Why the Allies Won

by Richard Overy

  Bosyi (Soviet steel-worker), 231

  Bourguebus Ridge, 207–8

  Bradley, General Omar, 192, 203, 207, 208, 209, 211, 213

  Braun, Eva, 75

  Braun, Wernher Freiherr von, 292–3

  Brest, 141

  Brezhnev, Leonid, 403

  Britain: atomic research, 295–6; bombing campaigns, 124–32, 134–9, 140, 141, 143–7, 152–3; civilian casualties, 360; end of European war, 217; fear of chemical warfare attacks, 131; fighting skills, 257; German bombing of, 132–3, 294; and German peace overtures, 326–7; invasion avoided (1940), 15, 16, 25; invasion of France (1944), 167–209, 212, 213; invasion of Madagascar (1942), 164–7; Mediterranean strategy, 53–4, 328–9; mid-war isolation, 15, 16; naval power’s importance, 33–4; in North Africa, 124; oil supplies, 286–7; and outbreak of war, 13–15; post-war, 401; pre-war strength, 9; propaganda, 354, 360–3, 365; and sea war, 35–6, 37–9, 41; and Second Front, 123, 124; soldiers executed, 361; Soviet relations, 107–8, 123–5, 304, 307–12, 437; supplies to, 32; US aid to, 236–7, 311–12; US relations, 304–7; war leadership, 323–9, 330–2; war production, 243, 407–8; see also Royal Air Force and Royal Navy

  Britain, Battle of (1940), 15

  British army units: 2nd army, 192, 197; 6th airborne division, 192; 50th division, 197

  British Fleet Air Arm, 36

  Brooke, Field Marshal Sir Alan see Alanbrooke, Viscount

  Budenny, Marshal, 84

  Bulge, Battle of the (1944–45), 216

  Burma, 18, 279

  Butt, D.M., 135

  Cadogan, Alexander, 174

  Caen, 178, 192, 197, 198, 200–1, 203, 204–5, 206–9, 212, 213

  Caen canal, 195–6

  Cairncross, John, 108

  Cairo conference (1943), 174

  Canadian forces: 1st army, 214; 3rd division, 197; Dieppe raid (1942), 166; invasion of France (1944), 197, 200, 207, 209, 212, 213, 214

  Canaris, Admiral Wilhelm, 375

  Capra, Frank, 363, 365

  car industry: German, 248–9; Japanese, 271; US, 238–9

  Casablanca conference (1943), 142–3, 169, 363

  Catholic Church, 349

  Caucasus, 16, 18, 81, 82, 84, 279, 282–3

  Chamberlain, Neville, 126, 131, 134, 324–5, 355

  Chelyabinsk, 228

  chemical warfare, 131, 295, 364

  Cherbourg, 178, 201, 203

  Cherwell, Lord, 135

  Chiang Kai-Shek, 89, 404

  China, 10, 89, 397, 404

  Chrysler Corporation, 238, 241

  Chuikov, General Vasili Ivanovich, 89, 90–3, 95–6, 122

  Churchill, Lady Jenny, 323

  Churchill, Lord Randolph, 323

  Churchill, Winston: 1941 pessimism, 18; and air power, 328; on air war, 123; and Alanbrooke, 327, 329, 330–1; at Atlantic conference (1941), 30–3; background and character, 323–6; and Barbarossa (1941–43), 103; and bombing, 124–6, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 141–2, 145; at Casablanca (1943), 142–3, 169; and Hitler, 352, 353; and invasion of France (1944), 169, 174, 178, 182–3, 191, 192, 218; and Madagascar, 164–5; as Minister for War, 126; at Moscow meeting (1942), 124–5; pneumonia bout, 178; on production’s importance, 253; on reasons for Allied success, 393; role in war’s outcome, 26, 313, 323–9; and Roosevelt, 22, 32, 132, 306, 312; and sea war, 36, 38–9, 41, 58, 74; on shipping’s importance, 22; and Soviet Union, 307, 308, 309, 312; and Stalin, 301–3; at Teheran (1943), 119, 175–6, 287, 300–3, 326, 328–9; and Torch (1942), 54; and US, 304–6, 312, 328; and war’s moral issues, 351, 352; and World War I, 25, 31, 126, 324, 328

