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Commando to Captain-Generall: The Life of Brigadier Peter Young Kindle Edition

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 68 ratings

This is the story of Brigadier Peter Young (1915–1988), a highly decorated soldier who was one of the founding members of 3 Commando, rising during WWII from 2 Lt to Brigadier in the space of 6 years. His battle honours include Vaagso, Dieppe, Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Burma. A career soldier, he returned to his parent regiment, the Beds and Herts, after the war and subsequently spent time in Palestine where he commanded the 9th Regiment of the Arab Legion under Glubb Pasha. After Suez he returned to England, retiring from the Army in 1959. He founded the War Studies Department at RMA Sandhurst during the 60s, intending to create there a intellectual centre along the lines of a university faculty for the study of military history and to that end gathered around him some of the finest military historians of the day including Richard Holmes, David Chandler and John Adair amongst others. He was instrumental in the forming of The Sealed Knot and is reverred in re-enactment circles. To publicise a book he had written about the English Civil War he organised a publicity stunt which evolved rapidly into the first re-enactment society: The Sealed Knot. An avid war-gamer, his name is legendary in war-gaming circles. 'The Brig' is still a well-known personality even among those too young ever to have met him.
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00K1KIS94
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military (November 15, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 15, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 12.0 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 367 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 68 ratings

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Alison Michelli
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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
68 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2013
    COMMANDO TO CAPTAIN-GENERAL, The Life of Brigadier General Peter Young. More interesting than I had anticipated. His World War Two and post-war exploits were fascinating.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2010
    Peter Young is one of those larger than life personalities one hears about in the military history and wargaming hobby. He stands large in both these fields even though many know little of him. This was certainly the case with myself. I knew that he had published some older, colorful books on popular topics of military history, and perhaps had an inckling that he had been some kind of WW2 soldier, but little more.

    This chatty and breezy Bio helps to fill in a lot of the gaps about him. Peter was cutting edge in a lot of fields. He was one of the founders of the British Commandos in 1940 when the call went out to find a few desperate indivduals to strike back at Nazi occupied Europe. Peter Young was one of them. He trained No.3 Commando and developed modern raiding tactics first-hand. Peter saw action in nearly evey theater of the war. The descriptions we get of his actions are not the hard-hitting episodes one assumes Commando raids to be from the movies. Lots of tedious planning seems often followed by chaotic and unsure action. Results varied on these raids with a lot of effort often producing little in the end. Still, the point was to hit back at the enemy while Britain was on the defensive. Peter and No. 3 Commando did just that.

    As the war progresses the Commando raids switch from offshore raids in Norway to tactical operations in support of offensives in Italy, France and Burma. Peter was in on all these developements and prided himself as an innovator and trainer. He had a large ego, but unlike many he could back it up as he usually was the one in the front moving the operation along. When one considers that he was involved in such operations as the murderous Dieppe Raid its amazing that he survived the war virtually unscathed. He had a keen tactical sense, and knew that fire combined with rapid movement was the key to carry a position from the enemy. One can see that he had significant impact on modern Commado tactics.

    His post war service saw him working for Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion in Jourdan during the 1950s. He we see Peter not only as a fighting man, but as a Peacekeeper as well. He vainly tried to balance the very difficult Arab-Isreali border situation during the uneasy years following the creation of the Jewish State. He correctly surmised that the Palestinian issue would haunt future generations unless resolved quickly. Certainly he was proved correct in that one! The innate political instabaility of the Arab World as it became infected with the fanatical nationalism of Nasser's Egypt finally forced him and his wife out. Its touch and go leaving, but Peter thrives in such environments even if his wife was less happy about it!

    The last part of his life sees the development of the Military History Department at Sandhurst. Here we see Peter gathering in some of the finest authors in Military History. Such household names as Chandler, Duffy, Holmes, Adair and others all were nurtured by Peters love of military history. They all got their start with him. They would go on to create some of the best and most popular books on warfare ever written in the English language. Their influence continues today.

    Perhaps Peter's most amusing sideline was his love of wargames. Here he takes a chapter out from HG Wells and other early developers of this great hobby. Peter continued the English tradition and love of wargaming with miniature figures. He may not have had much to do with board wargames yet, but his influence and books supporting the hobby was certainly felt. He even takes the process one step further and founds the re-enacting hobby. Here its a love of the English Civil War combined with his legendary humor that builds an entire Interest. Peter's larger than life jovial nature is key in creating what would become the Sealed Knot, the premier English re-enacting society for pre-20th century military history. This combination of serious appreciation of history as well as his innate sense of fun is what made Peter so popular in all the hobbies he nourished and founded. He made them approachable and fun to the general public.

    His legacy continues today even if many don't not know of him directly which until this book included myself. A light, and loving portrait of a man and his times, whose wartime expereince combined with his interests and passions to leave a lasting monument of himself. A great read for those into the hobbies that Peter Young influenced and created from his own active immagination.
    9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • GB
    5.0 out of 5 stars Almost complete.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2014
    This is a fascinating and compelling account of an ambitious and capable man born to this country just at the time when it would need him the most.
    I have titled this, "almost complete" because I believe there would be a lot more to tell but for modesty and probably some censorship.
  • bryan samain
    4.0 out of 5 stars I served in Normandy in 1944 in First Commando Brigade ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2015
    I served in Normandy in 1944 in First Commando Brigade --in which Peter Young commanded No 3 Army Commando, one of the
    four Army and Royal Marines Commando units comprising the Brigade. He was widely admired and respected as a first-class
    professional Army officer and pioneer Commando leader. This book presents a most interesting and highly readable account not
    only of his Commando career (during which he was highly decorated) but also of his subsequent experiences with the Arab Legion
    in Jordan. He later founded the Sealed Knot re-enactment society, devoted to the re-creation of English Civil War battles, for
    which many members of the public also remember him. Bryan Samain (author of 'Commando Men')
  • A. E. Finn
    3.0 out of 5 stars You need to know your army vocabulary!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2022
    I have read some of Peter Young's books about the civil war and bought this find out about the man.
    The book is an interesting read but does get bogged down on two fronts. The descriptions if his actions in WW2 need a detailed knowledge of the battles and what is going on. Otherwise ut is a series of accounts of small actions over farms, houses or roads. Also, there seems to be almost no remorse from Peter Young over casualties. The second problem is you need to know your army terms. Okay things like RSM can be deduced but I struggled to get an idea what the units were. 3 commando, 3 troop, the brigade, a section and so on. It is a bit difficult to see how many men the author is talking about.
  • Chris J
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brigades peter young
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2014
    I came into contact with Peter young as a young warmer and must admit to being in some awe of him. As such I enjoyed reading the book which gave me insight into the character. Had I known more about his wartime history I would have been truly in reverence.
  • frank budd
    4.0 out of 5 stars Life in the Commandos
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2014
    A well written account of life as it was during the Second World War. More intimate detail of Commando training would have been appreciated,but a good read nonetheless.

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