Finest Years

by Max Hastings

  Monnet, Jean, 184

  Monte Cassino, Italy, 442, 479

  Montgomery, Gen. Sir Bernard Law (later Field

  Marshal 1st Viscount): capabilities, 14; reputation and public image, 307, 341–3; appointed to command Eighth Army, 320; WSC visits in North Africa, 332; offensive in North Africa, 335; trains troops and prepares for battle, 336; Alamein victory, 337, 339–40; employs Williams as intelligence officer, 337; character and conceit, 343; advance, 344–5; confidence over Sicily landings, 381; campaign in Italy, 392, 394; appointed British commander for D-Day, 438; postpones D-Day to June, 439; WSC dislikes, 479, 596; poor relations with Americans, 481; army strength in north-west Europe, 484; WSC visits in Normandy, 489; criticised for slowness, 497, 507; US attitudes to, 542–3; behaviour towards Eisenhower, 547, 558; instructed to stockpile German weapons for possible use against Russia, 572; WSC’s opinion of, 596

  Montmouchet, France, 459

  Moore, Sir Thomas, 208

  Moore-Brabazon, Col. John (later 1st Baron Brabazon), 154

  Moorehead, Alan, 262, 270, 317–18, 491

  Moran, Charles Wilson, 1st Baron: records, xxii; on WSC’s indifference to women, 90; on WSC’s wit and conversation, 92; publishes diaries, 147; and WSC’s speech to US Congress, 223; on WSC’s visit to Washington, 228, 234; at Casablanca conference, 356; on Brooke’s manner, 356; on Roosevelt’s disability, 361; on WSC’s self-containment, 374; and Roosevelt’s health decline, 377; on Mackenzie King, 387; on WSC at Malta, 427; on US scepticism of WSC, 431; and WSC’s pneumonia in Tunisia, 437; opposes further long flights for WSC, 450; writes account of WSC, 498; with WSC at second Quebec conference, 510, 513; and WSC’s acceptance of Russian triumph over Poland, 517; on WSC’s declining relations with Roosevelt, 568; on WSC’s 1945 election defeat, 590; on WSC’s view of war, 596

  Morgan, Lt.Gen. Sir Frederick, 379, 385–6, 389–90, 478, 482, 500

  Morgenthau, Henry, 31, 173, 194, 203, 229, 321, 512

  Morocco, 220

  Morris-Jones, Henry, 8

  Morrison, Herbert (later Baron), 140, 275, 490

  Morton, Major Desmond, 104, 147, 248

  Morton, H.V., 196

  Moscow: WSC visits, 315, 320–9, 514–18

  Moulin, Jean, 458

  Mountbatten, Admiral Lord Louis (later Earl): as

  chief adviser to Combined Operations, 207; WSC favours, 319; Soviet knowledge of activities, 321–2; reports on Dieppe raid, 332–3; demands excessive forces for Burma, 436, 511; WSC praises for Burma campaign, 514

  Moyne, Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron, 162, 524

  Murmansk, 331

  Murrow, Ed, 181

  Mussolini, Benito: rejects call for Italian neutrality, 19; and proposed British peace overtures, 26, 28, 32; declares war, 45, 117; and African campaigns, 117–18, 121; military ambitions, 124; resigns, 386; rescued by Skorzeny, 407; compared with WSC, 594

  Naples, 395

  Narvik (Norway), 13, 21

  Nazis: death camps and persecution of Jews, 307–8, 501–2, 560; see also Germany; Hitler, Adolf

  Nellie (Downing Street parlourmaid), 204

  New Guinea, 369

  New Statesman, 249, 252–3, 286, 311

  New York Herald Tribune, 32

  New York Times, 32, 248

  New Zealand: forces in Crete, 134, 136; WSC values staunchness, 235

  News Chronicle, 237

  newspapers: WSC scrutinises, 91, 120, 334; reporting of events and people, 307

  Nicholson, Brig. Claude, 25

  Nicolson, (Sir) Harold: on WSC’s qualities, 4; joins government, 16; on upper class mistrust of WSC, 27; pessimism at fall of France, 57; Vita writes to on effect of WSC’s speeches, 76; on WSC’s isolation, 88; and Lothian’s hopes for negotiated peace, 105; on national morale, 112, 132; on US entry into war, 214; on US dismissal of British resolve, 258; and WSC’s delight at Alamein victory, 339; on Katyn massacre, 373; on WSC’s Commons welcome on return from Tehran, 439–40; on post-war political prospects, 520; on WSC in later years, 520; on anti-WSC sentiments, 521; on Commons’ perplexity over WSC, 529; meets WSC after Yalta, 555