  Ciano, Count Galeazzo, 367

  Citadel, Operation (1943), 106, 110–17

  Cobra, Operation (1944), 203, 208–16

  codes and ciphers: British, 37, 57; Enigma (Ultra), 57, 107–8, 184, 192, 207, 213; German, 38, 57, 67, 107–8, 184; Japanese, 46–7

  Cold War, 404–6

  communications: eastern front, 260, 263; importance, 258; tanks, 109; see also radio

  communism: Churchill on, 351; post-war spread, 403–4; prewar appeal, 8–9; role in Allied success, 3; Roosevelt on, 447–8; US hatred, 349, 351

  Consolidated aircraft plant, 240

  convoys: escort system and tactics, 59–60, 66; HX224, 66; HX229, 67–8; HX231, 69; merchant ships, 32–3; ON166, 67; ONS5, 69; SC118, 66–7; SC122, 67–8; SC130, 70; technological protection, 37, 60–2; WS17, 164

  Coral Sea, Battle of the (1942), 18, 42–4, 43

  Cotentin peninsula, 202–3

  Coutances, 211

  Cox, James, 318

  Cripps, Sir Stafford, 311

  Culin, Sergeant Curtis C. Jr, 209

  Czechoslovakia, 13, 282

  D-Day landings see France, invasion of

  Daimler-Benz company, 248

  Dardanelles see Gallipoli

  Datsun, 271

  Davies, Joseph E., 307–8

  Deane, General John, 310

  death ray, 287

  democracy: role in Allied success, 2–3

  Dempsey, General Miles, 192

  Denmark: German takeover (1940), 15

  Dieppe, Canadian raid (1942), 166

  Dill, Field Marshal Sir John, 330, 444

  dirty bombs, 295

  Dneps river, 105, 118

  Dollmann, General, 189

  Don river, 84, 97

  Donetz river, 105

  Dönitz, Admiral Karl: as Hitler’s successor, 75, 343; at Nuremberg, 383–4; and sea war, 55, 56, 58, 60, 65, 70, 71

  Dönitz, Peter, 70

  Dornberger, Walther, 292, 294

  Double-Cross System, 184

  Doud, Harold, 272

  Dykes, General Vivian, 306

  Eaker, General Ira, 140

  East Indies, 16, 18

  eastern front, 77–122, 79; air power, 93–5, 110, 158, 258, 260–2, 263, 268–70, 396; Allied support for Russia, 24; German morale, 27; military technology, 6, 258–70; role in war’s outcome, 394–5; Soviet 1944 offensive, 203; tanks, 112, 114–16, 258–60, 263, 264–5, 279; see also Barbarossa, Operation

  Eden, Anthony, 306, 309, 325

  Ehrenburg, Ilya, 77, 121, 232

  Eisenhower, General Dwight D.: on Alanbrooke, 331; appointed commander, 176; background and appearance, 176–7; and D-Day plans, 178, 179, 181, 182, 185, 187, 191–2; on effects of economic power, 389; Germanophobia, 354; and invasion of France (1944), 168–9, 176, 192–3, 194–5, 198–9, 203–4, 206, 208, 213, 217, 218, 219, 430; and invasion of Germany (1945), 216; and Montgomery, 203–5, 206, 208–9; on US entry into war, 321

  Eliot, T.S., 356

  Elizabeth, Tsarina, 344

  ‘Empire and Allies’ New Year pageant (1942), 309

  Enigma (Ultra), 57, 107–8, 184, 192, 207, 213

  Enola Gay, 155

  Ensor, R.C.K., 354

  Enterprise, 46, 51

  Erickson, John, 299

  Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia), 10

  explosives, 61

  Falaise, 213, 214, 215

  Far East: Japanese campaigns, 16, 18, 33, 39

  fascism: pre-war appeal, 9

  FBI, 186

  Fedchikov, Metropolitan Benjamin, 348

  Fieseler-103 flying bomb, 293

  fighting skills: role in war’s outcome, 6–8, 25–6, 92–3, 256, 257–8, 389–91

  Finland, 20, 23

  First US Army Group (FUSAG), 185–7, 200–1, 219

  First World War see World War I

  Fitzmaurice, Colonel James, 128

  Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific, 46–7

  Fletcher, Rear-Admiral Frank, 42, 43, 47, 49, 50

  food see agriculture and food

  Ford, Henry, 240–1

  Ford company, 162, 238, 239, 240–1, 248

  fortifications: Kursk, 108–9

  France: Allied bombing raids on, 140–1, 181–3; Dieppe raid (1942), 166; fall of (1940), 15, 36, 256; invasion of Madagascar (1942), 164–7; naval strength, 35; and outbreak of war, 13–15; post-
war, 401; pre-war strength, 9; Resistance, 191, 205

