# Ronald Lewin

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British officer, publishing editor, radio producer and military historian

**George Ronald Lewin** [CBE](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (11 October 1914 – 6 January 1984), later known as Ronald Lewin, was a British officer, publishing editor, radio producer and military historian.

## Education

Lewin attended [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford) at [The Queens College](/source/The_Queen's_College%2C_Oxford) on an academic scholarship in 1932, having earned both the Hastings Scholar award and the Goldsmiths’ Exhibitioner award in Classics and Divinity. While there he earned a [double first](/source/Double_first) in classical literature, history and philosophy.[1] His love of English literature endured throughout his life.[1]

## Career

Following his graduation in 1937, Lewin worked as an editorial assistant with the British publishing house of [Jonathan Cape Limited](/source/Jonathan_Cape).[2] With the start of the Second World War in 1939, he joined the [British Army](/source/British_Army) serving as an officer in the [Royal Artillery](/source/Royal_Artillery). In North Africa he served under [Montgomery](/source/Bernard_Montgomery) and was wounded at [El Alamein](/source/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein). He returned to his field post and served with distinction in North Africa and Europe until the close of the war.[2]

Returning to England in 1946, he worked in the [BBC Home Service](/source/BBC_Home_Service), initially as a producer. He was made chief of the BBC's domestic service in 1957 and remained at that position until his retirement from the BBC in 1965. In 1966 he returned to publishing and was made editor at [Hutchinson Publishing](/source/Hutchinson_Publishing). He served in that capacity until 1969.[2]

## Military historian

Lewin did not begin writing books until the age of 54. He wrote ten books during his lifetime and was working on a one-volume history of World War II at the time of his death.[1] His best-known book was *Ultra Goes to War*, an account written on the cipher breaking by which the Allies intercepted and broke the coded messages that the Germans transmitted by radio during World War II. His work on Ultra was the first to be based on official documents of the intelligence operation.[1]

Writing in a foreword to a book by Lewin, historian [Max Hastings](/source/Max_Hastings) said "He quickly established a reputation as one of the major military writers of his generation." He went on to say "His biography of Slim was outstanding. His assessments of Churchill, Montgomery and Rommel at war are essential reading for students of the period."[3] Lewin's biography of [William Slim](/source/William_Slim%2C_1st_Viscount_Slim), titled *Slim the Standard-Bearer*, received the [WH Smith Literary Award](/source/WH_Smith_Literary_Award).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

In his reassessment of Rommel, [University of Salford](/source/University_of_Salford)'s Alaric Searle grouped Lewin's biography of Rommel with those of other former serving officers Desmond Young, [Martin Blumenson](/source/Martin_Blumenson), [Kenneth Macksey](/source/Kenneth_Macksey), [David Fraser](/source/David_Fraser_(British_Army_officer)) and several others, whose work he dismissed as "effusive and often uncritical". Searle asserted these works were part of a group of writings that created a [Rommel legend](/source/Rommel_legend), a view that the Field Marshal was an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of the [Third Reich](/source/Third_Reich) due to his presumed participation in the [20 July plot](/source/20_July_plot) to kill [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler).[4]

## Awards

Lewin was elected a fellow of the [Royal Society of Literature](/source/Royal_Society_of_Literature) in 1977 and of the [Royal Historical Society](/source/Royal_Historical_Society) in 1980. He was awarded the [Chesney Gold Medal](/source/Chesney_Gold_Medal) of the [Royal United Services Institute](/source/Royal_United_Services_Institute) in 1982.[2]

## Bibliography

- *Rommel as Military Commander* (1968), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781844150403](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781844150403)

- *Montgomery as Military Commander* (1971), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780713412086](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780713412086)

- *The War on Land, 1939–1945: an anthology of personal experience* (1969), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0090981707](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0090981707)

- *Churchill as Warlord* (1973), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780713412154](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780713412154)

- *Slim, the Standard Bearer: a biography of Field-Marshal the Viscount Slim* (1976), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0850522188](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0850522188)

- *Man of Armour: a study of Lieut-General Vyvyan Pope and the development of armoured warfare* (1976) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85052-050-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85052-050-9)

- *The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps: a biography* (1977), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780713406856](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780713406856)

- *[Ultra Goes to War: the secret story](https://archive.org/details/ultragoeswar00rona)* (1978), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780091344207](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780091344207)

- *The Chief: Field Marshal Lord Wavell, Commander-in-Chief and Viceroy, 1939–1947* (1980), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [009142500X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/009142500X)

- *The Other Ultra: codes, ciphers, and the defeat of Japan* (1982), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780091474706](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780091474706) (published in USA as *The American Magic: codes, ciphers, and the defeat of Japan*)

- *[Hitler's Mistakes](https://archive.org/details/hitlersmistakes00lewi)* (1984), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780436245626](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780436245626)

## References

### Citations

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Barnett_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Barnett_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Barnett_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Barnett_1-3) [Barnett, Correlli](/source/Correlli_Barnett) (1986). "Ronald Lewin, Military Historian". *The RUSI Journal*. **131** (4): 57–64. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/03071848608522739](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F03071848608522739).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Blair_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Blair_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Blair_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Blair_2-3) Blair, William (12 January 1984). ["Ronald Lewin Dies; Historian was 69"](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/12/obituaries/ronald-lewin-dies-historian-was-69.html). *The New York Times*. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELewin197811–12comments_by_Max_Hastings_provided_in_the_book's_foreword_3-0)** [Lewin 1978](#CITEREFLewin1978), pp. 11–12, comments by Max Hastings provided in the book's foreword.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESearle20147–8,_26_4-0)** [Searle 2014](#CITEREFSearle2014), pp. 7–8, 26.

### Bibliography

- Lewin, Ronald (1978). *Ultra goes to war : the secret story*. London: Hutchinson. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-09-134420-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-09-134420-4). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [4808900](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/4808900).

- [Ziegler, Philip](/source/Philip_Ziegler) (2011) [2004]. "Lewin, (George) Ronald". *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (online ed.). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ref:odnb/31357](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F31357). (Subscription, [Wikipedia Library](https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/88/) access or [UK public library membership](https://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)

- [Major, Patrick](/source/Patrick_Major) (2008). "'Our Friend Rommel': The Wehrmacht as 'Worthy Enemy' in Postwar British Popular Culture". *German History*. **26** (4): 520–535. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/gerhis/ghn049](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fgerhis%2Fghn049).

- Searle, Alaric (2014). "Rommel and the rise of the Nazis". In I. F. W. Beckett (ed.). *Rommel Reconsidered*. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780811714624](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780811714624).

- [Lewin, (George) Ronald](http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U166353), *Who Was Who*, A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014

- [Page on *Stone Books*](http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/foxweb.exe/base/author?lewin_ronald)

## External links

- [The Papers of Ronald Lewin](https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1807) held at [Churchill Archives Centre](/source/Churchill_Archives_Centre)

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