Six Minutes in May

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Six Minutes in May Page 49

by Nicholas Shakespeare

57 terribly despondent … out, ibid., 999

  58 entirely fictitious, Tree, 112

  59 I had to manoeuvre, At the Admiralty, 999

  60 It is said of Sam, A. J. Sylvester papers, PA LG/g/241/1

  61 Aunt Tabitha, Nicolson, 56

  62 He is indignant, At the Admiralty, 1006

  63 I must apologise, ibid., 1013

  64 obvious signs, SP Clement Davies to Lord Salisbury, 15/4/1940

  65 His speech in the House, BI EH diary, 11/4/1940

  66 He hesitates, Nicolson, 70

  67 I had never seen, Maisky, 270

  68 As I listened, BOD MSS Dawson 44 diary

  69 The prevailing mood, Maisky 271

  70 looking bent, Brooks, 265

  71 his physique must, Ironside, 248

  5 IN GREAT STRENGTH

  1 Everyone said, Waugh, Put Out More Flags, 183

  2 Norway was a disaster, Robert Blake and Wm. Roger Louis ed., Churchill, 261

  3 You provoked action, The Keyes Papers, Vol. III: 1939–45, 26

  4 running riot, Godfrey, vol. 5, 308

  5 zest for taking charge, ibid., vol. 8, 19

  6 stimulating martyrdom … technical, Arthur Bryant, The Turn of the Tide, 301

  7 The tragedy of Churchill, Beesly, 297

  8 tormenting telegraphic … Admiralty, Godfrey, vol. v, 302

  9 All the careful, Beesly, 153

  10 an exceptional measure, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 528

  11 almost malicious, Roskill, 285

  12 how firmly Churchill, Geoffrey Shakespeare, private archive

  13 Winston entered, Roskill, 106

  14 The exact opposite, Robert Boothby, Recollections of a Rebel, 55

  15 every misstep, Bell, 6

  16 all the daily, Roskill, 290

  17 no power to take, At the Admiralty, 981

  18 no decision over Norway, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 522

  19 hard to believe, At the Admiralty, 978

  20 undoubtedly making … engaged, At the Admiralty, 979

  21 He sounded optimistic, BI EH diary, 8/4/1940

  22 the clearest … silence, Roskill, 98–99

  23 much to my … Commander-in-chief, Roskill, 99

  24 Admiral Pound telephoned, Admiralty War Diary 199/388, Diary of 1st Cruiser Squadron

  25 You seem to have, Waugh, Put Out More Flags, 180

  26 Though I generally, Haarr interview with author, 15/2/2016

  27 everything went wrong, Macmillan, 50

  28 violated all the rules, Klaus Maier, ‘Germany Strategy’, Germany and the Second World War: vol. 2, 195

  29 Rarely in history, Hansard, 7/5/1940

  30 We hadn’t been, Tom Fowler interview with author, 4/11/2015

  31 so that it stands, Amery, Diaries, vol. 2, 582

  32 I was in, Frank Lodge memoir, private collection

  33 Gentlemen, I have just, Fitzgerald, 13

  34 Military assistance, Kersaudy, 92

  35 the only base, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 30

  36 It really is the devil, BI EH diary, 6/5/1940

  37 threatened to resign, Hugh Dalton, The Fateful Years: 1931–1945, 304

  38 for all practical, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 30

  39 the only thing, Cadogan, 270

  40 imperative from, Bell, 188

  41 no serious operations, At the Admiralty, 1007

  42 lead to a bloody, ibid., 1041

  43 mar its integrity, ibid., 1043

  44 Once Narvik is cleared, ibid., 1031

  45 very important political, Kersaudy, 95

  46 Most urgent that, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 30

  47 Trondheim is now, ibid., 31

  48 immediate military and aerial, Haarr, German Invasion of Norway, 183

  49 we began this war, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 22

  50 a very level … recover, ibid., 22

  51 One plane in … breath, CA CH 4/142, Romilly diary

  52 without a single, ibid.