  France, invasion of (1944), 167–216; air power’s effect, 395, 396; air support, 158–9, 181–3, 192, 196, 199, 202, 206, 207, 209, 210, 211, 218–19, 255–6, 277–8; Allied doubts of success, 217–18; Allies commit to, 119, 301–2; Anvil, Operation, 179, 214; choice of site, 171; commanders, 176–8; D-Day, 195–8, 199–201; deception of Germans as to site, 181, 183–7, 200–1, 219; eastern front’s effect, 395; final preparations, 192–5; German defences, 187–91; Normandy, battle for, 198–9, 201–9, 255–6, 275; Normandy breakout, 209–16, 210; oil supplies, 287; organisation, 179; plans, 178–9, 191–2; pre-requisites, 167–8; reasons for Allied success, 199–201, 218–19, 393; role in Allied success, 25; strategy arguments, 168–9, 171, 172–6; supplies, 202; technological aids, 180–1, 209, 277–9; transport across Channel, 170, 178, 179–81, 192, 195, 196; US forces in Britain, 169–70; weather, 194, 202, 218

  Franco, Francisco, 10, 127

  Frank, Hans, 384

  Frederick II the Great, 344

  French Frigate Shoals, 48

  Frisch, Otto, 296–7

  fuel, 279–87; synthetic, 280, 281–2, 282–3, 285

  FUSAG see First US Army Group

  Galland, Adolf, 151

  Gallipoli (1915–16), 25, 31, 324

  Gallop, Operation (1943), 105

  Garmash (Soviet tractor driver), 232

  GATT, 402

  Gaulle, General Charles de, 215–16

  Gee radio navigation device, 138–9, 143–4

  Gehlen, General Reinhard, 96

  General Motors Corporation, 236, 238, 239, 249

  George VI, 119, 191, 192, 325

  George, Colonel Hal, 397

  German air force: Allied campaign to destroy, 149–52, 157–9; bombing campaigns, 132–3, 144; and D-Day (1944), 199; defence of Germany, 135–6, 144, 147, 148–9, 152; eastern front, 263, 268–70; leadership, 342–3; loss of air power, 157–9, 260–1, 342, 395–8; and oil supplies, 285; Paris raid (1944), 216; and sea war, 36; and Spanish Civil War (1936–39), 127; and Stalingrad (1942–43), 95, 98

  German air force units: Air Fleet 3, 199; Air Fleet 4, 95

  German army: age, 188; assassination attempts on Hitler, 212–13, 375, 377–80; Atlantic defences, 188, 189; Hitler’s control, 340–1

  German army units: 1st Panzer army, 81, 82; 2nd Panzer division, 112, 203, 214; 3rd Panzer division, 116; 3rd parachute division, 189; 4th Panzer army, 81, 82, 97, 112–13; 5th Panzer army, 212–13; 6th army, 81, 82, 91, 97–102; 7th army, 188, 189, 195, 196, 210, 212–13, 215, 218; 9th Panzer division, 112; 9th SS Panzer division, 205; 10th SS Panzer division, 205; 11th Panzer corps, 116; 15th army, 186, 189, 194, 195, 200, 201, 212, 214, 218; 19th Panzer regiment, 116; 21st Panzer division, 190, 197; Panzer Lehr division, 203, 210, 255–6; SS Panzer division Das Reich, 114, 115–16; SS Panzer division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, 114, 115–16; SS Panzer division Totenkopf, 114, 115–16

  German Faith Movement, 350

  German forces: numbers executed, 374

  German navy: comparative strength, 35; and D-Day, 199; and end of war, 75–6; and submarine war, 35–8, 54–63, 64–73, 74

