverick innovator who created victory out of defeat in World War II. Appointed to lead the famous 'forgotten' 14th Army in Burma in 1943, within six months Slim had dealt the first death blow to the Japanese at the Battle of Kohim and Imphal. This was the largest single defeat of the Japanese Army on land in 1939-45 and led to their complete destruction in Burma by August 1945. It was accomplished with a fraction of the resources and support available to Montgomery in Europe, over almost impossible 1000-mile lines of communication. So, how did Slim achieve this? And why is he not better known?
Lyman depicts him as an intelligent, compassionate commander, whose unconventionality was his greatest strength. He was, like Patton, a manoeuvrist, preferring to employ cunning and guile, resourcefulness and ingenuity to achieve his ends, techniques at the time a stark contrast to those generally used by the British Army. He was also an early exponent of mission command, encouraging initiative at all levels.
Slim's men worshipped him - he was a soldier's general - and not just his men, but his equals too: he formed a strong bond with Mountbatten, and Stilwell would serve under no other British commander. They were not wrong, as Lyman makes clear in this tremendously readable and fascinating biography of a legendary soldier: he was a singular man and a supreme commander.
