by John Kelly
urging for a British expeditionary force, 8–9
warning about world war, 21
China, 19
Churchill, Clementine, 104, 170, 214
Churchill, Johnny, 214–15
Churchill, Randolph, 141
Churchill, Winston, 164, 185
accolades for, 36
alcohol and charges of drunkenness, 75, 155, 165
Allied summit, May 16, 1940 (Quai d’Orsay), 158–60
Allied summit, May 31, 1940 (Paris), 262–66, 270–71
Allied summit, June 11, 1940 (Briare), 281–86
Allied summit, June 13, 1940 (Tours), 286, 287–90
Amery and, 120–21
anger at France over response to invasion of Poland, 34–35
Anglo-Italian talks, 184, 185
antiappeasement movement and, 13, 14
Baldwin’s appraisal of, 11
Battle of Britain and, 318–19
becomes PM, 136–38, 143
brief to House of Commons on Norway loss, 97
Britain unites under, 306
cabinet appointments, 145–46
Calais defeat and, 212
Chamberlain’s allies mount whispering campaign against, 111, 132
Chamberlain’s resignation and, 133
at Chequers (country residence), 300
copy of German armistice terms obtained by, 300–301
courage of, 312
criticisms of, 35–36, 144, 145
defensive strategies, 251
domestic life and Chartwell, 170
Dunkirk and, 170–71, 175, 190, 214–15, 276–77
“Finest Hour” speech, 292–93, 297
as First Lord of the Admiralty, 36, 75, 91, 93, 97, 99, 111, 120, 126
focus on airpower by, 9, 19
French air support needs and, 153–54, 161–62, 164
on the French Army, 52
French assets, Hankey’s memo on steps to take upon France’s collapse, 281, 286
on French defeat, 164
French navy, sinking or disabling after French defeat, 301–4
Gallipoli and, 10–11, 35, 100
genius as leader, 246
German invasion of Holland and, 128
gold standard return and, 35–36
Halifax removed from war cabinet, 305–6
as head of the Military Coordination Committee, 91, 99–100
on human brain’s capacity to “register catastrophe,” 189
insightfulness on German threat, 35
Isaiah Berlin on, 320–21
Ismay as chief military adviser, 158
Kennedy and, 154–55
the king and, 131, 132, 137–38, 175
leadership of, 319–20
Lloyd George and, 241–44
on morale, 253
Mussolini and, 183, 209–10
nadir of political career, 10–11
National Prayer Day and, 200
“never surrender” speech, 276
new national narrative shaped by, 193, 319–20, 321
Norwegian campaign and, 98–99, 104, 107, 119, 120, 125
opinions about, 11, 144–45
opposition to Indian reform, 35
personality and character, 35–36, 133, 144, 155, 162, 225
policy differences with Halifax, 229–30, 231, 247, 304–6
public support, 146–47
radio address, first as PM, 171–72, 336n
radio address, March 30, 1940, 89
rearmament debate, 10
refusal to negotiate or surrender, 251–52
requests for US aid, 155, 164–65, 205, 219
resolve of, 254
Reynaud calls about German advance, 153–54, 156
Reynaud-Daladier feud and, 89
Reynaud meeting with, May 26, 1940, 201–2
“Reynaud plan” and, 202–4
as “rogue elephant,” 146
self image, 144
“so much owed by so many to so few” phrase, 319
speech of June 21, 1940, secret session of Parliament, 297, 300
speech to House of Commons, July 4, 1940, 304
supporters of, for Prime Minister, 35, 111–12, 133, 134, 135, 142
support for Edward VIII, 11
surprise of, outer cabinet meeting, May 28, 1940, 250–51
Tonypandy and, 132, 138
vision of German enslavement of British, 265
war cabinet meeting, May 26, 1940, 196–99
war cabinet meeting, May 27, 1940, 216–21
war cabinet meeting of May 28, 1940, 239–41, 246, 247–49
warnings about Rhineland coup by, 13
