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Frederick Langley Russellauthor

Edward Frederick Langley Russell

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Edward Frederick Langley Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool CBE, MC (10 April 1895 – 8 April 1981), known as Langley Russell, was a British soldier, lawyer, historian, and writer. Russell was the son of Richard Henry Langley Russell, second son of Edward Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Liverpool, and succeeded his grandfather to the title in 1920. He was educated at Liverpool College and St John's College, Cambridge (1913–1914). 

He left Cambridge to join the British Army soon after the outbreak of war. He served with distinction in the First World War, winning the Military Cross three times. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1931 but never developed a substantial practice on the Oxford circuit. He developed a career in the Judge Advocate's office in the early 1930s. 

He became Deputy Judge Advocate General (United Kingdom) to the British Army of the Rhine in 1945. He was one of the chief legal advisers during war crimes proceedings for both the Nuremberg trials and the Tokyo tribunal, held following the end of the Second World War. He was honored with the CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

He resigned from his government post over the publication of his book The Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes. The Daily Express, under proprietor Lord Beaverbrook, published extracts under the heading "the book they tried to ban" in 1954, and the book became a bestseller. Russell was accused of misusing his position to profit personally from the war crimes he had investigated.

Russell followed up this work in 1958 with The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes. In 1959 he and Bertrand Russell, the celebrated mathematician and philosopher, sent a joint letter to The Times explaining that they were different people.

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The Scourge of the Swastika

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