Their Finest Hour (91 page)
| Appendix F |
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A.A. guns | Anti-aircraft guns or ack-ack guns |
A.D.G.B. | Air defence of Great Britain |
A.F.S. | Auxiliary Fire Service |
A.F.V.’s | Armoured fighting vehicles |
A.G.R.M. | Adjutant General Royal Marines |
A.R.P. | Air raid precautions |
A.S.U. | Air Supply Units |
A.T. rifles | Anti-tank rifles |
A.T.S. | (Women’s) Auxiliary Territorial Service |
B.E.F. | British Expeditionary Force |
C.A.S. | Chief of the Air Staff |
C.I.G.S. | Chief of the Imperial General Staff |
C.-in-C. | Commander-in-Chief |
Controller. | Third Sea Lord and Chief of Material |
C.N.S. | Chief of the Naval Staff (First Sea Lord) or I.S.L. |
C.O.S. | Chiefs of Staff |
D.N.C. | Director of Naval Construction |
E.F. | Expeditionary Force |
F.O. | Foreign Office |
G.H.Q. | General Headquarters |
G.O.C. | General Officer Commanding |
G.Q.G. | Grand Quartier General |
H.F. | Home Forces |
H.M.G. | His Majesty’s Government |
L. of C. | Line of Communications |
L.D.V. | Local Defence Volunteers [renamed Home Guard] |
M.A.P. | Ministry of Aircraft Production |
M.E. | Middle East |
M.E.W. | Ministry of Economic Warfare |
M. of I. | Ministry of Information |
M. of L. | Ministry of Labour |
M. of S. | Ministry of Supply |
O.K.H. | Oberkommando das Heeres. Supreme Command of the German Army |
O.T.U. | Operational Training Unit |
P.M. | Prime Minister |
U.P. | Unrelated projectiles, i.e., code name for rockets |
V.C.A.S. | Vice Chief of the Air Staff |
V.C.I.G.S. | Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff |
V.C.N.S. | Vice Chief of the Naval Staff |
W.A.A.F. | Women’s Auxiliary Air Force |
W.R.N.S. | Women’s Royal Naval Service. “Wrens” |
| Notes |
Book One
Chapter 1
*
Eisenhower “Crusade in Europe.”
1
The house in Downing Street, usually occupied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
2
The Defence Committee met 40 times in 1940, 76 in 1941, 20 in 1942, 14 in 1943, and 10 in 1944.
Chapter 2
1
Volume 1, page 378.
2
The French “mobilisation” of five millions included many not under arms – e.g., in factories, on the land, etc.
3
“Operation Royal Marine” was first planned in November, 1939. The mines were designed to float down the Rhine and destroy enemy bridges and shipping. They were fed into the river from French territory upstream. See Volume I, Book II, pages 508–10.
4
As other accounts of what passed have appeared, I asked Lord Ismay, who was at my side throughout, to give his recollection. He writes:
“We did not sit round a table, and much may have been said as we walked about in groups. I am positive that you did not express any ‘considered military opinion’ on what should be done. When we left London we considered the break-through at Sedan serious, but not mortal. There had been many ‘breakthroughs’ in 1914–18, but they had all been stopped, generally by counterattacks from one or both sides of the salient.
“When you realised that the French High Command felt that all was lost, you asked Gamelin a number of questions, with, I believe, the dual object, first of informing yourself as to what had happened and what he proposed to do, and secondly of stopping the panic. One of these questions was: ‘When and where are you going to counter-attack the flanks of the Bulge? From the north or from the south?’ I am sure that you did not press any particular strategical or tactical thought upon the conference. The burden of your song was: ‘Things may be bad, but are certainly not incurable.’ “
5
His two volumes, entitled
Servir,
throw little light either upon his personal conduct of events or generally upon the course of the war.
Chapter 4
1
Semi-armour-piercing shell.
Chapter 6
l
Reynaud,
La France a sauvé I’Europe,
volume II, page 200 ff.
2
See Reynaud,
op. cit.,
volume II, page 209.
3
Graziani,
Ho Difeso la Patria
, page 189.
4
The Memoirs of Cordell Hull,
volume I
,
chapter 56
.