  Norman, Montagu (later Baron), 105, 173

  Normandy landings see D-Day; Overlord, Operation

  North Africa: campaign in, 117–18, 189; Wavell’s offensive in, 120–3; German intervention in, 124–5; Auchinleck’s offensive in, 209–10, 215; Allied landings (1942), 232, 296–7, 312, 324, 330, 335, 337, 339–40; aims to expel Germans from, 345, 352; Allied campaign falters, 351; Allied strength in, 368; delayed victory, 370; campaign ends, 376; see also Libya

  Northern Ireland: proposed union with south, 70–3

  Norway: campaign and debate (1940), 1–3, 8, 13, 21, 41; German forces intercept convoys to Russia, 166; refuses to sell gold for sterling, 173; WSC proposes attack on, 207, 295, 383; Stalin suggests British attack on, 327; Resistance in, 455

  Nover, Barnet, 530

  Nye, Gen. Sir Archibald, 266, 333

  O’Connor, Gen. Sir Richard, 121–4

  Olivier, Laurence (later Baron), 499

  Omaha beach, Normandy, 487–8

  Other Club, The, 202

  Ottawa: WSC visits, 223

  Overlord, Operation: planning, 383, 385, 388, 390–1, 393, 426–7, 435, 443, 447; see also D-Day; second front

  Owen, Frank, 287

  Pacific: Japanese advance in, 217, 219; US commitment in, 354, 358; campaign in, 368–9; WSC promises major fleet for, 512

  Page, Sir Earle, 235

  Paget, Gen. Sir Bernard, 67, 454

  Pantellaria (island), 116

  Panter-Downes, Mollie, 4, 63–4, 76

  Papandreou, Georgios, 473, 514, 525, 526, 532, 534, 535, 538

  Paris: German advance on, 44, 46; Germans occupy, 51

  Park, Air Vice-Marshal (Sir) Keith, 97

  partisans see Resistance movements

  Patton, Gen. George S., 294 Pauli, Kurt, 136 Peake, Charles, 200

  Pearl Harbor, xviii, 212, 214, 370

  Pearson, Drew, 530, 540

  Peck, John, 585

  Pedestal (convoy), 326

  Persia, 162

  Pétain, Marshal Philippe, 26, 41, 46–7, 55, 69, 505

  Peter, King of Yugoslavia, 469, 543

  Philadelphia Inquirer, 13

  Philby, Kim, 321

  Philippines, 232

  Phillips, Admiral Tom, 205

  Picture Post (magazine), 254, 265

  Pile, Gen. Sir Frederick, 102

  Pim, Capt. Richard, RN, 239, 546, 580, 589

  Pittman, Key, 64

  Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, 191–9, 201, 208

  Plastiras, Gen. Nikolaus, 538–9

  Pogue, Forrest, 385, 388, 491

  Poland: falls to Germans, 1; Soviet advance in, 152; Soviet claims in, 244, 256, 289, 373; officers massacred by Russians, 373, 433, 444; hostility to Russia, 396, 445; boundaries discussed at Tehran, 434–5, 444; exile government in London, 435, 444–5, 480; WSC’s pessimism over post-war settlement, 445; Resistance, 456, 480; Home Army and Warsaw rising, 472, 503, 509, 513, 516; US deals with Russia over, 493, 503; WSC fails to protect from Soviet domination, 516–18, 545; post-liberation provisional government, 524; future decided at Yalta, 552–7; debated in Commons (1945), 556; under Soviet occupation, 557, 567; WSC proposes anti-Russian action to liberate, 571–6; discussed at Potsdam conference, 588

