Bloomsbury presents Peace, War and Whitehall by Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, read by Paul Blezard.

Field Marshal the Lord Guthrie commanded at every level in the British Army from platoon to army group and was Britain’s senior military commander at a time of great change. He oversaw the modernisation of the armed forces following the Cold War years and led Britain’s military involvement in operations in the Balkans and Sierra Leone.

Charles Guthrie was commissioned into the British Army in 1959 at a time when Britain’s influence was shrinking throughout the world, and Peace, War and Whitehall describes his operational experience with both the Welsh Guards and 22 SAS in Aden, Malaya, East Africa, Cyprus and Northern Ireland.

As a senior officer he commanded the Welsh Guards during an operational tour of the Bandit Country of South Armagh at the height of the Troubles, before leading an armoured brigade in Germany in the midst of the Cold War and eventually being appointed commander in chief of the British Army of the Rhine and Northern Army Group as the Cold War ended and the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate into savage internecine warfare.

Peace, War and Whitehall details Lord Guthrie’s extraordinary career from a young platoon commander through to chief of the Defence staff.