  53 thoroughly frightened … delay, At the Admiralty, 1054

  54 for which long, ibid., 1000

  55 deed of fame, ibid., 1084

  56 staking out, Ironside, 253

  57 half-cocked … show, At the Admiralty, 1030

  58 Maddening … another, Ironside, 258

  59 brilliant operation, At the Admiralty, 1057

  60 a direct attack, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 525

  61 Tiny, we are … some heat, Ironside, 257

  62 on his own … in 1915, Godfrey, vol. 8, 14

  63 bright ideas … the whole, John Kennedy, 168

  64 Left to myself, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 562

  65 WE ARE COMING, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 22

  6 FLEA AND LOUSE

  1 We disembarked, Martin Lindsay, ‘Reconnaissance’, Spectator, 17/5/1940

  2 No single action of mine, Peter Fleming, ‘Return to Namsos’, Spectator, 16/5/1970

  3 While the Germans, Reynaud, 277

  4 wounding the still, Duff Hart-Davis, Peter Fleming, 224

  5 A better pair … paper, Adrian Carton de Wiart, Happy Odyssey, 166–7

  6 He was taciturn, Duff Hart-Davis interview with author

  7 a preoccupation … imperturbably, Anthony Powell, To Keep the Ball Rolling, 76

  8 He was a four-square, Joan Bright Astley, The Inner Circle, 76

  9 Should have been, Hart-Davis, 215

  10 my dear Peter, CA CHUR/2/149A-B

  11 terribly slowly … picture, Robert Bernays, Diaries, 88

  12 for whom I had, CA CHUR/2/ 149A-B

  13 As the war, Times, 25/5/1917

  14 a blend of … Front, W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, Journey to a War, 214

  15 to proceed by air, Peter Fleming, Report on measures taken at Namsos in connection with the landing of an Allied Expeditionary Force, private collection

  16 Come to Norway … doing, Hart-Davis, 222

  17 to communicate with, Lindsay ‘Reconnaissance’

  18 Nobody, even in, Hart-Davis, 222

  19 ascertain whether … SECRECY, PF Report

  20 Suddenly, swinging round, PF diary, 13/4/1940, private collection

  21 We had no more idea, PF ‘Return to Namsos’

  22 like an old woman, Waugh, Put Out More Flags, 206

  23 a susurrus which, PF Report

  24 I was there, Storm Evensen interview with author, 17/10/2015

  25 It is perhaps, PF Report

  26 and once more, Lindsay ‘Reconaissance’

  27 buying up all, ibid.

  28 In the middle, Carton de Wiart, 165

  29 cocoon of self-sufficiency … motives, RU MS 1391 B/13–17; MS1391B44

  30 with the dripping head, Waugh, Men at Arms, 74

  31 a damn nice, PF diary, 19/4/1940

  32 swatting the muzzles, RU MS 1391 B/13

  33 My godfather, draft for BBC broadcast January 1964, RU MS 1391 B/44

  34 between 20 and 30 … children, RU MS 1391 B/14

  35 a rather cool, RU MS 1391 B/27

  36 a campaign for, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 115

  37 that no operation, At the Admiralty, 1118

  38 We did not seem, Carton de Wiart, 166

  39 which would be, PF Report

  40 the difficulties presented, David Brown, Naval Operations of the Campaign in Norway, 73

  41 The cards were, Action this Day, 40

  42 a special attachment, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 232

  43 naval lads tossing, Frank Lodge memoir

  44 Our skipper guided, Fowler interview with author

  45 The names on, Lodge memoir

  46 in a flurry of frothing, Donald Macintyre, Narvik

  47 Have brought, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 112

  48 not dissimilar … firing, ML ‘Reconnaissance’

  49 cumbered with … yesterday, PF ‘Return to Namsos’

  50 German Intelligence did, PF Report

  51 probably the best troops, At the Admiralty, 106
6

  52 Chattering, overloaded, PF diary, 19/4/1940

  53 Took Carton de W, ibid.

  54 elfin-like, PF ‘Return to Namsos’

  55 She thought it, Wenche Fahsing interview with author, 17/10/2015

  56 My orders were, Carton de Wiart, 168

  57 pincer movement, Ironside, Diaries, 257

  58 a new conception, At the Admiralty, 1055

  59 to confuse and distract, ibid., 1084

  60 this important project, ibid., 1064

  61 to destroy places, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 106

  62 There was a roaring, Evensen interview with author

  63 “Dispersons!” cried … dead, PF diary

  64 making even thinking, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 119

  65 Huge fires … of death, ML ‘Death of a Town’

  66 it is a most unnerving, Carton de Wiart, 172

  67 They went for, PF diary, 20/4/1940

  68 blew the town … fire, ibid.