  German–Soviet Pact (1939), 3, 14, 15, 282

  Germany: agriculture and food, 245; air power, 157–9, 257, 258, 260–1, 263, 268–70, 342, 395–8; Allied attitude to Nazis, 27–8; Allied bombing campaigns, 24, 131, 133–53, 156, 157–63, 251–2; Allied disruption of production, 146, 148, 149, 151–2, 153, 156, 159–61, 162; Allied fears of chemical warfare, 131; Allied view of as foremost enemy, 394; anti-bomber defences, 135–6, 143–4, 147, 148, 152, 160; atomic research, 288–91, 295; end of war, 381–2; fear of Soviet Union, 381; fighting skills, 7–8, 92, 256, 257–8; Germanophobia, 353–7; invasion of (1945), 216–17, 344; and invasion of France (1944), 187–91, 195–216, 255–6; invasion of Soviet Union see Barbarossa, Operation and eastern front; material resources, 4, 5–6; military organisation, 391–3; military technology, 6, 219, 258, 263–70, 275, 278–9, 297–8; morale, 26, 367–8, 371, 375–7, 380–2; morality of war’s conduct, 371–5; oil supplies, 279, 281–5; opposition to Nazis, 350, 375, 377–80; and outbreak of war, 13–15; post-war, 404–6; pre-war, 10, 11–13; propaganda, 371, 376–7, 381; religion in, 349–50; rocket programme, 291–5; Soviet aid to, 3; as threat to west, 14, 27–8; war leadership, 26, 313, 336–46, 387–8, 399; war production, 5–6, 134, 151–2, 222–3, 243–54, 269–70, 275, 292–5, 407–8

  Goebbels, Joseph: on Barbarossa, 252, 376; and German science, 297; on Germanophobia, 375; and invasion of France (1944), 200; on morality of German conduct of war, 373; and propaganda, 371–2, 376–7; and Roosevelt’s death, 344

  Gold beach, 192, 197

  Goldsmith, Raymond, 388

  Gomorrah, Operation (1943), 145–6

  Goodwood, Operation (1944), 207–8

  Gooseberry breakwaters, 180–1

  Gordov, General, 84

  Göring, Hermann: and aircraft development, 127, 251, 269; and Allied bombing operations, 151; background and war role, 342–3; and German bombing operations, 144; at Nuremberg, 383; reaction to war’s outbreak, 28; and rocket programme, 292–3; and Stalingrad (1942–43), 98, 104; and Udet, 269; on US production methods, 248

  Gosplan, 225

  Great Crash (1929), 8

  Great War see World War I

  Greece: Italian attack, 16, 270

  Greenland, 304

  Gretton, Commander Peter, 70

  Grigg, James, 331

  Grigorenko, Petro, 359

  Groves, General Leslie, 297

  Guderian, General Heinz, 117, 346

  H2S navigation device, 144–5, 147

  Hahn, Otto, 288

  Halder, General Franz, 82, 338, 340, 375

  Halifax, Lord, 319, 323, 325, 326, 354

  Halsey, Admiral William, 46

  Hamburg, 145–6

  Hanford, 296

  Hardy, General Thomas T., 425

  Harriman, Averell: on Atlantic conference (1941), 30, 32; and Churchill, 30, 38–9, 192, 326; on D-Day (1944), 192; in Moscow, 310; on Moscow meeting (1942), 125; rights and privileges, 321; and Roosevelt, 304; and Stalin, 164

  Harris, Air Marshal Arthur, 136–9, 147, 181–2

  Harteck, Paul, 288, 291

  Hassell, Ulrich von, 377

  hedgecutters, 209

  Hedgehog mortars, 62

  Heisenberg, Werner, 289, 290, 291

  High Frequency Direction Finding (HF/DF), 69

  Himmler, Heinrich: assassination attempts, 379; and atomic research, 298; and Barbarossa, 372; death, 382; and rocket programme, 293, 294, 295