  Political Warfare Executive (PWE), 473

  Popov, Grigory, 538, 540

  Porch, Douglas, 297–8, 337

  Portal, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles: qualities, 142; and proposed dismissal of Tedder, 208; liked by Americans, 229, 482; at Washington joint chiefs of staff meeting (May 1943), 378; supports bombing campaign, 379; and results of bombing campaign, 425; on Tehran conference as waste of time, 435; and WSC’s belief in local Resistance movements, 452; opposes using non-uniformed SOE officers, 456, 474; dispute with WSC over Far East strategy, 477; and bombing of Dresden and Potsdam, 558–9, 562–3; advocates heavy bombing of Rome, 5
61; WSC toasts on VE-Day, 568

  Porter, Cole, 255

  Portes, comtesse de, 47, 50

  Potsdam: bombed, 559; conference (July 1945), 584–9

  Pound, Admiral Sir Dudley: advocates sinking of French fleet, 45; pessimism, 48; attitude to WSC, 141; qualities, 141–4; at Placentia Bay meeting, 194–6; US view of, 229; and Fleet Air Arm’s few casualties, 246; death, 319; poor use of intelligence, 337; advocates submarine warfare, 379

  Powell, Anthony, 371

  Pownall, Lt.Gen. Henry: diary, xx; complains of lack of instructions, 22; and withdrawal from continent, 36; returns to London, 39; on WSC’s address on prosecution of war, 113; and Wavell’s view of war, 139; on WSC’s cabinet, 140; on Eden’s weak approach to Russians, 154; pessimism over Russian resistance to Germany, 156; hopes for mutual German-Soviet annihilation, 168; on Roosevelt’s intention to enter war, 198; on army attitudes, 263

  Prague: popular revolt (May 1945), 472; British barred from, 581

  Pravda (Soviet newspaper), 293, 305–6, 397, 424, 556, 570

  Priestley, J.B., 280

  Punch (magazine), 308

  Purvis, Arthur, 366

  Quadrant conference, 355, 376, 386, 402

  Quebec: conference (August 1943), 355, 386–91; second conference (September 1944), 503, 510–13

  Queen Mary, RMS, 375, 387, 510, 513

  Raiding Forces’ Levant Schooner Flotilla, 406

  Raleigh News & Observer (North Carolina), 528

  Ramsay, Vice-Admiral Sir Bertram, 30, 366

  Rangoon: Japanese capture, 244; see also Burma

  Rayner, Lt.Col. Ralph Herbert, 280

  Regulation 18B, 209

  Reid, Whitelaw, 108

  Reinhardt, Gen. Georg-Hans, 5

  Renewal Bill (USA, 1941), 191

  Resistance movements (and partisans): activities, 451–8, 472–3; and political dissensions, 469, 473; British influence on, 470; effects, 473–5

  Reynaud, Paul, 14–16, 24–6, 37–8, 42–4, 46–50, 54–5

  Reynolds, David, 2, 349, 475, 508; In Command of History, xv

  Rhine, river, 550, 564

  Rhodes, 386, 401–3, 406, 411, 418, 420–1

  Rhodes-James, Robert, 9

  Ritchie, Gen. Sir Neil, 210, 267

  Robbins, Lionel (later Baron), 275

  Roberts, Andrew, xvi, 37

  Robinson, Edward G., 83

  Rochester University, New York: awards honorary doctorate to WSC, 190

  Roma (Italian battleship): sunk, 391

  Romania: Russian disputes with British over, 480, 493, 515, 545

  Rome: captured, 442, 481–2; Portal advocates bombing, 561

  Rommel, Gen. Erwin: posted to Africa, 124; successes in Libya, 130; logistics problems, 149; withstands Auchinleck’s offensive, 209–10, 226, 242; abilities, 262; WSC praises, 271; attacks Alam Halfa, 335, 337; Alamein defeat, 338, 339; retreats before Eighth Army, 353

