Behold the Dark Gray Man

Triumphs and Trauma: The Controversial Life of Sholto Douglas

Katherine Campbell

• Publisher: Biteback Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781785905971
• eBook ISBN: 9781785906718
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Katharine Campbell's father Sholto Douglas was the hero of her childhood, an unconventional senior commander in the Royal Air Force described as 'a gloriously contentious character'. Following childhood abandonment and poverty, Sholto rose through the ranks of the fledgling RAF in the First World War before taking on a crucial role in the Second as head of Fighter Command and going on to serve as Military Governor in Germany in the war's devastating aftermath.

But when Katharine was five years old, he began to be stolen away by strange night-time wanderings and daytime distress – including vivid flashbacks to his time signing death warrants in post-war Germany. The doctors called it dementia, but decades later, Katharine started researching her father's story and realised that she had observed the undiagnosed consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD is a hot topic today. We're aware of the front-line soldier suffering from 'shell-shock' – but what about the senior officer giving the orders, who may be carrying hidden wounds accumulated over many years? We don't expect our military leaders to have PTSD, nor is it something they often recognise or acknowledge in themselves, yet this secret burden likely affects a surprising number of those making important tactical decisions. A thought-provoking insight into the damage done by military conflict, Behold the Dark Gray Man is the story of a daughter's search to understand the impact of war upon one of its most charismatic senior commanders.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Foreword by Professor Alexander McFarlane
• List of Illustrations
• Abbreviations
• Chapter One : My Memories of the Dark Gray Man
• Chapter Two : The Beginnings of the Dark Gray Man
• Chapter Three : The Siren Call to War
• Chapter Four : First Taste of Command
• Chapter Five : The Fighting Cocks and the White Horse
• Chapter Six : Tactics and Retreat
• Chapter Seven : Birth and Triumph
• Chapter Eight : A Troubled Aftermath
• Chapter Nine : Return to the Fold and Climbing the Ladder
• Chapter Ten : The Stunt Pilot, the Red Alfa and a Chain of Protection
• Chapter Eleven : Flying Towards the Crash
• Chapter Twelve : An Evil Dream World
• Chapter Thirteen : More Catastrophe
• Chapter Fourteen : Infighting Chaos in the Battle of Britain
• Chapter Fifteen : Night Terrors
• Chapter Sixteen : ‘Fit to Fly’
• Chapter Seventeen : Day Sweeps
• Chapter Eighteen : Cairo: Disappointments and Snares
• Chapter Nineteen : An Ill-Fated Operation and Sholto’s Nadir
• Chapter Twenty : Victory at Last
• Chapter Twenty-One : ‘Misery and Starvation’
• Chapter Twenty-Two : In the Midst of Chaos
• Chapter Twenty-Three : Pleas from Nuremberg
• Chapter Twenty-Four : ‘A Different Kettle of Fish Altogether’
• Chapter Twenty-Five : Theft and Corruption
• Chapter Twenty-Six : ‘And All the Trumpets Sounded’
• Chapter Twenty-Seven : A Lifetime of Trauma
• Endnotes
• Select Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Plates
• Copyright