5
Ciano,
Diaries,
pages 263–64.
6
Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941,
page 138.
7
Ibid
., page 142.
8
Ibid
., pages 142–43.
9
Ibid
., page 154.
Chapter 7
1
“Z” means the beginning of the war, September 3, 1939.
2
In
Lease-Lend – Weapon for Victory,
1944.
3
The Memoirs of Cordell Hull,
volume I, chapter 55.
4
I am obliged to General Ismay for his recollection of these words.
Chapter 11
1
See Appendix to this chapter.
2
Translated.
Chapter 12
1
A trench-cutting machine for attacking fortified lines.
Chapter 13
1
Ciano,
Diplomatic Papers,
page 378.
2
Ciano,
Diplomatic Papers,
page 381.
3
Ciano,
Diaries,
pages 277–78.
4
This was an old device which I had used for the Marine Brigade of the Royal Naval Division when we landed on the French coast in September, 1914. We took fifty of them from the London streets, and the Admiralty carried them across in a night.
5
His brother Victor was a subaltern in the 9th Lancers when I joined the 4th Hussars, and I formed a warm friendship with him in 1895 and 1896. His horse reared up and fell over backwards, breaking his pelvis, and he was sorely stricken for the rest of his life. However, he continued to be able to serve and ride, and perished gloriously from sheer exhaustion whilst acting as liaison officer with the French Cavalry Corps in the retreat from Mons in 1914.
General Brooke had another brother, Ronnie. He was older than Victor and several years older than I. In the years 1895-1898 he was thought to be a rising star in the British Army. Not only did he serve with distinction in all the campaigns which occurred, but he shone at the Staff College among his contemporaries. In the Boer War he was Adjutant of the South African Light Horse, and I for some months during the relief of Ladysmith was Assistant Adjutant, the regiment having six squadrons. Together we went through the fighting at Spion Kop, Vaal Krantz, and the Tugela. I learned much about tactics from him. Together we galloped into Ladysmith on the night of its liberation. Later on in 1903, although I was only a youthful Member of Parliament, I was able to help him to the Somaliland campaign, in which he added to his high reputation. He was stricken down by arthritis at an early age, and could only command a reserve brigade at home during the First World War. Our friendship continued till his premature death in 1925.
6
H.M.S.
Erebus
was a monitor of the First World War mounting two fifteen-inch guns. After being refitted, she went to Scapa for target practice in August. Delay arose in her working up practices through defects and bad weather and she did not reach Dover until late in September. It was therefore not until the night of September 29/30 that she carried out a bombardment of Calais.
Chapter 14
l
Actually the
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
which had been at Trondheim had both been torpedoed and were out of action.
2
Here I omitted to mention the twenty thousand which might come from the distant Biscay ports; but, as will be seen, my proposed disposition of our forces guarded against this potential, but, as we now know, non-existent, danger.
3
That is, their approaches from the rear.
4
These are, of course,
proportions,
not divisional formations.
Book Two
Chapter 3
1
I was coming in one night to the Annexe when there was a lot of noise and something cracked off not far away, and saw in the obscurity seven or eight men of the Home Guard gathered about the doorway on some patrol or duty. We exchanged greetings, and a big man said from among them: “It’s a grand life, if we don’t weaken.”
2
Trepanning consisted of making a hole in the bomb casing in order to deal with the explosive contents.
3
It seems incongruous to record a joke in such sombre scenes. But in war the soldier’s harsh laugh is often a measure of inward compressed emotions. The party were digging out a bomb, and their prize man had gone down the pit to perform the delicate act of disconnection. Suddenly he shouted to be drawn up. Forward went his mates and pulled him out. They seized him by the shoulders and, dragging him along, all rushed off together for the fifty or sixty yards which were supposed to give a chance. They flung themselves on the ground. But nothing happened. The prize man was seriously upset. He was blanched and breathless. They looked at him inquiringly. “My God,” he said, “there was a bloody great rat!”
4
The reply was reassuring.
5
These were the official categories: “Yellow” civil servants were those performing less essential tasks and who could therefore be evacuated earlier than “black” ones. The latter would remain in London as long as conditions made it possible to carry on.
