Why were the British, victorious in 1918, unable to match the Germans in 1940—and why were these pioneers of tank warfare overcome for so long by Germany’s panzers? This caustic critique exposes just how close England came to losing World War II, and in the process overturns the reputations of some of Britain’s most famous generals. Churchill takes heavy blame for the poor state of the British forces in 1939, while Montgomery is revealed to have much skill with a pen…but very little in command. It’s a brilliant, eye-opening reassessment, from policy decisions in the 1920s to the great campaigns of 1939-45.