History of the Second World War (129 page)

Black Sea, German drive near, 247, 253; Russians lose naval base on, 249; ‘danger area’ between Carpathians and, 573; threat to German armies on, 574-5.
See also
Crimea; Kerch

Blackett, Prof. P. M. S., 389

Blamey, General Sir Thomas, 356, 687-8

Blaskowitz, General J., 29-30

Blida airfield, 325

‘Blitz’, the, 105-8

Blucher
, the, 61

Blumentritt, General G., on Hitler’s attitude to Britain (1940), 83; on difficulty of getting information out of Britain, 548; on obtaining use of reserve panzer corps, 549; on Hitler’s decision of no withdrawal, 550-1; on Kluge and plot to kill Hitler, 551; on Germany’s lack of defences (1944), 558
n.;
on Allied mistakes in advance to Germany, 565-6; commands 15th Army, 649

Bobruisk, 163, 580

Bochum, 600

Bock, Field-Marshal F. von, army group of, 28, 38, 75, 77; to complete encirclement of Allied troops, 81; commands army group in Russia, 132, 148-9, 159, 161, 166-8; urges continued offensive, 168-9; resigns through illness, 169, 244; takes Rundstedt’s place, 245; successful counteroffensive of, 248

Bologna, 540-2, 671-3

Bond, Lieut.-General L. V., 231

Bone, 313-14, 334

Bonin Islands, 630

Bonomi, Ivanoe, 537

Bor-Komorowski, General, 583

Bordeaux, French Government in, 85

Boris, King of Bulgaria, 133-4

Borneo, 203, 688-9

Bougainville Island, 502-3, 505; Japanese force in, 507; campaign in, 507-9
;
mopping-up operations in, 687-8

Bougie, 334

Boulogne, 75; mobile radar station at, captured by Germans, 94

Bradley, General Omar, in Tunisia, 402; takes command of 2nd Corps, 424, 427; commands 12th Army Group in ‘Overlord’, 561; in disagreement with Montgomery on strategy, 561-3; opposed to airborne attack, 564; confident that enemy is beaten, 639; receives news of Ardennes attack, 642,
655;
proves identity to cautious G.I.s, 645; seeks to exploit Rhine crossing, 677-8

Brandenberger, General E., 653

Brandenburg, 667-8

Brauchitsch, General Walther von, in Polish campaign, 29; opposed to invasion of France, 35-7; opposed to Manstein’s plan, 39-40; and Hitler’s order for standstill of panzer forces, 81-2; opposed to Hitler’s Russian strategy, 166-7; urges continued offensive, 168; asks to be relieved of command, 169; Hitler’s scapegoat, 244

Braun, Eva, 680-1

Brazil, 385

Bremen, air raids on, 598, 603

Breslau, 667-8

Brest, German commerce-raiders in, 374-5, 377, 379, 596; air raid damage to port, 377; U.S. Army arrives at, 392; Germans hold out in, 557

Brest-Litovsk, 31, 161-2, 580-1

‘Brevity, Operation’, 174, 176-7

Briansk, 241, 490-1, 493

Briggs, Major-General Raymond, 418-19

Brighton, 89

Brindisi, 456, 466-7

Bristol, air attacks on, 107-8

Britain, guarantees integrity of Poland, 3, 11-15, 704; appeasement policy of, 6-7, 10-11; suddenly reverses policy, 7, 11, 15; encourages German wish for
Lebensraum
, 8-9, 14; rearmament programme of, 10; euphoria in, 10, 141-2; declares war, 16, 705; blind to potentialities of armour, 20; availability of basically essential products to, 23; disregards approaches from disaffected Germans, 35n.; isolation of, 65, 141, 708; Hitler’s attitude to, at time of Dunkirk, 83, 87, 142, 708-9; Hitler prepares for invasion of, 87-90, 105, 109; ringed by enemy air bases, 98; Blitz on, 105-8, 137, 709; postponements of invasion of, 106-7, 709; practically unarmed, 109, 708; badly hit by Mediterranean defeats, 131, 136-7; lost prestige of, 131, 152; reprieved by attack on Russia, 141; warns Russia of invasion, 153-4; Japan’s grievances against, 204-5; naval strength of, in Pacific, 208; attitude of, to Japan’s attack at Port Arthur, 218; threat to her supply-routes through Indian Ocean, 237; takes Madagascar, 238; opposes 1942 Second Front, 310-12; protest in, about appointment of Darlan, 331; building up American strength in, 357; imports of, affected by U-boat sinkings, 386; troop convoys to Sicily from, 440; ‘watertight’ against spying, 548, 550; defective lorries from, delay advance to Rhine, 564, 566; acceptance of ‘indiscriminate bombing’ in, 594-5, 597; U.S. bombing force in, 603; Hitler plans second Dunkirk for, 646; enters war in striving to avert it, 701, 704; could have been defeated in 1940, 709

