Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1953 for this work.

"The Second World War dwarfs in scale the scanty memoirs of great figures of the past. The imagination boggles at the task of finding a just comparison... The events would have made the narrative great even if the writer had not had Churchill's gift of style. But the style matches the occasion." - "TLS"
"That the acclamation has been even greater than might have been anticipated is the measure of his unique achievement - to have given the authority and the majesty of history to the stuff of his own times." - "Daily Telegraph"
"He is not writing history so much as reliving it - with its animosities still remembered, its wounds still smarting. This is a story told while the sweat and shock of mortal combat are still upon the teller." - "Evening Standard"