  69 and the glare, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 120

  70 Enemy aircraft, ibid., 120

  7 THE FIRST LAND BATTLE

  1 so I had to, Information from Elaine Lodge

  2 That’s where, Fowler interview with author

  3 Fix bayonets!, John Benson, Saturday Night Soldiers, 28

  4 Torlaug Werstad interview with author, 17/10/2016

  5 We were in, Fowler interview

  6 Beside those German, Stowe, 110

  7 ancient and modern, Churchill, My Early Life, 186

  8 The British have planned, Colville, Fringes of Power, 116

  9 so ill-informed … darkness, George Orwell, Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, vol. 2, 341

  10 of any force … one, Hansard, 7/5/1940

  11 The Jerries could, Stowe, 111

  12 there was no, Joe Kynoch, Norway 1940, 57

  13 Even more important, Martin Lindsay, World at War, Thames TV 1973

  14 There seemed to be, Broch, 162

  15 We could hear, Stowe, 111

  16 … men shouting, Kynoch, 100

  17 I felt in my bones, Carton de Wiart, 167

  18 catastrophic British defeat, Stowe, 92

  19 It’s the planes … awful, ibid., 111

  20 What we need, ibid., 112

  21 I’m glad you’re, ibid., 144

  22 For God’s sake, ibid., 145

  23 Damned unfair!, RU MS 1391 B/13

  24 Still I waited, Carton de Wiart, 171

  25 paramount need for speed, Rhys-Jones, 86

  26 A peculiar fatality, Ironside, 269

  27 The only clue … Norway, Julian Paget, The Crusading General, 29

  28 My instructions, H.R.S. Massy, Despatch on ‘Operation in Central Norway, 1940’, London Gazette No. 37584, 29/5/1946

  29 We had to tear, Paget, 29

  30 The scene below, Dudley Clarke, Seven Assignments, 92

  31 a vast pyramid, J. L. Moulton, The Norwegian Campaign of 1940, 174

  32 several fishing rods, Kersaudy, 141

  33 great strength, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 22

  34 in full association, Haarr, German Invasion of Norway, 184

  35 little more than children, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 67

  36 the Luftwaffe’s almost, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 20

  37 with no aerodromes, BI EH diary, 2/5/1940

  38 information necessarily, Portal to Newall, 8/5/1940; Denis Richards, Portal of Hungerford, 147

  39 just as they liked, Clarke, 152

  40 constantly flew without, Evelyn Waugh, Diaries, 470

  41 adequate air support, Massy, London Gazette

  42 We saw ourselves … along, Victor Macclure, ‘Gladiators in Norway’, Blackwood’s Magazine, February/March 1941, vol. 249

  43 a scenario that, Paget, 35

  44 the various & changing, At the Admiralty, 1076

  45 Winston changed his, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 527

  46 gave no idea Godfrey, vol. 7 pt 2, 228

  47 We are aiming at, At the Admiralty, 1070

  48 prejudice the effectiveness, ibid., 1074

  49 the opportunity for, ibid., 1084

  50 not … very keen on, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 492

  51 unless you are, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 35

  52 The Crazy Gang … volatile, Henry Pownall, Chief of Staff, 297

  53 unpredictable and, Jacob, Action this Day, 162

  54 They may not be, PA LG/g/241/1

  55 talking a lot, At the Admiralty, 1086

  56 Everyone is very, ibid., 1032

  57 a company commander, Ironside, 260

  58 great as are, Pownall, 304

  59 his judgement is, BOD MSS Simon 11, 8/5/1940

  60 A farce … bottom, At the Admiralty, 1063

  61 meddling … wobbles, Cross, 314

  62 conservative, Clive Ponting, Churchill, 426

  63 disagreed entirely … hole, At the Admiralty, 1071-2

  64 The result was magical, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 520

  65 Oh dear! … your Winston, CRL NC 18/2/1161–1198, 2/5/1940

  66 You do manage, CRL NC 18/2/1161–1198, 23/2/1940

  67 Had I been, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 580

  68 You can’t buy meat, Claire Simpson, Neville’s Island

  69 just the price, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 517

  70 getting into a sad, ibid., 519

  71 with the least possible delay, At the Admiralty, 1073

  72 in the best, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 520

  73 a vehement and decisive, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 625

