Finest Years (93 page)

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, 561; 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