ALSO BY MAX HASTINGS REPORTAGE America 1968: The Fire This Time Ulster 1969: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland The Battle for the Falklands (with Simon Jenkins) BIOGRAPHY Montrose: The King’s Champion Yoni: Hero of Entebbe AUTOBIOGRAPHY Going to the Wars Editor MILITARY HISTORY Bomber Command The Battle of Britain (with Len Deighton) Das Reich Overlord Victory in Europe The Korean War Warriors: Extraordinary Tales from the Battlefield Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944–1945 Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45 COUNTRYSIDE WRITING Outside Days Scattered Shots Country Fair ANTHOLOGY (Edited) The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes In memory of Roy Jenkins, and our Indian summer friendship It may well be that the most glorious chapters of our history have yet to be written Indeed, the very problems and dangers that encompass us and our country ought to make English men and women of this generation glad to be here at such a time We ought to rejoice at the responsibilities with which destiny has honoured us, and be proud that we are guardians of our country in an age when her life is at stake —Winston Spencer Churchill, April 1933 History with its ickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days —Winston Spencer Churchill, November 1940 Contents List of Maps Introduction The Battle of France The Two Dunkirks Invasion Fever The Battle of Britain Greek Fire Insert Comrades The Battle of America A Glimpse of Arcadia “The Valley of Humiliation” Insert 10 “Second Front Now!” 11 Camels and the Bear 12 The Turn of Fortune 13 Out of the Desert 14 Sunk in the Aegean Insert 15 Tehran 16 Setting Europe Ablaze 17 Overlord 18 Bargaining with an Empty Wallet 19 Athens: “Wounded in the House of Our Friends” Insert 20 Yalta 21 The Final Act Acknowledgements and References Notes Select Bibliography Illustration Credits Maps Europe The Mediterranean May 1940 Deployments The German Advance The Dunkirk Perimeter Operation Sealion Operation Compass The North African Campaign Operation Torch The Italian Campaign The Dodecanese Overlord and Anvil Introduction CHURCHILL was the greatest Englishman and one of the greatest human beings of the twentieth century, indeed of all time Yet, beyond that bald assertion, there are in nite nuances in considering his conduct of Britain’s war between 1940 and 1945, which is the theme of this book It originated nine years ago, when Roy Jenkins was writing his biography of Churchill Roy attered me by inviting my comments on the typescript, chapter by chapter Some of my suggestions he accepted; many he sensibly ignored When we reached the Second World War, his patience expired Exasperated by the profusion of my strictures, he said: “You’re trying to get me to something which you should write yourself, if you want to!” By that time, his health was failing He was impatient to finish his own book, which achieved triumphant success before his death In the years which followed, I thought much about Churchill and the war, mindful of some Boswellian lines about Samuel Johnson: “He had once conceived1 the thought of writing The Life Of Oliver Cromwell … He at length laid aside his scheme, on discovering that all that can be told of him is already in print; and that it is impracticable to procure any authentick information in addition to what the world is already possessed of.” Among the vast Churchillian bibliography, I was especially apprehensive about venturing anywhere near the tracks of David Reynolds’s extraordinarily original and penetrating 2005 In Command of History The author dissected successive drafts of Churchill’s war memoirs, exposing contrasts between judgements on people and events which the old statesman initially proposed to make, and those which he nally deemed it prudent to publish Andrew Roberts has painted2 a striking portrait of wartime Anglo-American relations in his 2009 Masters and Commanders We have been told more about Winston Churchill than any other human being Tens of thousands of people of many nations have recorded even tri ing encounters, noting every word which they heard him utter The most vivid wartime memory3 of one soldier of Britain’s Eighth Army derived from a day in 1942 when he found the prime minister his neighbour in a