Their Finest Hour (92 page)

Kindly let me have a full report.

⁷
Sheffield had been very heavily bombed.

Appendix A

¹
Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, M.P.

²
On the Royal Marine Operation, see Volume I.

³
Labour for defence works. My former Minute, dated 25.VI.40, is recorded in Book I, Chapter VIII, page 170.

⁴
This was the photo-electric fuze, and, although not very successful, was the forerunner of the later proximity fuze.

⁵
This refers to the Government sponsored scheme for the evacuation of children to Canada and the U.S.A. The scheme was abandoned after the sinking of the “City of Benares” by a U-boat on September 17, 1940.

⁷
The
Hermione was
a small Greek steamer which was intercepted by our cruisers in the Aegean on July 28, 1940, while carrying a military cargo for Italy. Our ships were attacked by aircraft when making the interception. The
Hermione
was therefore sunk, and her crew left in boats near the land.

⁸
The letters stand for “Parachute and Cable.” The P.A.C. rocket was one form of the U.P. weapon. A description is given in a Minute dated January 13, 1940. See Volume I, Book II, Appendix, Part II.

⁹
See note under my Minute of 7.IX.40, Book II, Chapter VII, and also my Minutes of 15.IX.40 and 26.XII.40, below.

¹⁰
A radar set for anti-aircraft-gun control.

¹¹
United States Ambassador to Britain.

¹²
On the naval aspect of our policy towards the Vichy Government.

¹³
A French merchant ship.

¹⁴
General Hobart, at this time a corporal in the Home Guard, was accordingly appointed to command an armoured division, and in that capacity rendered distinguished service to the very end of the war. I had a pleasant talk with him on the day we first crossed the Rhine in 1945. His work was then highly esteemed by General Montgomery,

¹⁵
It was decided to provide the increased amount.

¹⁶
See Book II, Chapter IX.

¹⁷
The Air Ministry began making proposals for greater protecton of Chequers by sending Bofors guns.

¹⁸
Figures of aircraft strength proposed to he used by Lord Beaverbrook in a broadcast.

¹⁹
See Book II, Chapter IV, page 388.

²⁰
Plan D:
Provision of all possible naval and military aid in the European field to the exclusion of any other interest. This would involve the adoption of a strictly defensive plan in the Pacific and abandonment of any attempt seriously to reinforce the Far East, with accepted consequences. On the other hand, by full-scale concentration in the European area, the defeat of Germany was ensured with certainty, and if subsequently it was in the American interest to deal with Japan, requisite steps would be possible.

²¹
Capture of Pantellaria.

²²
Operations against Dodecanese.

²³
Table from Lord Beaverbrook giving comparison of actual output of aircraft, with programme.

²⁴
Paragraph in Lord Beaverbrook’s Minute of 14.12.40 to the effect that it is sometimes said that the output of the Ministry of Aircraft Production would have been equalled by the Air Ministry if there had not been any change in May, 1940.

²⁵
See also my Minute of I5.IX.40.

²⁶
The figures were reassuring.

²⁷
Occupation of Jibuti.

Appendix B

¹
See Book II, Chapter XIII, pages 560–640.

Appendix C

¹
See Book II, Chapter I,

Appendix D

¹
Book II, Chapter IX

One of the most significant leaders of the twentieth century, Winston Churchill was born in 1874. He served as a war correspondent during the Boer War and after his capture and release became a national hero in England. He parlayed his celebrity into a political career, getting elected to the Conservative Party just ten months after his return. Churchill joined the Liberal Party in 1904. After serving as Home Secretary under David Lloyd George, he became Lord of the Admiralty, but a military setback suffered in World War I forced him to resign. Churchill’s political career suffered many ups and downs during the 1920’s and 30’s owing, in part, to his support of King Edward VIII during his abdication. But when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Churchill was reappointed Lord of the Admiralty.

In 1940, Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister and remained in office until 1945. During that time, he successfully guided the nation through World War II, inspiring and mobilizing the British people and forging crucial ties with American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Despite his success in the war, Churchill’s government was voted out in 1945, owing in part to the nation’s lack of confidence in his domestic policies. He remained in Parliament and was reelected in 1951, ultimately resigning in 1955 at the age of 80.

After retirement from public life, Churchill spent his time writing, publishing The History of the English Speaking People. That work, along with his six-volume history of World War II and The World Crisis, his history of World War I, earned Churchill the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. In 1963 Churchill was made an honorary U.S. citizen. Winston Churchill died in 1965 at the age of 90.

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