Chapter 4
1
See the table at the end of chapter.
Chapter 5
l
Used by President Wilson in 1917.
2
Also a Wilsonian word.
Chapter 6
1
To render undrinkable.
2
This was the wretched word used at this time for “undrinkable.” I am sorry.
Chapter 7
1
The subject is discussed in Volume I, Book II, Chapter IV.
Chapter 8
l
Defenceless from air attack, as at Namsos.
1
Ciano,
Diaries
, page 281.
Chapter 9
1
September 17, 1940; received at 11.55
A.M.
2
Received by the Admiralty at 7.56
A.M
. on September 18, 1940.
3
See Appendix D for my correspondence with Mr. Menzies.
Chapter 11
1
From October 17 to 19 (inclusive), thirty-three ships, twenty-two of them British, were sunk by U-boats in the northwestern approaches. These figures include twenty ships out of one convoy.
2
Mr. Yencken was killed in an air accident in 1944.
3
Quoted by Lord Templewood in his memoirs,
Ambassador on Special Mission.
4
Ciano,
L’Europa verso la Catastrofe
, page 604.
5
Du Moulin de la Barthète.
Le Temps des Illusions,
pages 43-44.
Chapter 12
1
Hitler and Mussolini,
Letters and Documents,
page 61.
2
Commander-in-Chief Air Forces, Middle East.
3
Author’s italics.
Chapter 13
1
Stettinius,
Lend-Lease.
2
Ibid.,
page 60.
3
Actually they were nearer 45,000 tons.
4
See Appendix B.
Chapter 14
1
See
Nazi-Soviet Relations,
p. 218 ff.
2
Signed between Germany, Italy and Japan on September 27, 1940.
3
It is worth noting that though in Berlin the main emphasis of Hitler and Ribbentrop was on snaring British territory, in the draft agreement the British Empire is not mentioned by name, while the colonial possessions of France, Holland, and Belgium are obviously included in the areas to be shared under the secret protocol. Both at Berlin and in the negotiations in Moscow, the British Empire, though offering the most conspicuous and valuable booty, was not the only intended victim of Hitler. He was seeking an even wider redistribution of the colonial possessions in Africa and Asia of all the countries with which he was or had been at war.
4
Author’s italics throughout the text of this document.
5
Nazi-Soviet Relations,
p. 260
ff.
Chapter 15
1
I have only heard since the war that these initials which I used so often were an Admiralty term signifying “Winston’s specials.”
2
E-boat: the German equivalent of British “light coastal craft.”
3
Sir John Reith. He became Lord Reith and Minister of Works and Buildings on October 3. 1940.
4
The modern equivalent of “Q” ships, which had been effectively used in the 1914–18 war to lure the U-boats to their destruction. They were less successful in the changed conditions of this war.
Chapter 16
l
Rifle Brigade and King’s Royal Rifles.
2
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall he opened unto you.”
3
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning!”
4
Ciano’s Diary,
1989--18, edited by Malcolm Muggeridge, pp. 315-17.
5
Ciano’s Diary,
p. 321.
6
Prime Minister to General Ismay, for C.O.S. Committee.
1.XII.40.
General de Gaulle told me that he had in mind an attempt to recover Jibouti – hereinafter to be called “Marie” in all papers and telegrams connected with the operation. He would send three French battalions from Equatorial Africa to Egypt, where General Le Gentilhomme would meet them. These battalions would be for the defence of Egypt, or possibly ostensibly as a symbolic contribution to the defence of Greece. There would be no secret about this. On the contrary, prominence would be given to their arrival. However, when the moment was opportune, these battalions would go to Jibouti, being carried and escorted thither by the British Navy. No further assistance would be asked from the British. General de Gaulle believes, and certainly the attached paper favours the idea, that Le Gentilhomme could make himself master of the place, bring over the garrison and rally it, and immediately engage the Italians. This would be a very agreeable development, and is much the best thing de Gaulle could do at the present time. It should be studied attentively, and in conjunction with him. The importance of secrecy, and of never mentioning the name of the place, should be inculcated on all, remembering Dakar. I suppose it would take at least two months for the French battalions to arrive in Egypt.
