This is not a book I would normally have acquired were it not for the fact that the author was briefly my father’s commanding officer during the war in Italy. So I naturally read it with my antennae out initially wholly for anything which related to my father. (I found nothing.) I also read it with my father’s opinion in mind of Mosley’s relationship with his father, the British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley. By and large, it confirmed his view, that Nicholas Mosley was embarrassed by his father – though in reading the book, I get the impression, possibly wrongly, that this was more for the difficult position that his father’s politics put Nicholas Mosley in, rather than any disapproval by him of those politics.
Nicholas Mosley comes over as an uncertain young man, somewhat withdrawn perhaps because of his troubled relationship with his father. He seems to lack confidence in his own abilities, especially when placed in a position of command; but he seems to have muddled through. My father never had anything negative to say about his abilities as a commander, though he possibly wasn’t in that position for long enough for any firm impression to have been made.
The book is more forthcoming on how Mosley’s war experiences and his reaction to them began to shape his post-war career.
Deep Waters Reading 