Martin Middlebrook (born 1932) is an English

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

and author.

Education and military service

Middlebrook was educated at various schools, including Ratcliffe College,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. He entered National Service in 1950, was commissioned in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

(RASC), and served as a Motor Transport Officer in the

Suez Canal Zone The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

and Aqaba, Jordan. Middlebrook subsequently spent three years in Territorial Army service.

Career

Middlebrook wrote his first book '' The First Day on the Somme'' (1971) following a visit to the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium in 1967. The book is a detailed study of the single worst day for the British Army. Middlebrook gave the same single-day treatment to 21 March 1918, the opening of the German spring offensive, in ''The Kaiser's Battle''. Middlebrook's Second World War books concentrate on the

air war "Air War" is a single by Crystal Castles. It was released on 17 December 2007 by Trouble Records as a 7" vinyl. An earlier version of the song was released in July 2006 as the B-Side to "Alice Practice" on Merok Records. The lyrics are from the 19 ...

. A number of them again deal with a single day of action (''

The Nuremberg Raid ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'', ''The Schweinfurt–Regensburg Mission'' and ''The Peenemünde Raid'') while others cover longer air battles ('' The Battle of Hamburg'' and ''

The Berlin Raids ''The Berlin Raids'' (subtitled: ''R.A.F. Bomber Command Winter 1943–44'') is a book by the British military historian Martin Middlebrook describing the RAF Bomber Command attacks on the German city of Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital ...

''). Middlebrook has also written two books on the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, one from the British and Falkland Islanders' perspective and one from the Argentinian perspective.

Honours

Middlebrook is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Belgian Crown in 2004.

Books

*'' The First Day on the Somme'' with much co-operation from John Howlett. (1971) *''

'' (1973) *''Battleship: the loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse'' (with Patrick Mahoney) (1977) *''The Kaiser's Battle'' with much co-operation from Neville Mackinder. (1978) *'' The Battle of Hamburg'' (1980) *''The Peenemünde Raid'' (1982) *''The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission'' (1983) *''The Falklands War, 1982'' (1985) first published as ''Operation Corporate'' *''

'' (1988) *''Convoy SC.122 & HX.229'' (1976) *'' The Bomber Command War Diaries'' (1985) (with the late Chris Everitt) *''The Somme Battlefields: a Comprehensive Guide from Crʹecy to the Two World Wars'' (with his wife Mary Middlebrook) (1991) *''Arnhem 1944'' (1994) *''Your Country Needs You: from Six to Sixty-five Divisions'' (2000) * *''The North Midlands Territorials Go To War/Captain Staniland's Journey''

References

External links

A letter from Middlebrook describing the writing of ''The First Day on the Somme''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middlebrook, Martin Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Historians of World War I British military writers Living people 1932 births British military historians Knights of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Historians of World War II Royal Army Service Corps officers Military personnel from Lincolnshire