1st Viscount Alanbrooke (of Brookeborough), Alan Francis Brooke Biography (1883–1963) British field marshal, born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, S France. He joined the Royal Field Artillery in 1902, and in World War 1 rose to general staff officer. In World War 2 he commanded the 2nd corps of the British Expeditionary Force (1939–40), covering the evacuation from Dunkirk in France. He became commander-in-chief of home forces (1940–1), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1941–6), and principal strategic adviser to Winston Churchill. He became a field marshal in 1944, and was created baron in 1945 and viscount in 1946. His war diaries presented a controversial view of Churchill and Eisenhower.
