A consideration of Auchinleck's time as C in C Middle East must consider four aspects of his command, which are, of course, inter-related. The first concerns Auchinleck's relationship with Winston Churchill; this is difficult as Churchill communicated to Auchinleck as Churchill often failing to make it clear if he was acting solely as Prime Minister, as Prime Minster with the authority of the Cabinet and/or Chiefs of Staff behind him, as Minister of Defence or as trusted confidant. The second aspect of Auchinleck's command concerns his relationship with the CIGS, Field Marshal Sir John Dill and General Sir Alan Brooke. This, of course, is difficult to divide from Auchinleck's relationship with Churchill as, often, Auchinleck looked to Dill or Brooke to defend his position. Indeed, Auchinleck's problems in dealing with Churchill may, partly have stemmed from the fact that Auchinleck expected the CIGS to back him and defend his position as theatre and army commander, while the CIGS sometimes took on this role and sometimes tried to act as honest brokers between Churchill and Auchinleck. Auchinleck's relationship with Dill was closer than that with Brooke, but this, of course, was problematic in itself as Dill was not always well placed on how best to advise Auchinleck on how to deal with Churchill's demands, given his own difficult relationship with the Prime Minister. The third aspect of Auchinleck's command which comes through in these papers is concerned with the military appointments Auchinleck made, especially with regard to the command of Eighth Army. Auchinleck picked his own commanders, but sacking Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham was no easy task and Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie was probably not the right man for the job in that Auchinleck did not have complete confidence in him and Ritchie's subordinates did not easily accept his authority. More broadly, the papers show Auchinleck's wider decisions about staff and command appointments to have been, at times, less than inspired, particularly with respect to Major General Eric ‘Chink’ Dorman-Smith. Finally, the papers are revealing about the problems Auchinleck confronted as, effectively, a coalition commander, commanding British Dominion and Indian Army troops, Free French and Free Poles as well as British troops.