North African desert latrine Churchill’s speeches and writings fill many volumes Yet much remains opaque, because he wished it thus Always mindful of his role as a stellar performer upon the stage of history, he became supremely so after May 10, 1940 He kept no diary because, he observed, to so would be to expose his follies and inconsistencies to posterity Within months of his ascent to the premiership, however, he told his sta that he had already schemed the chapters of the book which he would write as soon as the war was over The outcome was a ruthlessly partial six-volume work which is poor history, if sometimes peerless prose We shall never know with complete dence what he thought about many personalities—for instance Roosevelt, Select Bibliography The published literature on Winston Churchill is enormous My own library includes more than a hundred titles by or about him, and over a thousand books on World War II, many of which have been marginally useful in writing this book It seems meaningless, however, to catalogue them all The list below details only works extensively consulted or explicitly quoted in my own text Addison, Paul Churchill on the Home Front, 1900–1955 Cape, 1992 Aglan, Alya La Résistance sacrifiée: Le Mouvement Libération-Sud 1940–1944 Flammarion, 1999 Ambrose, Stephen Eisenhower: The Soldier Allen & Unwin, 1984 Amery, Leo The Empire at Bay: The Leo Amery Diaries, 1929–1945 Edited by John Barnes and David Nicolson Hutchinson, 1988 Andrews, Christopher, and Oleg Gordievsky KGB Hodder & Stoughton, 1990 Annan, Noel Changing Enemies HarperCollins, 1995 Astley, Joan Bright The Secret Circle: A View of War at the Top Hutchinson, 1971 Astley, Joan Bright, and Peter Wilkinson Gubbins and SOE Leo Cooper, 1993 Atkinson, Rick An Army at Dawn Henry Holt, 2004 ,The Day of Battle Henry Holt, 2007 Attlee, Clement As It Happened Viking, 1954 Bailey, Roderick The Wildest Province Cape, 2008 , ed Forgotten Voices of the Secret War Ebury Press, 2008 Barclay, George Fighter Pilot William Kimber, 1976 Barker, Elisabeth Churchill and Eden at War Macmillan, 1978 Barnett, Correlli The Desert Generals Allen & Unwin, 1983 The Audit of War Macmillan, 1986 Bayly, Christopher, and Tim Harper Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941–45 Penguin, 2004 Beaumont, Joan Comrades in Arms Davis-Poynter, 1980 Bellamy, Chris Absolute War Macmillan, 2007 Bennett, Ralph Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy Hamish Hamilton, 1989 Beria, Sergo My Father Beria: In the Corridors of Stalin’s Regime (Moi oets Beriya: V koridorakh stalinskoi vlasti) Moscow, 2002 Berlin, Isaiah Personal Impressions Hogarth Press, 1980 Best, Geoffrey Churchill: A Study in Greatness Hambledon, 2001 Churchill and War Hambledon, 2005 Billotte, Pierre Le Temps des Armes Plon, 1972 Birkenhead, The Earl of Halifax: The Life of Lord Halifax Hamish Hamilton, 1965 Blum, John Morton Years of War, 1941–1945: From the Morgenthau Diaries Houghton Mifflin, 1977 Bohlen, Charles E Witness to History, 1929–1969 Norton, 1973 Bond, Brian Liddell Hart: A Study of His Military Thought Cassell, 1977 Bonham Carter, Violet Champion Redoubtable: The Diaries of Violet Bonham Carter Edited by Mark Pottle Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998 Boswell, James The Life of Samuel Johnson Everyman, 2004 Brendon, Piers Winston Churchill: An Authentic Hero Methuen, 1984 Broad, Richard, and Suzie Fleming Nella Last’s War Sphere, 1983 Brooke, Alan War Diaries, 1939–1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke Edited by Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001 Browne, Anthony Montague Long Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill’s Last Private Secretary Cassell, 1995 Bryant, Arthur The Turn of the Tide Collins, 1957 _.Triumph of the West Collins, 1959 Butcher, Harry C Three Years with Eisenhower Heinemann, 1946 Butler, J R M Grand Strategy, Vol HMSO, 1957 Grand Strategy, Vol 3, Parts and HMSO, 1964 Cadogan, Alexander The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan Edited by David Dilks Cassell, 1971 Calder, Angus The People’s War Cape, 1986 Carlton, David Churchill and the Soviet Union Manchester University Press, 2000 Chandos, Lord (Oliver Lyttelton) Bodley Head, 1962 Channon, Henry Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon