“What unites these commanders Is selt-beliet. It they didn't have faith in themselves, no one else would”

AL MURRAY tells Spencer Mizen about his new book profiling 10 military leaders whose experiences shine a light on the Allies’ extraordinary transformation in the Second World War

- AL MURRAY

Spencer Mizen: It's safe to say that when writing a history of the Second World War, you're entering a pretty crowded field. So what does your new book, Command, bring to the party?

Al Murray: One of the things that's striking about the Second World War is that the Allies get off to a terrible start. And then, at the end, they won a crushing, total victory. How on Earth did that happen in six years? That's the question I wanted to answer in this book.

The answer people often give is: "Well, it's because of industry, and it's a war of engines." That's basically what Stalin said. And, to an extent, he was right. You've got three Allied economies bigger than the German economy, and those economies were able to use their abundance of machinery to batter Germany into submission.

But the thing about pummelling people into submission is you've still got to figure out how to do it and then you've still got to persuade people to do it. You've got to have the right people in place to do it. You've got to organise your men, you need to figure out how to use intelligence and react to what's unfolding in front of you. And that's the bit I've tried to write about. At the beginning of the war, the Allies were hopeless at all this; by the end of the conflict, they were really, really good at fighting. They didn't win this war simply by muddling through and outgunning the Germans. I think they learned lessons. And I've tried to trace that transformation via 10 commanders - from the generals at the top of the food chain, all the way down to a lieutenant fighting alongside his men on the front line.

Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War

By Al Murray (Headline, 352 pages, £20)