Tedder

Quietly in Command

Vincent Orange

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780415652230
• eBook ISBN: 9781135776879
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Arthur Tedder became one of the most eminent figures of the Second World War: first as head of Anglo-American air forces in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and North Africa; then as Deputy Supreme Commander to General Eisenhower for the Allied campaign that began in Normandy and ended in Berlin. During those anxious, exhilarating years, he was, as The Times of London wrote, 'the most unstuffy of great commanders, who could be found sitting cross-legged, jacketless, pipe smoldering, answering questions on a desert airstrip.'
After the war, promoted to five-star rank and elevated to the peerage as Lord Tedder, he was made Chief of the Air Staff, holding this appointment for longer than anyone since his time: four critical years (from 1946 to 1949) that saw the tragic start of the Cold War and the inspiring achievement of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950, he became Britain's NATO representative in Washington: a year that saw the start of a hot war in Korea that threatened to spread around the globe.

This book provides the first comprehensive account of a great commander's public career and uses hundreds of family letters to portray a private life, both joyful and tragic.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Series Editor’s Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part I: 1890 to 1914: Rising
• Part II: 1915 to 1919: Flying
• Part III: 1919 to 1940: Climbing
• Part IV: 1940 to 1943: Commanding In Cairo
• Part V: 1943 to 1944: Commanding In Algiers
• Part VI: 1943 to 1945: Commanding Under Eisenhower
• Part VII: 1945 to 1949: Commanding the Royal Air Force
• Part VIII: 1950 to 1967: Giving and Not Counting the Cost
• Notes
• Bibliography