Edited by Robert Rhodes James Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967 Charmley, John Churchill: The End of Glory Harcourt Brace, 1993 Churchill’s Grand Alliance: The Anglo-American Special Relationship, 1940–1957 Harcourt Brace, 1995 Chuev, Feliks 140 Conversations with Molotov (Sto sorok besed s Molotovym) Terra, 1991 Churchill, Sarah Keep On Dancing Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981 Churchill, Winston S The World Crisis, vols Odhams, 1927 Speeches, 1938–45 vols Vol edited by Randolph Churchill Vols 2–5 edited by Charles Eade Cassell, 1941–45 The Secret Session Speeches Edited by Charles Eade Cassell, 1946 The Second World War vols Cassell, 1948–54 Great Contemporaries Leo Cooper, 1990 My Early Life Touchstone, 1999 Clarke, Peter The Cripps Version Allen Lane, 2002 Clausewitz, Carl von On War Edited by Michael Howard and Peter Paret Princeton, 1976 Colville, John The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries, 1939–1955 Hodder & Stoughton, 1985 Court, W H B Coal Longman, 1951 Craig, Norman The Broken Plume IWM, 1982 Cunningham, Andrew Browne A Sailor’s Odyssey Hutchinson, 1951 Dalton, Hugh The War Diaries of Hugh Dalton Edited by Ben Pimlott Cape, 1986 Danchev, Alex Very Special Relationship: Field Marshal Sir John Dill and the Anglo-American Alliance Brasseys, 1986 Davie, Michael, and Anne Chisholm Beaverbrook Hutchinson, 1992 Davis, Kenneth S FDR: The War President Random House, 2000 de Gaulle, Charles War Memoirs Vol 1, Call to Honour, 1940–42 Collins, 1955 War Memoirs Vol 2, Unity, 1942–44 Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1959 D’Este, Carlo Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome HarperCollins, 1991 Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life Henry Holt, 2002 Warlord: Winston Churchill at War, 1878–1945 Harper, 2008 Djilas, Milovan Wartime Secker & Warburg, 1980 Dokumenty Vneshnei Politiki, 1940–22.12.41 Moscow, 1999 Dykes, Vivian Establishing the Anglo-American Alliance: The Second World War Diaries of Brigadier Vivian Dykes Edited by Alex Danchev Brassey’s, 1990 Eden, Anthony The Eden Memoirs: The Reckoning Cassell, 1965 Ehrman, John Grand Strategy Vols and HMSO, 1956 Eisenhower, Dwight David The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower Vol 1, The War Years Edited by Alfred D Chandler, Jr Johns Hopkins, 1970 Ellis, L F The War in France and Flanders HMSO, 1953 Elmhirst, Sir Thomas Recollections Privately published, 1991 Fisk, Robert In Time of War Andre Deutsche, 1983 Fleming, Peter Invasion 1940 Hart-Davis, 1957 Foot, Michael Bevan McGibbon & Kee, 1962 Foreign Relations of the United States The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, Washington, D.C., 1955 _ The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943 Washington, D.C., 1961 _ The Conferences at Washington, 1942 Vol Washington, D.C., 1961 _ The Conferences at Washington, 1941–1942, and Casablanca, 1943 Washington, D.C., 1968 _ The Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943 Washington, D.C., 1970 _ The Conference at Quebec, 1944 Washington, D.C., 1972 Fraser, David Alanbrooke Collins, 1997 French, David Raising Churchill’s Army Oxford, 2000 Gardiner, A G Prophets, Priests and Kings London, 1914 _ The Pillars of Society Dent popular edition, 1916 Garfield, Simon Private Battles: How the War Almost Defeated Us Ebury, 2006 Gibb, Andrew With Winston Churchill at the Front Gowans & Gray, 1924 Gilbert, Martin Finest Hour: Winston S Churchill, 1940–41 Heinemann, 1983 _ Road to Victory: Winston S Churchill, 1942–45 Heinemann, 1986 _ Never Despair: Winston S Churchill, 1945–1965 Heinemann, 1988 _ Churchill: A Life vols Henry Holt, 1991 The Churchill War Papers vols Heinemann, 1993–2000 _ In Search of Churchill, John Wiley, 1994 Gildea, Robert Resistance, Reprisals and Community in Occupied France Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th series, 2003, pp 163–85 Golovanov, Alexander The Long-Range Bomber Force: Memoirs of the Chief Marshal of Aviation Tsentrpoligraf, 2007 Gunther, John D-Day Hamish Hamilton, 1944 Ha ner, Sebastian Churchill Haus, 2003 Hammond, Nicholas Venture into Greece William Kimber, 1983 Harriman, W Averell, and Elie Abel Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946 Random House, 1975 Harris, Sir Arthur