Info on Michael Dunbar? mentioned in Churchills books about ww2

Hello, I have been looking for info about a Michael Dunbar, an NCO in the army during ww2. He is mentioned in Churchills books about ww2 during a talk in parlament the link shows the page where he is mentioned - I have not been able to find anythiing about the guy and wonder if he ended up as nco cannonfodder or if he ahead at any time considering his experience in the spanish civil war after being mentioned in parlament..

The Hinge of Fate - Google Book Search

- on a sidenote - it seems one can read the whole book there if one feels like it - not bad i think - it is a good book and also around in audio if that is what you like - had the series in print some years back - gave it to a friend of mine so he might learn some history and am currently listening to the audio - a BBC thing very well read by Christian Rodska

 

Hello, I have been looking for info about a Michael Dunbar, an NCO in the army during ww2. He is mentioned in Churchills books about ww2 during a talk in parlament the link shows the page where he is mentioned - I have not been able to find anythiing about the guy and wonder if he ended up as nco cannonfodder or if he ahead at any time considering his experience in the spanish civil war after being mentioned in parlament..

The Hinge of Fate - Google Book Search

- on a sidenote - it seems one can read the whole book there if one feels like it - not bad i think - it is a good book and also around in audio if that is what you like - had the series in print some years back - gave it to a friend of mine so he might learn some history and am currently listening to the audio - a BBC thing very well read by Christian Rodska

Hi CCDK

First of all Welcome Aboard, it looks as though you have, to coin a phrase, hit the decks running !

Was intrigued by the Hinge of Fate site, hadn't seen it before and will certainly add the link to my favourites, as an ex IVth Hussar man, I always read up on Churchill.

Couldn't spot the "Find a word" facility in the body of the text.... is there one ?

I'm sure we will "talk" more in the future.

Regards

Ron

 

why thank you - glad to be here, sir

dont really know that much about the site actually - seems to be some sinister extention of google since i just searched on google: Micheal dunbar Ebro and viola there was something with that book and i clicked on it and i landed on that site with that page looking out at me but as I could read the whole book at that link i saved it and thought i might figure out more about the whole thing later - when I have found out something about that Dunbar fellow.

if you like that series you should really get your hands on the audio - he perfectly reads the books - its like sitting and having a talk with the old man himself - with the difference that Churchill never spoke that clearly in real life - as i remember it, while he had a fine vocabulary he tended to muffle up half the sentence especially when he was tired.

about hitting the deck running - I tend to simmer down after a while - depends a bit on the amount of coffee in the near area around the PC

well ill stop blabbering now.....

ah - one more thing - have looked at it and can answer your question: yes, certainly there is - where i have painted the ugly black ring - enter the word and pagenumber and notes are shown like in the case with the dunbar i entered - clicking on these "footnotes" under the search will lead you to that page.

 

I searched again and in another book another Dunbar holding the Ebro is mentioned - Malcolm...it seems that honorable member of the parlament couldnt even get the name right....

International Brigades in Spain ... - Google Book Search


here too a filmclip is reviewed from 38 mentioning Dunbar and others adressed by Attlee - again Malcolm:

BFI | National Archive | Catalogues | Welcome to the International Brigade

here you can even see him:

International Brigades in Spain ... - Google Book Search


so now i know what he did and how he looked during his days in Spain - very well - I even know he lived until 63 - but I still cant find out if he ended up as a used car salesman in humpty-shire with weightproblems, an irritated bladder and a bad ticker with spain being the high mark of his career apart from service in an english unit as sergeant.....I wanna know if he got somewhere after being mention in parlament - even if the member couldnt get his name right....

 

CCDK
ah - one more thing - have looked at it and can answer your question: yes, certainly there is - where i have painted the ugly black ring - enter the word and pagenumber and notes are shown like in the case with the dunbar i entered - clicking on these "footnotes" under the search will lead you to that page


Silly me...... of course it does..... and the pic shows the reference I was seeking

 

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (VISCOUNT CRANBORNE) reply regarding Malcolm Dunbar;-
Let me take the case of Mr. Dunbar. Speaking about Mr. Dunbar the noble Lord said: In the Spanish Civil War, Malcolm Dunbar rose to be Chief of Staff of the International Brigade, and by his brilliant tactics won the battle of the Ebro. He proved himself a great leader and a brilliant tactician. He joined the British Army at the outbreak of the present war and is still a corporal in the Tank Corps. The impression given by that—I do not know if it was intentional—was that he was prevented from rising in the British Army, prevented from getting commissioned rank. He is not in fact a corporal, but it is true to say he is still a sergeant. It would not, however, be at all true to say that he was not permitted to rise from the ranks. On the contrary, he was in fact recommended for a Commission and recommended for training at an O.C.T.U., for that purpose. But, greatly to Mr. Dunbar's credit, he himself refused to take a Commission because his unit was mobilized for service overseas and he wished to go with it. Mr. Dunbar, who comes, as the noble Lord knows, of a very old military family and who was educated at Repton and at Cambridge, appears to be a typical case of a young independent-minded public school boy who enlisted to fight for his country in the struggle against tyranny. I hope Mr. Dunbar will rise and that he will fill the place to which his ability and experience entitle him. But the point is that the military authorities have not prevented him from getting a Commission, which unfortunately was the impression which the noble Lord gave to the American people.

Malcolm Dunbar survived the war and died I believe in the 1960`s
Regards
Verrieres

 

so he was actually a relative - how odd that the name should then have been changed in the book - maybe churchill changed the name? - the member of the commons must have known that he was related to the person mentioned so why should he change the name or utter the wrong name?

how odd....

thanks folks