  Hirohito, Emperor, 155, 367, 368, 370, 451

  Hiroshima, 154–5

  Hiryu, 49, 51

  Hitler, Adolf: and alliances, 344–5; Allied attitude to, 27–8, 352–7; assassination attempts, 212–13, 375, 377–80; and atomic research, 290; background and character, 11–13, 216, 337–8; and bombing, 132, 133, 144, 146; and cars, 248, 249; death, 75, 216; on failure to win the war, 386–7; on German fighting skills, 7; and German morale, 376; and invasion of France (1944), 185, 186, 187, 190–1, 200, 205–6, 208, 212, 214, 215; and oil supplies, 282; and outbreak of war, 13–15; popularity in Germany, 26; and religion, 349–50; and rocket programme, 292, 293, 294; role in war’s outcome, 26, 313, 336–41, 342–6, 387–8, 399; and Roosevelt’s death, 343–4; and sea war, 36, 55, 65; and Soviet Union, 16, 17, 23, 80, 81–2, 95, 96, 97–8, 99, 103–4, 106, 110–11, 117, 118, 252, 386; Stalin’s admiration for, 312; and tanks, 266; and ‘total war’ concept, 243–4; and US, 252, 390, 397; and war production, 146, 153, 244–5, 246, 247, 249–50, 251, 253, 254; and war’s moral issues, 371–2

  Hobbs, General Leland, 256

  Hochne, Otto, 249

  Hoffmann, Wilhelm, 100

  Holland see Netherlands

  Honda, 271

  Hopkins, Harry: on Churchill, 253; in Moscow, 308; rights and privileges, 321; on Roosevelt, 18, 133, 142; at Teheran (1943), 312


  Hornet, 46

  horses, 97, 100, 265, 271, 282, 283

  Horton, Admiral Sir Max, 65–6, 68–70, 71, 74

  Hoth, General Hermann, 99, 112, 114

  Hughes-Hallett, Commodore J., 180

  Hungary: and Barbarossa, 23, 86, 100, 103; German trade treaty with, 244

  hydrogenation, 281–2

  Iceland, 304

  Ickes, Harold, 15, 286, 287

  IG Farben, 282

  Illustrious, 164

  IMF, 402

  India, 16, 18

  Indo-China, 16

  Indomitable, 164

  intelligence: Allied attitude to sharing, 310; and invasion of France (1944), 184–7, 191, 192, 195, 207, 213, 219; and Kursk (1943), 107–8, 111; and Midway (1942), 46–7; and Stalingrad (1942–43), 93, 96; and submarine war, 59

  inventions see technology

  Iran (formerly Persia), 20

  Ironclad, Operation (1942), 164–7

  Ismay, General Hastings, 39, 322, 331

  Italian air force, 36

  Italian navy, 36–7

  Italy: Allied bombing campaign, 24, 157; Allied sea blockade, 63–4, 74; attack on Greece, 16, 270; and eastern front, 23, 86, 100, 103; enters war (1940), 16; German military strength in, 395; military technology, 270–1, 275; morale, 26–7, 367–8; post-war, 404–6; prewar, 10–11, 14; religion in, 349; as threat to west, 14, 16, 27; war production, 6, 271, 275, 433–4

  Jackson, Judge Robert H., 383, 384

  Japan: Allied bombing campaign, 24, 153–5, 157, 161–2; Allied sea blockade, 76; atomic research, 287–8; end of war against, 281, 381–2, 397; enters war (1941), 18; expansion (1931–42), 19; Far East campaigns, 16, 18, 33, 39; fighting skills, 7–8, 256; and Madagascar, 164–5; material resources, 4–5; military organisation, 391–3; military technology, 271–2, 275; morale, 27, 367–71, 380–2; oil supplies, 279, 280–1; Pacific campaigns, 17–18, 33, 39–41, 42–53, 271–3; popular view of reasons for failure, 399; post-war, 404–6; pre-war, 10–11, 14; religion in, 368–9; and Soviet Union, 86; supplies, 257; as threat to west, 14, 27; war production, 6, 154, 222, 271, 275, 407–8; western attitude to, 27, 362

  Japanese forces: morale and commitment, 272–3

  Japanese navy, 273, 287–8

  Java, 279

  Jeschonnek, General Hans, 146

  Jews: blamed by Hitler for loss of war, 387; origin of Hitler’s hatred, 12

  Jodl, General Alfred, 96, 342

  Johnston, Eric, 227, 229, 232

  Jones, C.F., 279

  Jones, R.V., 145