Britain, Battle of, 90-108, 709; preliminary phase of, 98; Luftwaffe nearly wins, 102-3; Blitz on London, 105-8; importance of fighters to, 592; Bomber Command’s targets during, 594

British Empire, Hitler’s admiration for, 83

British Joint Staff Mission in Washington, Dill head of, 311

British Naval Mission in Washington, Noble appointed head of, 387

British Somaliland, 121, 124-5

Brittany, enemy air bases in, 98; German commerce-raiders in ports of, 374-5, 377, 379; Allied diversion to capture ports, 557

Broadhurst, Air Vice-Marshal Harry, 419

‘Broadway’ airstrip, 517

Brody, 166

Broich, General F. von, 341

Broke,
H.M.S., 326

Brolo, 445

Bromberg, 667

Brooke, General Sir Alan (later Field-Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke), escapes from France, 84; offered command of Eighth Army, 290; and Alamein battle, 304; in Moscow, 314; at Casablanca Conference, 438; supports strengthening forces in Italy, 526; supports Alexander’s N. Italian plan, 537; mentioned, 397

Brooke-Popham, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert, 227

Brooklands, bombing of Vickers-Armstrong works at, 103

Bruges, 560

Brunei Bay, 688-9

Brussels, 558, 563-4, 646

Bucharest, 574, 585

Buckner, Lieut.-General Simon B., 684

Buczacz, 574

Budapest, Allied air attacks on, 574; Russian drive to, 586-7; Germans ordered to defend, 588; German attempt to relieve, 663-664, 666; fall of, 668

Budenny, Marshals., 165

Budenovsk, 252, 478

Buerat, 266, 308-9, 397-8

Bug, River, 30-1; flooding of, 134; German crossings of, 161, 165-6; retreat to, 570; Russians on, 572, 581

Buin, Bougainville, 688

Bukovina, 143, 150

Bulgaria, part of, in Balkan campaign, 133-4, 151; Russia seeks influence in, 145, 147; sues for peace as Russians reach frontiers, 585

Buna, Papua, 355-6

Buq-Buq, 114

Burma, Japanese conquest of, 203, 233-6, 343; British troops in, 208; aircraft in, 209; British withdrawal from, 236, 362; planning reconquest of, 363-5, 369, 513, 516-17, 631, 633; civilian refugees from, 363; Chinese plan for reconquest of, 364; Chindits in, 367-8, 515, 517-18; renewed Japanese offensive in, 368, 498, 513-16, 518-20; rejected as route of attack on Japan, 499; U.S. anxiety about, 510; campaign in (1943-4), 513-20; alteration in Japanese command system in, 515; Slim’s Army advances into, 520, 633; Japan’s problem in holding, 633-4; operation in N., 634-5; clearance of S.-central, 687

Burma Road, Japan’s aim to cut, 203, 210, 236; link with, 235; U.S. anxiety to reopen, 510; attempts to reopen, 515, 633; reopened, 635

Burroughs, Rear-Admiral Sir Harold, 317

Busch, General E., 89, 148, 579, 582

Bush, Dr. Vannevar, 695

Butcher, Captain Harry C., naval aide to Eisenhower, 553, 645

Butgenbach, 652

Buthidaung, 365-6

Bydgoszcy, 667

Byelaya Tserkov, 570

Bzura, River, 30

Caen, 548-9, 557; capture of, 546-7; near break-out close to, 552-6

Caesar Line, 535-6

Cairo, Rommel fails to reach, 266; Mussolini prepares to enter, 277; panic in, 283; Anglo-American Conference in (1943), 523

Calabria, Allies lose opportunity in attacking, 446; landing in, 457; German force in, 459, 463