Bomber Offensive Collins, 1947 Harrison, Mark, ed The Economics of World War II Cambridge, 1998 Hartwell, Lord William Camrose: Giant of Fleet Street Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992 Harvey, Oliver The War Diaries of Oliver Harvey, 1941–1945 Edited by John Harvey Collins, 1978 Hassett, William Off the Record with FDR Allen & Unwin, 1960 Hastings, Max Bomber Command Michael Joseph, 1979 _ Das Reich: The 2nd SS Panzer Division’s March to Normandy, June 1944 Michael Joseph, 1981 _ Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy Michael Joseph, 1984 Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944–45 Macmillan, 2004 Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45 HarperCollins 2006 Hastings, Max, with Len Deighton The Battle of Britain Rainbird, 1980 Headlam, Cuthbert Parliament and Politics in the Age of Churchill and Attlee: The Headlam Diaries, 1935–51 Edited by Stuart Ball Cambridge, 1999 Hichens, Antony Gunboat Command Pen & Sword, 2007 Higgins, Trumbull Winston Churchill and the Second Front 1940–1943, Oxford University Press, 1957 Hinsley, F H., et al British Intelligence in the Second World War vols HMSO, 1979– 1990 Hodgson, Vere Few Eggs and No Oranges: The Diaries of Vere Hodgson Persephone, 1999 Holland, Jeffrey The Aegean Mission Greenwood Press, 1988 Holmes, Richard In the Footsteps of Churchill BBC, 2006 Horne, Alastair To Lose a Battle Macmillan, 1969 Horsfall, John Say Not the Struggle Roundwood, 1977 Howard, Michael Grand Strategy Vol 4, 1942–43 HMSO, 1972 _ British Intelligence in the Second World War Vol 5, Strategic Deception HMSO, 1990 _ Liberation or Catastrophe?: Re ections on the History of the Twentieth Century Continuum, 2007 Hull, Cordell Memoirs of Cordell Hull Hodder & Stoughton, 1948 Ickes, Harold L The Secret Diary of Harold L Ickes Simon & Schuster, 1953–54 Inman, P Labour in the Munitions Industries HMSO and Longmans, 1957 Ironside, Lord The Ironside Diaries Edited by R Macleod and D Kelly Constable, 1962 Ismay, Lord The Memoirs of General the Lord Ismay Heinemann, 1960 Jackson, Julian France: The Dark Years Oxford, 2001 Jackson, Sir William, and Lord Bramall The Chiefs: The Story of the United Kingdom Chiefs of Staff Macmillan, 1992 Jefferys, Kevin The Churchill Coalition and Wartime Politics Palgrave Macmillan, 1993 Jenkins, Roy Churchill Macmillan, 2001 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Times Books, 2003 Jones, R V Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence, 1939–1945 Hamilton, 1978 Karslake, Basil The Last Act Leo Cooper, 1979 Keegan, John Churchill Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002 Kennedy, David Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–45 Oxford, 1999 Kennedy, Sir John The Business of War Hutchinson, 1957 Kersaudy, Franỗois Churchill and de Gaulle Collins, 1981 Norway 1940 Collins, 1990 Kershaw, Ian Hitler: Hubris, 1889–1936 Allen Lane, 1998 _ Hitler: Nemesis, 1936–45 Allen Lane, 2000 _ Making Friends with Hitler Allen Lane, 2004 _ Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940–41 Allen Lane, 2007 Kimball, Warren, ed Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence vols Princeton, 1984 Knight, Nigel Churchill Unmasked David & Charles, 2008 Kumanyov, G A Close to Stalin (Ryadom so Stalinym) Moscow, 1999 Kynaston, David A History of the City of London Vol Chatto & Windus, 1999 Lacouture, Jean De Gaulle: The Rebel, 1890–1944 Collins Harvill, 1990 Langworth, Richard M., ed Churchill by Himself Ebury, 2008 Lascelles, Sir Alan King’s Counsellor: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles Edited by Du HartDavis Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006 Lash, Joseph P Roosevelt and Churchill, 1939–1941: The Partnership That Saved the West Norton, 1976 Lavery, Brian Churchill Goes to War: Winston’s Wartime Journeys Conwey, 2007 Lawlor, Sheila Churchill and the Politics of War, 1940–41 Cambridge, 1994 Lee, Raymond The London Observer: The Diaries of General Raymond Lee, 1939–41 Edited by James Leutze Hutchinson, 1972 Lees-Milne, James The Diaries of James Lees-Milne John Murray, 2007 Leslie, Anita A Story Half Told Hutchinson, 1983 Lewin, Ronald Slim: The Standardbearer Leo Cooper, 1977 _ The Chief Hutchinson, 1980 _ Churchill as Warlord Scarborough, 1982 Lukacs, John The