  74 complete alteration, At the Admiralty, 1093

  75 a blithe disregard, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 20

  76 considerable advance, At the Admiralty, 1092

  77 unexpected success, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 625

  78 That he used to doze (footnote), Godfrey, vol. 5, 39

  79 But at the mention, Arthur Bryant, The Turn of the Tide, 209

  80 there was no … yellow, Bruce Lockhart, 52

  81 Churchill never for, BOD MSS Simon 11

  82 Great efforts are, BI EH diary, 3/5/1940

  83 which he … at once, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 527

  84 There are few, Percy Groves, Behind the Smoke Screen, 262

  85 All Trondheim plans, Cadogan, 272

  86 a dud plan, Pownall, 305

  87 Enemy aircraft again, Brown, 77

  88 He is so like, Ironside, 278

  8 WORST OF ALL EXPERIENCES

  1 Ah, it is all, L. E. H. Maund, Assault from the Sea, 40

  2 Chamberlain was destroyed, Simon Ball, The Guardsmen, 212

  3 I am convinced, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 483

  4 primary strategic, Rhys-Jones, 122

  5 Once this is, At the Admiralty, 1100

  6 Gilbertian, Derry, 244

  7 a mystery which, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 200

  8 plans by … effort, ibid., 271

  9 Narvik was really, ibid., 221

  10 a typical advance, ibid., 220

  11 we take every, ibid., 200

  12 disliked the suggestion, ibid., 201

  13 very strongly held, Brown, 22

  14 ridiculous appointment … Fleet, Godfrey, vol. 5, 308

  15 and he did … commanders, Piers Mackesy, ‘Churchill on Narvik’, Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, December 1970, 28–33

  16 to turn the enemy, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 199

  17 The crowd lining … interested, William Boyle, My Naval Life, 192

  18 with diametrically … landing, ‘The Norway Campaign of 1940’, London Gazette, Supplement, 8/7/1947

  19 fire in retaliation, Haarr, German Invasion of Norway, 40

  20 If there was one thing, Macclure, ‘Gladiators in Norway’

  21 missing a low-flying, Fitzgerald, 32

  22 Narvik in Allied … we are?, ibid., 37

  23 all the battles … experiences, ibid., 16

  24 For submarines, please, ibid., 25


  25 quite inadequate, London Gazette, Supplement, 3/7/1947, 297

  26 I must point … ruled out, At the Admiralty, 1096

  27 seldom greater than, London Gazette, 8/7/1947

  28 Until snow melts, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 223

  29 most urgent, At the Admiralty, 1083

  30 an assault … success, ibid.

  31 to sit down, ibid., 1084

  32 failure to take Narvik … reasons, ibid., 1105

  33 why we are … wrong, Amery, Diaries, vol. 2, 587

  34 There was no apparent, Spectator, 9/5/1940

  35 He always imagined, Maisky, 353

  36 The question of who, Godfrey, vol. 7, 127

  37 pondered a good, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 490

  38 iron of the Dardanelles, ibid., 496

  39 Of all the harebrained, Pownall, 282

  40 might … prove a Gallipoli, Oliver Harvey, Diplomatic Diaries, 339

  41 a little worried, Colville, Fringes of Power, 104

  42 bruised … offensive operations, Maisky, 455

  43 I thought he, Soames, Winston and Clementine, 107

  44 there were political, Mackesy, ‘Churchill on Narvik’

  45 that Winston is worried, PA LG/g/241/1

  46 determined that he, Beesly, 124

  47 the damaging deadlock, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 225

  48 to start monkeying, Ironside, 262

  49 at once unexpected, At the Admiralty, 1078

  50 How can one, Mackesy, ‘Churchill on Narvik’

  51 sheer bloody murder, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 224

  52 So far as I am, ibid., 224

  53 in a thoroughly disgruntled, Ironside, 269

  54 non-existent … neutralisation, Derry, 153

  55 so evidently contemplated, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 487

  56 taken aback, At the Admiralty, 1084

  57 Where is the oil? Geoffrey Shakespeare, 229

  58 Should you consider, At the Admiralty, 1086

  59 If this Officer, ibid., 1118

  60 the apparent lack … operation, ibid., 1113

  61 test the snow … exhausting, Kersaudy, 127

  62 What is really, At the Admiralty, 1110

  63 It is a curious … available, Fitzgerald, 26

  64 There is not … proposed, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 226

  65 3.30 Romilly taken, CA CHU 4/142, Romilly diary

  66 Negative embarkation … the shore, Fitzgerald, 28

  67 We want a bit, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 29

  68 he is unlucky, Pownall, 304

  69 an unlucky star … mistake, Harvey, 339

  70 Attack at dawn, Anthony Dix, The Norway Campaign and the Rise of Churchill, 60

  71 It was suicidal, Trond Kristiansen interview with author, 15/10/2015

 

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