Collection: J.F.C. Fuller Papers | Archives and Special Collections at Rutgers (2025)

John Frederick Charles Fuller, a prolific English writer of military history, was born in 1878, the son of a clergyman. He attended Malvern College, Worcestershire and secured his military training at Royal Military college, Sandhurst and Staff College, Camberley. For thirty five years he was a career officer in the British Army, retiring as a major general in 1933. His military accomplishments included service in the Boer War and India, Chief General Officer of the newly-organized Tank Corps during World War I, and a brigade commander in Germany and England following the War.

After retiring from the Army, Fuller devoted most of his time to writing. From 1935 to 1936 he was a military correspondent in the Halo-Abyssinian War, and from 1936 to 1939 he observed the Spanish Civil War in a similar capacity. During this period his work brought him into contact with Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and the leading German generals. Most of his works date from this retirement period, although they reflect a military knowledge which had accumulated from the beginning of the twentieth century.

As a writer on military subjects, Fuller has been acclaimed widely. He has been honored throughout Western Europe and was the recipient of numerous awards, including that of Commander, Order of the British Empire. His literary career spanned half a century. He authored numerous books, published in England and America, and contributed over 400 articles on World War II to English and American periodicals. Many of his works were published by university presses, and most of his last books were published by Rutgers University Press. In his will, General Fuller bequeathed his papers and books to Rutgers Library.

[The following entries are from Donald Sinclair's A Guide to Manuscript Diaries and Journals in the Special Collections Department, Rutgers University, entry numbers 322 and 325. The diaries are in box 4 of the collection.]

FULLER, JOHN FREDERICK CHARLES, 1878-1966.

Journal of a military tour, Oct. 22-Dec. 2, 1926. India and present Pakistan. 48 pages.

A high-ranking officer attached to the British War Office, Fuller made the visit "to establish a personal link between the W.O. & Delhi, to discuss the changes which were influencing Home policy, to learn the difficulties which confronted India so that the War Office might modify its policy accordingly." He spent about ten days at Delhi, discussing the Indian military and political situation with General Sir Andrew Skeen and other officers. These conversations and his own reactions, which are entered in detail, deal considerably with mechanization, tanks, Indianization of the army, Afghanistan, Russia, and the staff college at Quetta. The largest part of his stay, nearly a month, was devoted to a tour of the Afghanistan-India (now Pakistan) frontier in the areas west of Rawalpindi and around Quetta. Fuller was not only an officer but also a noted military authority. His journal of the India trip is both interesting and informative.

From the J.F.C. Fuller estate, 1968, through William Sloane.

FULLER, JOHN FREDERICK CHARLES, 1878-1966.

War Journal, Oct. 3-Nov. 24, 1935. Ethiopia, Italy, etc. 22 pages.

Retired British officer and well-known military writer, General Fuller visited the Ethiopian War theater as a correspondent. The journal begins with his departure from London and a short stay in Italy. There his reputation and connections secured him an interview with Mussolini, contacts with other Italian officials, and passage on a troop-carrying ship out of Naples, which reached Massawa on Oct. 17. The next thirty-eight days were spent either at Asmara (where he wrote a number of articles) or in trips to military locations as far south as Adigrat and Aduwa.

Fuller's view of the war was entirely professional, unshaded by any sympathy for the victims (the Italians "mean well of this country"). As a military observer, however, he had little to say of the invading army which was not deprecatory, even contemptuous. The campaign, with its weak logistic base, had been planned by a "strategical lunatic." Fuller considered the Italians, especially those of the Blackshirt units, to be poor soldiers - "muddlers," slovenly and ill-trained.

From the J.F.C. Fuller estate, 1968, through William Sloane.