Description

The career of General Hugh Stockwell culminated in the ill-fated Suez Operation of 1956 but no stigma can attach to him for this. It was a military success but a political nightmare which resulted in the fall of Prime Minister Eden, the lowest point in relations between the Western allies, the departure of France from the NATO military structure and the huge loss of British national confidence.

Stockwell's career up to that point had been exemplary. Although commissioned into the Welch Fusiliers he had fought in France 1940, commanded the Special Training Centre at Lochailort and an amphibious battalion in 29 Independent Brigade during the successful invasion of Madagascar in 1942. He was a brigade and divisional commander in Burma and commander of 6 Airborne Division in Palestine before becoming Commander Land Forces during the Malayan Emergency under Templer.

After the Suez debacle he went on to be Adjutant General and Deputy SACEUR during the height of the Cold War (Cuban missile crisis and erection of Berlin Wall).

This is a timely biography of a soldier who was at the heart of the action during the Second World War and the turbulent post-war years.