Adrian Carton de Wiart served in Norway and China after wounds and earlier campaigns that had already made his career extraordinary. Happy Odyssey is entertaining, but its greater value is the author's unusual willingness to admit his own mistakes. Carton de Wiart also separates whether he personally liked an officer from whether that officer made sound professional decisions. That distinction makes the memoir useful evidence about command judgement rather than merely another self-protective adventure story.
Notable Point · 29:24
The candid wartime memoir Happy Odyssey
Adrian Carton de Wiart's memoir is recommended for its unusual candour about mistakes, judgment, and wartime service.