Winston's War_ Churchill, 1940-1945 - Max Hastings [132]
Germany triumphs in both west and east. Blazing shore facilities on Crete in May 1941.
Germany triumphs in both west and east. One of some three million Russian soldiers who surrendered to the Wehrmacht during the first year of Operation Barbarossa
Friendship of state. Harry Hopkins and his host pose outside Downing Street on January 10, 1941, with Brendan Bracken behind
Friendship of state. FDR and Churchill at Placentia Bay on August 10, the president leaning on the arm of his unlovable son Elliot
War in the desert. British troops advance through a minefield.
War in the desert. Some of the tens of thousands of Italian prisoners who fell into British hands during Wavell’s Operation Compass
Civilian chroniclers of the wartime experience: Vere Hodgson
Civilian chroniclers of the wartime experience: George King in Home Guard battle dress
Whitehall diarists: Sir John Kennedy
Whitehall diarists: Sir Alexander Cadogan
Whitehall diarists: Harold Nicolson
Clockwise from top left: Charles Wilson, Lord Moran; Hugh Dalton; Leo Amery; Cuthbert Headlam; Oliver Harvey; Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Pownall
Working on his train, with a secretary’s “silent” typewriter at hand to take dictation
Viewing new aircraft with (left to right) Lindemann, Portal and Pound
Jock Colville’s September 1941 farewell to Downing Street gathering, on the steps to the garden. Front row, left to right: Colville, Churchill, John Martin, Tony Bevir; (back row, left to right) Leslie Rowan, “Master” John Peck, Miss Watson, Commander “Tommy” Thompson, Charles Barker
Return from Arcadia: Churchill briefly at the controls of the British plane that brought him home from Washington in January 1942
One of the many impassioned Second Front rallies held in Britain’s cities in 1942–43
Beyond the great issues on Churchill’s desk, he was obliged to address myriad lesser ones. He warned about the risk of a possible German commando raid, launched from a U-boat, to kidnap the Duke of Windsor, now serving as governor-general of the Bahamas. The Nazis, said the prime minister, might be able to exploit the former king to their advantage. Having inspired the creation of the Parachute Regiment, which carried out its first successful operation against a German radar station at Bruneval, on France’s northern coast, on February 28, Churchill pressed for the expansion of airborne forces on the largest possible scale. Four Victoria Crosses were awarded for the Royal Navy’s March 28 attack on the floating dock at St.-Nazaire. This generous issue of decorations was designed to make the survivors feel better about the losses—five hundred men killed, wounded or captured. Propaganda made much of St.-Nazaire. The public was assured that the Germans had suffered heavily, though in reality their casualties were many fewer than those of the raiders. Meanwhile, ministers solicited Churchill about appointments, honours and administrative issues. Such nugatory matters were hard to address when the Empire was crumbling.
Churchill’s obsession with capital ships persisted even in the third year of the war. He asserted that the destruction of the 42,000-ton Tirpitz, anchored in a Norwegian fjord where it posed a permanent threat to Arctic convoys, would be worth the loss of a hundred aircraft and five hundred men. On March 9, twelve Fairey Albacores of the Fleet Air Arm attacked the German behemoth, with clumsy tactics and no success. Churchill asked the first sea lord “how it was that 12 of our machines managed to get no hits as compared with the extraordinary efficiency of the Japanese attack on Prince of Wales and Repulse?” How not, indeed? Though British aircraft made an important contribution to interdicting Rommel’s Mediterranean supply line in 1942, the RAF and Fleet Air Arm’s record of achievement