Lloyd Clark
Author
Lloyd Clark is Professor of Modern War Studies and Contemporary Military History at University of Buckingham. He is also a senior academic in the Department of War Studies, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the British Commission for Military History and historian to the Airborne Assault Normandy Trust.
Educated in the departments of history and war studies at King's College, University of London, Professor Clark is a specialist in the First and Second World Wars with a particular interest in airborne and amphibious warfare; operational fighting methods; command and leadership; the development of doctrine and military lesson learning.
He has appeared on many television programmes including 'Meet the Ancestors', 'Timewatch', 'Battlefield Detectives', 'Battle Plans' and 'In the Line of Fire'.
His Blitzkrieg, the first in a three-book contract with Grove Atlantic in the US and Atlantic in the UK, was published in 2016.
The Commanders - The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel was published in the US and UK in 2022.
'Utterly fascinating. Lloyd Clark demonstrates his deep and wide-ranging knowledge in this compelling new look at three of the most iconic commanders of World War II. With genuinely fresh insights, immense wisdom and thought-provoking analysis, this is a superb account of these three men, divided by different nationalities but with uncanny similarities in ambition, character and motivation.' James Holland
Latest Release
The Commanders by Lloyd Clark
Born in the two decades prior to World War I, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel became among the most recognized and successful military leaders of the 20th century. However, as acclaimed military historian Lloyd Clark reveals in his penetrating and insightful braided chronicle of their lives, they charted very different, often interrupted, paths to their ultimate leadership positions commanding hundreds of thousands of troops during World War II and celebrated as heroes in the United States, Britain, and Germany.
Patton was born into a military family and from an early age felt he was destined for glory; following a disjointed childhood, Montgomery found purpose and direction in a military academy; Rommel’s father was a former officer, so his pursuit of a military career was logical. Having ascended to the middle ranks, each faced battle for the first time in World War I, a searing experience that greatly influenced their future approach to war and leadership. When war broke out again in 1939, Montgomery and Rommel were immediately engaged, while Patton chafed until the U.S. joined the Allies in 1942 and the three men, by then generals, collided in North Africa in 1943, and then again, climactically, in France after D-Day in 1944.
Weaving letters, diary extracts, official reports, and other documents into his original narrative, recounting dramatic battles as they developed on the ground and at headquarters, Clark also explores the controversies that swirled around Patton, Montgomery, and Rommel throughout their careers, sometimes threatening to derail them. Ultimately, however, their unique abilities to bridge the space between leader and led cemented their legendary reputations.