war policy (victory at all costs), 128, 147, 165–66, 197–98, 205, 220–21, 220n, 229–30, 252, 276, 283, 287, 304
war policy opponents, 166–68, 229–30 (see also Halifax, Lord Edward)
as wartime leader, 135–36, 144
Welles’s meeting with, 75–76
Weygand and Weygand plan, 174–75
Whitsun debate and Chamberlain confidence vote, 115, 117, 119–20, 125–26
wit at Baldwin’s expense, 12
Ciano, Count Galeazzo, 31, 33–34, 209, 222, 261, 326n
French ambassador visits, 223–24
US ambassador visits, 222–23
Civil Nursing Reserve, 235
Clemenceau, Georges, 74, 84, 225, 290
Cocteau, Jean, 36
Collective Security policy, 7, 8
Rhineland coup and, 13
Collier, Richard, 314–15
Colville, John, 96, 107, 112, 123, 145, 161, 216, 231–32
communism, 8, 27, 53, 130
Compiègne, France, 293
Conservative Party
anti-Chamberlain sentiment, 124–25
anti-Churchill campaign, 111
anticommunism of, 27
Baldwin as leader of, 10
Chamberlain as leader of, 145
Chamberlain “missed the bus” speech, 92
Chamberlain’s fall and, 111, 126–27, 131–32
Churchill as PM and, 145, 147
Churchill cabinet appointments from, 146
loss of East Fulham by-election, 9
Margesson as chief whip, 39, 115–16, 120, 127
“respectable tendency” in, 145
Whitsun debate and, 111, 115, 117–28
See also Chamberlain, Neville; Halifax, Lord Edward
Corbin, Charles, 35
Cork, Lord, 98, 101
Croatia, 16
Cromwell, Oliver, 122, 123
Croydon, England, 318
Crussol, Marquise de, 79–80, 89, 96
Czechoslovakia, 20
attack on, 22
Britain’s promised defense of, 21
German occupation of, 26–27
Little Entente, 16, 21
Sudetenland and, 19, 23–24
Daily Express, 28, 97, 115, 146, 192
editorial about Belgian surrender, 236
headlines, May 25, 1940, 180
“Jane,” girl spy cartoon, 179
Daily Mail, 28, 97, 107, 113, 115, 146, 192
Daily Mirror, 28
Belgium’s surrender in, 235
“Jane,” girl spy cartoon, 235
Daily Telegraph, 280
Daladier, Édouard, 25, 33, 54, 55, 81, 86, 87, 138, 139, 140, 164
Allied summit, May 16, 1940 (Quai d’Orsay), 158–59
Churchill pledges RAF squadrons to France, 161–62
Churchill’s anger at, 35
feud with Reynaud, 89, 95–96
on George VI, 130
German approach to Paris and, 157
loss of premiership, 82
lover, Marquise de Crussol, 80, 89
as minister of defense, 89
Mussolini neutrality pledge sought, 261
negotiated peace settlement and, 75
as “wobbly” on response to invasion of Poland, 34
Dalton, Hugh, 14, 90, 132, 142,
250–51
as minister of economic warfare, 146
Danzig, Poland, 19, 20
Darkness at Noon (Koestler), 274
Davidson, Lord, 145
Davies, Clement, 90, 110, 115, 121, 122, 128, 133, 134
Davies, Lord, 189
December Club, 13, 14
Deere, Alan, 261
de Gaulle, Charles, 53, 283–84, 287, 290
Denmark
German invasion of, 95
German occupation of, 74
Der Sturmer magazine, 234
Detling air base, England, 315
Dill, Sir John, 217, 240, 253–54, 262–63, 272, 282, 285, 309
disarmament policy, 7, 8
World Disarmament Conference, 7, 8
Donner, Patrick, 145
Douglas-Home, Alec, 22, 111, 142
Dover, England, 212, 214, 244, 256, 257, 260, 308, 313
Dover Straits, 306, 307
German invasion threat and, 310
as Hellfire Corner, 307
Dowding, Sir Hugh “Stuffy,” 240, 278–79, 310, 315, 316
Duff Cooper, Alfred, 14, 27–28, 45, 112, 132, 133
in Ministry of Information, 145–46
Dugdale, Nancy, 111, 145
Dunkirk, 102, 169, 170, 171, 225, 233
abandoned British equipment, 228–29
BEF brigade at Cassel and, 240–41, 241n
call for small boats, 260–61