  Roosevelt, Eleanor, 203, 224, 338

  Roosevelt, Elliott, 433

  Roosevelt, Franklin Delano: and Anglo-American relations, xviii, 483; WSC cables on 1940 land battle in France, 15; Chamberlain snubs, 18; WSC requests destroyers from, 21; desire to help Britain, 32, 171; WSC urges Reynaud to appeal to, 49–50; and British bombardment of French fleet, 69; and Irish neutrality, 72; delays entry into war, 112, 187, 198, 200; and Western aid to Russia, 150, 161, 226, 332; on Russian involvement in war, 160–1; and British payment for aid, 172–3; WSC cultivates relations with, 177, 183, 190, 193, 196, 229–31, 329, 435–6, 597; dependence on US public opinion, 183–4; meets WSC at Placentia Bay, 191–9; offers interim support to Britain, 191; personal qualities and character, 194, 199, 224; issues ‘shoot first’ order to US ships in Atlantic, 204; and Pearl Harbor, 213–14; WSC visits in Washington (December 1941), 216–17, 219–22, 227, 229; working methods, 224–6; ambitions to reorganise post-war world, 230–1, 292; attitude to Britain and Empire, 230; advocates Indian independence, 255–6; urges opening of second front, 283, 292, 312; Molotov meets, 290–1; WSC visits (June 1942), 296–7; supports North African landings, 314, 335; misjudges relations with Russia, 330; contempt for France, 347–9; WSC urges to build up US forces in Europe, 350; attends Casablanca conference (1943), 352–4, 356, 358–9; relations with chiefs of staff, 354; Dill criticises, 359; insists on unconditional surrender, 360; visits Marrakesh with WSC, 361; disability, 361; relationship with WSC declines, 361; health decline, 377, 450, 547; seeks bilateral meeting with Stalin, 377–8; WSC visits in USA (May 1943), 377, 380; WSC stays with Clementine and Mary, 387; and Churchill’s Aegean operation, 410; proposed meeting with WSC and Stalin, 426; WSC meets in Cairo before Tehran conference, 428–31; requests transfer of Hong Kong to Chiang Kai-shek, 429; first meets and negotiates with Stalin at Tehran conference, 431–4; needles WSC, 433; praises Stalin, 433; Stalin trusts, 435; disappoints WSC’s expectations, 436; hatred of de Gaulle, 447; and WSC’s apprehensions over D-Day, 447; proposes Donovan to head all Allied special operations in Balkans, 461; WSC bombards with telegraphic messages on Overlord, 480; and election (1944), 484; rebukes WSC over concessions to Russia over Romania, 493; rejects WSC’s appeal for offensive in northern Italy, 494–5; disregards WSC’s pleas for Warsaw Home Army, 509; at second Quebec conference (September 1944), 511–13; rejects WSC’s plea for reinforcements in Italy, 514; and WSC’s bilateral talks with Stalin, 515–16; world vision, 519; agrees to Yalta conference, 543, 547; attends Yalta conference, 548–54; preserves Allied unity, 549; leaves Yalta, 554; rejects WSC’s protests to Russia about oppression in Poland, 557; death, 567; and British participation in development of atom bomb, 587; compared with WSC, 594

  Roskill, Capt. Stephen, 143, 415

  Rostock: bombed, 247

  Roundup, Operation, 314, 345, 350, 355

  Rowan, Leslie, 144, 589–90

  Rowlands, Sir Archibald, 83, 187, 243

  Royal Air Force: fails to stem German advance in France, 15–16; retained to support prospective evacuation from continent, 20; at Dunkirk, 31, 42–4; role in opposing invasion, 31, 68, 95–6; striking force destroyed in Europe, 40; fighter squadrons in France, 44; planned bombing attack on Italy frustrated by French, 47; aircraft losses in France, 58; and defence of British Isles, 68; Fighter Command losses in Battle of Britain, 80, 99; fighter supplies, 81–2; fighter airfields attacked, 87; bombing offensive, 97, 113, 162, 207, 246–51, 334, 370, 424–6, 559–63; exaggerates enemy losses, 99; aricraft supply and replacement, 100; and air power, 101; excellent Fighter Command organisation, 101; public image, 101–2; Fighter Command lacks night resources, 103; weakness in Greece, 129; aircraft losses in sweeps over France, 157; aircraft withheld from Middle East and Mediterranean, 157; Bomber Command, 162, 251; bomber losses, 162; in North Africa, 246; Coastal Command, 249; WSC’s view of, 250, 260; gives poor support to Eighth Army, 269; uses older aircraft, 269; attacks Afrika Korps’ Italian supply ships, 336; bombing offensive against Berlin, 424–61; performance assessed, 425; bombs French railways before D-Day, 480, 560; personnel surrender to ELAS in Greek battle, 533; qualities and achievements, 595