Duel: Hitler Versus Churchill Oxford, 1990 _ Five Days in London, May 1940 Yale, 2001 Lysaght, Charles Edward Brendan Bracken Allen Lane, 1979 Mackenzie, William The Secret History of SOE St Ermins Press, 2000 Macmillan, Harold War Diaries Macmillan, 1984 Martin, Sir John Downing Street: The War Years Bloomsbury, 1991 Mayhew, Patrick, ed One Family’s War Hutchinson, 1985 Mazower, Mark Inside Hitler’s Greece Yale 1993 _ Hitler’s Empire Penguin, 2008 McLaine, Ian Ministry of Morale Allen & Unwin, 1979 Meacham, Jon Franklin and Winston: Portrait of a Friendship Granta, 2004 Menzies, Robert Dark Days: The Diaries of Robert Menzies Edited by A W Martin and Patsy Hardy National Library of Australia, 1993 Millburn, Clara Mrs Millburn’s Diaries Harrap, 1979 Molony, C J C The Mediterranean and Middle East vols HMSO, 1973 Moorehead, Alan African Trilogy Cassell, 1998 Moran, Lord Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 1940–1965 Constable, 1966 Morgan, Sir Frederick E Overture to Overlord Doubleday, 1950 Morgan, Ted Churchill, 1874–1915 Cape, 1982 _ Franklin Roosevelt Simon & Schuster, 1992 Mosley, Leonard Backs to the Wall: London Under Fire, 1939–45 Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971 Nel, Elizabeth Mr Churchill’s Secretary Hodder, 1958 Nicholas, H G., ed Washington Despatches Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981 Nicolson, Harold The Diaries of Harold Nicolson, 1939–45 Edited by Nigel Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967 Ocherki Istorii Rossiikoi Vneshney Razvedki (Studies on the History of the Soviet Foreign Intelligence Service) Moscow, 2007 Overy, Richard War and Economy in the Third Reich Oxford, 1995 _ Why the Allies Won Norton, 1997 Russia’s War Penguin Press, 1998 _ The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia Norton, 2004 Pauli, Kurt Von Serbien bis Kreta Steirische Verlagsanstatt, 1942 Payne, Stanley G Franco and Hitler Yale, 2007 Pickersgill, J W., and D F Forster The Mackenzie King Record Vols and University of Toronto, 1968 Pile, Gen Sir Frederick Ack-Ack: Britain’s Defence Against Air Attack Harrap, 1949 Pilipel, Robert H Churchill in America NEL, 1977 Pogue, Forrest C The Supreme Command Washington, D.C., 1954 _ George C Marshall: Education of a General, 1880–1939 Viking, 1964 _ George C Marshall: Ordeal and Hope, 1939–42 Viking, 1965 _ George C Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–45 Viking, 1973 Porch, Douglas Hitler’s Mediterranean Gamble Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 Portelli, Alessandro “The Massacre of Civitella Val Di Chianti: Myth and Politics, Mourning and Common Sense,” in The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue Wisconsin, 1997 Postan, M M British War Production HMSO, 1952 Potsdam Institute for the Study of Military History Germany and the Second World War (9 volumes published in translation by Oxford 1990–2008) Pownall, Henry Chief of Sta : The Diaries of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall Edited by Brian Bond vols Leo Cooper, 1972, 1974 Ramsden, John Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend since 1945 HarperCollins, 2002 Ray, John The Battle of Britain: New Perspectives Arms & Armour Press, 1994 Reynolds, David The Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance, 1937–1941 University of North Carolina Press, 1982 From World War to Cold War Oxford, 2002 In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War Penguin, 2004 Reynolds, David, Warren F Kimball, and A O Chubarian, eds Allies at War: The Soviet, American and British Experience, 1942–45 Palgrave Macmillan, 1994 Rhodes-James, Robert Churchill: A Study in Failure, 1900–39 World, 1970 Richards, Denis Portal of Hungerford Heinemann, 1977 Richardson, Charles From Churchill’s Secret Circle to the BBC: The Biography of Lieutenant General Sir Ian Jacob Brassey’s, 1991 Roberts, Andrew The Holy Fox: A Life of Lord Halifax Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991 Masters and Commanders Penguin, 2008 Robinson, Derek Invasion 1940 Constable, 2005 Rodger, N A M The History of the Royal Navy Vol Penguin, 2005 Rogers, Anthony Churchill’s Folly Cassell, 2003 Roosevelt, Elliott As He Saw It Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946 Rose, Norman Churchill: An Unruly Life Simon & Schuster, 