casualties, 270, 271, 274
Churchill’s famous speech on, 276
Churchill’s nephew and, 214–15
end of evacuation, 272–73, 275
evacuation of the BEF (Operation Dynamo), 212, 238–40, 244–46, 251, 260, 261, 264, 269–70, 273, 275
French and evacuation, 227, 238, 245, 258–59, 261, 264–65, 272–73, 275–76
German airpower and, 245, 270, 271, 275–76, 278
German approach, 234
Gort and the BEF, 170, 171, 172–73, 183, 186, 204, 238–39, 240, 271–72, 272n
London-Dover train and evacuees, 244–46, 256
looting and lack of discipline in, 228
memories by men there, 269–70
number of men evacuated, 261, 264, 276
Panzer advance on, 185–86, 190
RAF and, 215, 245, 260, 261, 272, 275–76, 278
retreat to the beaches of, 227–28
road to, through Armentières, 226–27
surrender of population, 216
Eastchurch air base, England, 314, 315, 318
economic blockade, 41, 42, 85
Eden, Anthony, 51–52, 133, 143, 212, 271, 279
Allied summit, June 11, 1940, and, 282, 285
as foreign minister, 146
Edward VIII of England, 11, 130
Elizabeth, Queen Consort of George VI, 17, 130, 131, 132, 199
Emery Evans, Paul, 13
End of the Affair, The (Greene), 192
English Channel, 18, 164, 257
Battle of Britain fought above, 317–18
English Voyages of the Sixteenth Century (Raleigh), 269
Essex Newsman, 191
Europe
Britain’s concessions to Hitler, 20
emergence from “brown fog” of despair, late 1920s, 7
German offensive plan (Case Yellow), 66–67
Hitler’s plans for conquest, 76
Hitler’s Rhineland coup, 13, 15
new warnings of war (1933), 8
Pact of Locarno and borders of, 7, 13
Siegfried Line, 20–21, 63
Western Front, 47, 51–52, 58–59, 81–82
See also specific countries
Evening Express, 213–14
Evening Standard, 163, 166
“Faith” editorial, 166, 178
“Prepare for the worst,” 178
Farne Islands, England, 317
Fascism, 8
British Union of Fascists, Mosley and, 6, 106, 196, 250
Fink, Johannes, 314–15
Finland, 69–70
Allied help for, 70–71, 72, 75
casualties, 70
Ousul, 69
Soviet assault on the Karelian Isthmus, 57–58
Suomussalmi, 69
surrender of, 81
as symbol of resistance, 58
Fish, Hamilton, 300
Flanner, Janet, 55
Flynn, Errol, 192
Foch, Ferdinand, 6, 138, 293
Foot, Dingle, 126
Forbes, Charles, 309–10
France, 47
antiwar factions, 33
appeasement policy, 24
Battle of, 171, 246, 283, 292
Belgian refugees and, 237
British army in, 51, 88
British commitment to supply planes, curtailing of, 279
cause of Finland and, 81
Chamberlain’s placating of, 86
Churchill’s elimination of French Navy, 301–4
Clemenceau Doctrine, 74, 84
collapse of, 176, 259, 281, 285
compared to Germany, 53
defeat of, 155, 159
enters war, September 3, 1939, 41, 54
evacuation of Strasbourg, 58–59
Gamelin’s Dyle plan and defense of Belgium, 149–53, 159, 166, 170, 173
German armistice sought, 33–34
German bombing of Nancy, 141
German invasion of, 156, 171, 173, 210–11, 273, 279, 280, 284
German offensive plan for, 66
importance to Britain, 51
invasion of Poland, indecision about response, 32
Little Entente, 16, 21
lukewarm commitment to war, 53–54, 55
Maginot Line, 51, 52–53, 58, 59, 171
military superiority of, 52
military weakness and, 43
mobilization, 55
Munich Conference and, 25
news of Belgium’s capitulation and despair, 231
Norwegian campaign, 102, 103–4
no-separate-peace pledge, 87, 88, 187, 188, 288–90
Pact of Locarno, 7
panic in, 273–74
Pétain and armistice, 225
prewar population of, 7
public antipathy for war, 54–55
public despair, 254–55