Calais, 75, 82, 548

Calcutta, 237

Caltagirone, 442, 444

Calvert, Major M., 517

Camiguin Island, 222

Camino, Monte, 472

Campoleone, 530

Canada, nickel mines of, 23; offers reinforcement for Hong-Kong, 220; takes on antisubmarine escort duties, 375, 380, 382-3, 388; U-boat groups off, 385; training aircraft crews in, 600

Canaris, Admiral W., attempts of, to thwart Hitler, 38

Canea, 138

Cap Bon peninsula, 424, 430-1

Cap Matifou, 325

Cap Sidi Ferruch, 325-6

Capaccio, 462

Cape Esperance, battle of, 360

Cape Gloucester, 508-9

Cape route, reinforcements sent to Egypt and East by, 109, 178n., 438; threat to, from Japanese Navy, 237

‘Capital, Operation’, 631, 633

Capua, 469

Capuzzo, Fort, capture of, 112, 179, 188; British advance on, 176, 179; Germans retake, 180; panzer divisions moved to, 187; Germans retire past, 307

Caribbean, U-boat group in or near, 385

Carigara Bay and Plain, Leyte, 628

Carinthia, 134

Carnimeo, General, 126

Caroline Islands, 204, 346, 613.
See also
Truk

Carpathians, Russian front in (1941), 166; Russians in foothills of (1944), 573, 584; German line of defence on, 573; Russians break through, 586

Carroceto Creek, 531

Casablanca, discussion on U.S. landing at, 313-16; French resistance at, 320-3; landing at, 321-3; Hitler’s delusion of taking, 413

Casablanca Conference (1943), 386, 397; planning for reconquest of Burma at, 368; planning for invasion of Sicily at, 438-9; ‘unconditional surrender’ demand decided at, 451; directive of, as to bombing of Germany, 599

Caspian Sea, 251-4

Cassino, Battles of, 529-35

Cassino, Monte, 470, 527, 535; destruction of monastery on, 529-30

Castiglione, 325

Castrovillari, 459

Catalina flying boats, 350, 379, 381

Catania, 443

Catanzaro, 459

Caucasus, value of oil from, to Germany, 150, 245, 248; Hitler demands cutting of Russian supply routes to, 167; Rundstedt fails to reach, 168; 1942 drive to, 245-9, 251-4, 710; Germans cut oil pipeline from, 251; Germans reach foothills of, 252; stiffer resistance met in, 252-3; Kleist frustrated by, 254-5; retreat of German army from, 264, 477-9; Hitler still hopes for, 484

‘Cauldron’ at Gazala, 273

Caunter, Brigadier
J,
A. C., 112, 113n., 116-17

Cava Gap, 460-1

Cavallero, Marshal Count U., Italian War Minister, 267-8, 308; Rommel and, 398-9; dismissal of, 401

Celebes, 203, 237, 508

Celles, 657-8

Ceriano ridge, 540

Cernauti, 573

Ceylon, 237, 343; aircraft for defence of, 364

Chalons-sur-Marne, 85

Chamberlain, Neville, sudden reversal of policy by, 3, 11, 15; appeasement policy of, 6-7, 9-11; and Eden, 8; euphoria of, 10; rebuffs Russia, 12-13; negotiates for Anglo-German pact, 14; announces declaration of war, 16; and occupation of Norway, 51, 55, 57-8; Churchill replaces, 65

Champagne breakthrough, 84

Channel ports, Guderian’s drive to, 72, 74-5; invasion barges collect at, 89, 105

Chappelle, Bonnier de la, 332

Charleville, 81

Chartres, 557n., 562

Chateaubriant,
557n.

Chateau-Thierry, 85

Chater, Brigadier A. R., 124

Chekiang Province, punitive expedition on, 345

Cherbourg, 548; project to land troops at (1942), 310-12; plan for capture of, 546

Cherkassy, 569-70

Chernyakhovsky, General, 579-82, 666-7

Chertkovo, 251

Cherwell, Lord, 597, 695

Cheshire, Wing Commander Leonard, 607

Chiang Kai-Shek, Generalissimo, army of, fights Japanese, 206, 634; lends American Aid Group to Burma defence, 235; and General Stilwell, 236, 633; abandons plan for reconquest of Burma, 364-5; U.S. support for, 509-10