1995 Roskill, Stephen The War at Sea vols HMSO, 1960 Hankey: Man of Secrets vols Collins, 1974 Churchill and the Admirals Collins, 1977 Royal Historical Society Proceedings Record of the Churchill Conference at the Institute for Historical Research, January 2001 Cambridge, 2001 Rzheshevsky, O A Stalin and Churchill: Meetings, Conversations, Discussions (Stalin I Cherchil: Vstrechi, besedy, diskussi) Moscow, 2004 Salter, Arthur Slave of the Lamp Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967 Sayers, R S Financial Policy, 1939–45 HMSO, 1956 Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh Dunkirk Penguin, 2006 Sebastian, Mikhail Journal, 1935–44 Heinemann, 2001 Sheridan, Dorothy, ed Wartime Women Heinemann, 1990 Sherwood, Robert The White House Papers of Harry L Hopkins Vols and Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948 _ Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History Harper, 1950 Slessor, Sir John The Central Blue Cassell, 1956 Slim, Field Marshal Viscount Defeat into Victory Cassell, 1956 Soames, Mary Clementine Churchill Cassell, 2002., ed Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill Doubleday, 1998 Sokolov, Vladimir, and Pyotr Stegny Bridges and Barriers II, Rodina No Moscow, 2003 Stacey, C P The Canadian Army, 1939–45 E Cloutier, 1955 Stafford, David Roosevelt and Churchill Overlook Press, 2000 Stanford, J K Tail of an Army Phoenix House, 1966 Strong, Kenneth Intelligence at the Top Cassell, 1968 Sweet-Escott, Bickham Baker Street Irregular Methuen, 1965 Taylor, A J P Beaverbrook Simon & Schuster, 1972 Tedder, Lord With Prejudice Cassell, 1966 Tendulkar, D G Mahatma vols New Delhi, 1988 Thompson, R W Churchill and Morton Hodder & Stoughton, 1976 Thorne, Christopher Allies of a Kind Hamish Hamilton, 1978 Thurlow, Richard Fascism in Britain: A History, 1918–1985 Oxford, 1987 Titmuss, Richard History of the Second World War: Problems of Social Policy HMSO, 1950 Tooze, Adam Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the German War Economy Allen Lane, 2006 Trollope, Anthony Autobiography Trollope Society, 1999 Trukhanovsky, V G Winston Churchill (Uinston Cherchil Politicheskaya Biograpiya) Progress Publishers, 1978 Wallace, Henry The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A Wallace 1942–1946 Edited by John Morton Blum Houghton Mifflin, 1973 Watt, D C Succeeding John Bull Cambridge, 1980 Waugh, Evelyn Men at Arms Chapman & Hall, 1952 Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John John Anderson Viscount Waverley Macmillan, 1962, ed Action This Day: Working with Churchill Macmillan, 1968 Wieviorka, Olivier Une Certaine Idée de la Résistance: Défense de la France, 1940–1949 Seuil, 1995 Wilmot, Chester The Struggle for Europe Collins, 1952 Wilson, Thomas Churchill and the Prof Cassell, 1995 Winant, John G A Letter from Grosvenor Square Hodder and Stoughton, 1948 Winfield, Ronald The Sky Belongs to Them Kimber, 1976 Wrigley, Chris Churchill Haus, 2006 Young, Kenneth Stanley Baldwin Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976 Zhukov, G K Vospominaniya i Razmyshlenita (Memories and Re ections) vols Moscow, 1992 ILLUSTRATION CREDITS INSERT I Churchill in Whitehall with Halifax in March 1938 (Getty Images) Churchill outside Downing Street in May 1940 (Getty Images) German columns advancing through France in May 1940 (Imperial War Museum RML193) Churchill in Paris on May 31, 1940, with Dill, Attlee and Reynaud (Getty Images) British troops awaiting evacuation at Dunkirk (Imperial War Museum NYP68075) Dead British soldier at Dunkirk (ECPAD, France) Churchill inspecting a roadblock (Imperial War Museum H2653) French warships blaze at Mers-el-Kebir (Musée National de Marine) The Battle of Britain: Hurricane pilots scramble (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) The filter room at RAF Fighter Command, Bently Priory (MOD Air Historical Branch) A Luftwaffe Heinkel over the London docks in September 1940 (Imperial War Museum C5422) The blitz street scene (Popperfoto/Getty Images) Churchill by Cecil Beaton (Courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s) INSERT Blazing shore facilities on Crete in May 1941 (Imperial War Museum E31040E) A Russian soldier surrenders (BA-MA Koblenz) Harry Hopkins and Churchill outside Downing Street (Getty