Ronald Lewin

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George Ronald Lewin

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(11 October 1914 – 6 January 1984), later known as Ronald Lewin, was a British officer, publishing editor, radio producer and military historian.

Education

Lewin attended

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

at The Queens College on an academic scholarship in 1932, having earned both the Hastings Scholar award and the Goldsmiths’ Exhibitioner award in Classics and Divinity. While there he earned double First honours in classical literature, history and philosophy. His love of English literature endured throughout his life.

Career

Following his graduation in 1937 Lewin worked as an editorial assistant with the British publishing house of Jonathan Cape Limited. With the start of the Second World War in 1939 he joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, serving as an officer in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. In North Africa he served under Montgomery, and was wounded at El Alamein. He returned to his field post and served with distinction in North Africa and Europe till the close of the war. Returning to England in 1946 he worked in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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Home service, initially as a producer. He was made chief of the BBC's domestic service in 1957, and remained at that position until his retirement from the BBC in 1965. In 1966 he returned to publishing, and was made editor at Hutchinson Publishing. He served in that capacity till 1969.

Military historian

Lewin did not begin writing books until the age of 54. He wrote ten books during his lifetime and was working on a one-volume history of World War II at the time of his death. His best-known book was ''Ultra Goes to War,'' an account written on the cipher breaking by which the Allies intercepted and broke the coded messages that the Germans transmitted by radio during World War II. His work on Ultra was the first to be based on official documents of the intelligence operation. Writing in a foreword to a book by Lewin, historian

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard'' ...

said "He quickly established a reputation as one of the major military writers of his generation." He went on to say "His biography of Slim was outstanding. His assessments of Churchill, Montgomery and Rommel at war are essential reading for students of the period." Lewin's biography of

William Slim William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, titled ''Slim the Standard-Bearer'', received the

WH Smith Literary Award The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. Its founding aim was stated to be to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth"; originally open to all re ...

. In his reassessment of Rommel,

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

's Alaric Searle grouped Lewin's biography of Rommel with those of other former serving officers Desmond Young,

Martin Blumenson Martin Blumenson (November 8, 1918 – April 15, 2005) was an American military historian who served as a historical officer with the Third and Seventh Armies in World War II and later became a prolific author. His works included a biography of ...

, Kenneth Macksey, David Fraser and several others, whose work he dismissed as "effusive and often uncritical". Searle asserted these works were part of a group of writings that created a Rommel legend, a view that the Field Marshal was an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

due to his presumed participation in the 20 July plot to kill

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Historian Patrick Major states that Lewin's biography of Rommel focused on his military career, presenting him strictly as a soldier.

Awards

Lewin was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977 and of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

in 1980. He was awarded the

Chesney Gold Medal The Chesney Gold Medal is an award given by the Royal United Services Institute awarded to "any especially eminent work calculated to advance the military sciences and knowledge". List of Medallists The following people have received the Chesney ...

of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank. ...

in 1982.

Bibliography

*''Rommel as Military Commander'' (1968), *''Montgomery as Military Commander'' (1971), *''The War on Land, 1939–1945: an anthology of personal experience'' (1969), *''Churchill as Warlord'' (1973), *''Slim, the Standard Bearer: a biography of Field-Marshal the Viscount Slim'' (1976), *''Man of Armour: a study of Lieut-General Vyvyan Pope and the development of armoured warfare'' (1976) *''The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps: a biography'' (1977), *
Ultra Goes to War: the secret story
' (1978), *''The Chief: Field Marshal Lord Wavell, Commander-in-Chief and Viceroy, 1939–1947'' (1980), *''The Other Ultra: codes, ciphers, and the defeat of Japan'' (1982), (published in USA as ''The American Magic: codes, ciphers, and the defeat of Japan'') *
Hitler's Mistakes
' (1984),

External links

The Papers of Ronald Lewin
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Lewin, Ronald ''Ultra Goes to War: the first account of World War II's greatest secret based on official documents'' New York : McGraw-Hill, (1978) * * *
Lewin, (George) Ronald
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
Page on ''Stone Books''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Ronald British book editors British military historians Historians of World War II People educated at Heath Grammar School Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Royal Artillery officers 1914 births 1984 deaths 20th-century British historians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II