  Royal Navy: as defence against invasion threat, 24, 30; at Dunkirk, 38–9; apprehensions about future of French fleet, 45; aversion to publicity, 101–2; counters U-boat campaign, 113, 215, 368; losses, 113; lacks air cover in Mediterranean, 129; in action at Crete, 134; defensive role, 150; lacks carriers, 157; in defence of Malta, 162; qualities and professionalism, 206, 267, 595; escorts Russian convoys, 207, 323, 325, 330; cancels summer Arctic convoys, 323; in North African landings, 330; attacks Afrika Korps’ Italian supply ships, 336; in Dodecanese operation, 408, 410, 412-l5, 417–18, 420

  VESSELS: Ajax (light cruiser), 535, 538; Aurora (cruiser), 413; Carlisle (cruiser), 413; Duke of York (battleship), 217–19; Eclipse (destroyer), 413; Hermes (aircraft-carrier), 251; Hood (battlecruiser), 138, 192; Indomitable (aircraft-carrier), 206, 215; King George V (battleship), 439; Panther (destroyer), 413; Penelope (cruiser), 412–13; Prince of Wales (battleship), 191–2,
197–8, 206, 215, 246, 250; Queen Elizabeth (battleship), 220; Renown (battlecruiser), 392, 426; Repulse (battlecruiser), 206, 215, 246, 250; Sirius (cruiser), 412–13; Southampton (cruiser), 182; Trooper (submarine), 413; Unruly (submarine), 412; Valiant (battleship), 220

  Rucker, Arthur, 26

  Ruhr: bombing campaign against, 388, 424–5

  Rundstedt, Gen. Gerd von, 40

  Russia see Soviet Union

  Sackville-West, Vita, 76

  Saint-Nazaire, 38, 43, 245

  Saint-Pierre (island), 228

  Salerno: landings, 391–2

  Salter, Sir Arthur (later Baron), 258

  Sandys, Duncan (later Baron Duncan-Sandys), 144

  Sardinia, 345, 352

  Sawyers, Frank (WSC’s valet), 204

  Schumann, Maurice, 453

  Schuster, Sir George, 241

  Scobie, Lt.Gen. Ronald, 530–1

  Seal, Eric, 26, 54, 109, 182

  Sealion, Operation, 94–7

  Sebastian, Mikhail, 136

  second front: Russians demand, 158, 290–3, 397; Eden and Moyne rule out, 162; Beaverbrook advocates, 165, 288; chiefs of staff oppose in 1943, 219; US enthusiasm to open, 283–6, 292, 312; popular demands for, 286–7, 295, 300, 305–6; Dill supports, 312; Soviet knowledge of Britain’s view of, 322; delayed beyond 1943, 369, 375; see also Overlord, Operation

  Secret Intelligence Service, 85

  Selborne, William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of, 453

  Service de Travail Obligatoire (STO), 457

  Sextant conference, 428, 431

  Seymour, Charles, 65

  Sforza, Count Carlo, 507, 527

  Sherwood, Robert, 65, 196

  Shingle, Operation, 438–9, 442

  Shinwell, Emanuel (later Baron), 529

  Shirer, William, 527

  Sicily: as Allied target for invasion, 345, 352, 354, 356, 358; Allied landings, 368–9, 382–4; Eisenhower proposes delaying landings, 375; strategic importance, 376; Germans expelled, 389

  Sikorski, Gen. Wladyslaw, 108, 124, 366, 373, 397, 592

  Silsby, Eleanor, 76

  Silvermaster, Nathan, 321

  Simmons, Roscoe Conkling, 178