Reynaud-Daladier feud and, 89, 95–96
Reynaud’s government collapses, 139–40
Rhineland coup and, 14
Somme–Aisne line, 259, 264, 265, 279
surrender, June 18, 1940, 291, 293
surrender of Belgian Army and, 237
terms of armistice and, 300–301
ultimatum given to Germany, 41
war aims of, 84–85
Welles’s visit to, 74–75
in World War I, 3, 4 (see also World War I)
See also specific generals and leaders
Franco, Francisco, 16
French Air Force, 164, 281
French Army, 164
as antiquated, 52, 183, 189
Gamelin’s Dyle plan and German trap, 149–53, 159, 166, 169
German advance and, 280, 284
high praise for, 52
Lille garrison, 238–39, 252–53
on the Western Front, 52
Weygand plan, 174–75, 181, 253
French High Command at Vincennes, 51–52, 141, 151, 156, 173–74, 284
meeting in Cassel, May 27, 1940, 227, 240
French Ministry of War, 263
French Navy, 258, 276
Bretagne, 302, 303
British attack on Mers-el-Kébir (Operation Catapult) and destruction of, 301–4
Dunkerque, 303
Provence, 303
Strasbourg, 303
French War Committee, 182, 186, 201, 259, 286, 287
Fuller, Horace, 103
Gallipoli, 4
Churchill blamed for, 10–11, 36
Gamelin, Maurice, 138–40, 141, 156, 158, 164
Allied summit, May 16, 1940 (Qu
ai d’Orsay), 158–60
Dyle plan and German trap, 149–50, 151, 152–53, 159
Weygand replaces, 173
Gardner, Charles, 306–7
Gathering Storm, The (Churchill), 8, 104, 136
Gensoul, Marcel-Bruno, 302
Georges, Alphonse, 86, 153, 284
George VI of England, 46, 48, 129–31, 132, 143, 199
Churchill as PM and, 137–38, 175
German Air Force. See Luftwaffe
German Army (Heer), 34, 53, 58, 65, 84, 162, 170, 183, 189, 258, 292, 308
objections to Case Yellow, 67
Supreme Command, 67
German Chancellery, 64–65
German High Command, 64, 66, 185, 273
German intelligence service (Abwehr), 68
German Navy (Kriegsmarine), 65, 262
German POWs, 257
Germany
aggression of, 27
“Allies in both pockets” announcement, 252
the Anschluss (May 1938), 20
Anti-Comintern Pact, 15
Battle of Britain, 307–10, 313–19
Belgium and Holland invaded, 128, 140–42, 149–54, 157–58, 197
Belgium surrenders, 216, 217, 233–35
Berlin papers, on Dunkirk, 273
Britain and France declare war on, September 3, 1939, 40–41
British economic blockade of, 41–42
Czechoslovakia occupied, March 1939, 26–27
economy of, 42, 204, 280
France invaded, 156, 173, 210–11, 273, 279, 285
French armistice, terms of, 300–301
French surrender, 291
German opposition to Hitler, 68
German-Soviet pact, 27, 29, 42
Italian-German Treaty, 76, 183
Kellogg-Briand Pact, 7
march on Paris, 156
military shortages, 65
military strength, 1939–40, 42
Norwegian invasion, 88–89, 93–96
offensive plan (Case Yellow), 64–68, 69, 149–50
Pact of Locarno, 7, 13
Paris as German city, 291–92
Poland invaded, 30, 33, 34
population of, 53
rearmament and defense spending, 8, 41–42
Rhineland coup, 13, 15
Rome-Berlin Axis, 15
sadism and, 236
steel production, 53, 65
Sudetenland and, 19
Treaty of Versailles violated, 13
troop morale, 1940, 195
war machine/industry, 58
Welles’s visit to, 73
West Wall (Siegfried Line), 20–21, 63
World Disarmament Conference walkout, 8
See also Hitler, Adolf
Gestapo, Venlo incident, 68
Gibraltar, 203, 208, 212, 224, 238, 300
Gielgud, John, 167
Gilbert, Martin, 250
Giraudoux, Jean, 55
Goebbels, Joseph, 308
Gollancz, Victor, 115
Gordt, Lord John, 59
Göring, Hermann, 64–65, 313, 316
Gort, Sir John, 170, 171, 172–73, 174, 181, 183, 186, 238–39, 240, 253, 265