Images) Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay (Imperial War Museum H12739) British troops advance through a minefield (Imperial War Museum E1591) Italian prisoners during Operation Compass (Imperial War Museum) George King (Courtesy of Judith Avery) Sir John Kennedy (National Portrait Gallery, London) Sir Alexander Cadogan (Press Association Images) Harold Nicholson (Getty Images) Charles Wilson, Lord Moran (National Portrait Gallery, London) Hugh Dalton (National Portrait Gallery, London) Leo Amery (Getty Images) Cuthbert Headlam (Press Association Images) Oliver Harvey (Press Association Images) Lt Gen Sir Henry Pownall (Imperial War Museum FE556) Churchill working on his train (Imperial War Museum H10874) Churchill viewing new aircraft with Lindemann, Portal and Pound (Imperial War Museum H10306) Jock Colville’s farewell to Downing Street (Harriet Bowes-Lyon) Churchill at the controls of Boeing Clipper (Imperial War Museum H16645) One of the Second Front rallies 1942–43 (Imperial War Museum D4593) INSERT The Cairo conference, August 1942 (AP/Press Association Images) Harriman and Churchill with Molotov (Imperial War Museum MOIFLM115) Dieppe after the August 1942 raid (Imperial War Museum HU1904) Soviet troops advance towards Stalingrad (The Archive of the Panoramic Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad) The British advance at El Alamein (Imperial War Museum E18807) American war leaders at Casablanca, January 1943 (© Bettmann/Corbis) Aneurin Bevan (Getty Images) Stafford Cripps (Getty Images) Clement Attlee (Getty Images) Ernest Bevin (Getty Images) Lord Beaverbrook (Getty Images) Churchill with General Anderson at Carthage, May 1943 (Imperial War Museum NA3253) U.S troops advance through Italy (NARA) Beaufighters attack German shipping off Kos (Hansjurgen Weissenborn/Anthony Rogers Collection) German troops land on Kos (Imperial War Museum HU67424) Algiers, June 1943 (Imperial War Museum NA3286) Churchill with Clementine, August 1943 (Imperial War Museum H32954) The “Big Three” at Tehran (Imperial War Museum E26640) The Anzio landing (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) INSERT French maquisards (Getty Images) SOE mission in occupied Yugoslavia (Imperial War Museum HU67565) American troops approaching Normandy beaches (Imperial War Museum EA25641) Operation Overlord (Imperial War Museum EA29655) Churchill with Alexander in Italy (Imperial War Museum NA18041) Churchill with De Gaulle (Imperial War Museum BU1294) Churchill meeting the Greek factions in Athens (Imperial War Museum NAM163) King, Brooke, Ismay and Marshall at Yalta in February 1945 (Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives) Victorious Russian soldiers in Sofia (Courtesy of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, Moscow) Churchill with Brooke and Montgomery (Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives) On the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the royal family on VE Day (Imperial War Museum MH21835) Churchill broadcasts from Downing Street (Imperial War Museum H41846) Churchill with Truman and Stalin at Potsdam (Getty Images) A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Max Hastings is the author of more than twenty books He has served as a foreign correspondent and as the editor of Britain’s Evening Standard and Daily Telegraph and has received numerous British Press and literary awards In 2008 the Royal United Services Institute awarded him its Duke of Westminster Medal for his lifetime contribution to military literature He lives outside London THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A KNOPF Copyright © 2009 by Max Hastings All rights reserved Published in the United States by Alfred A Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York www.aaknopf.com Originally published in Great Britain as Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord, 1940–45 by HarperPress, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London, in 2009 Knopf, Borzoi Books and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hastings, Max Winston’s war: Churchill, 1940–1945 / Max Hastings.—1st American ed p cm eISBN: 978-0-307-59312-2 “Originally published in Great Britain by HarperPress, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London, in 2009”—T.p verso “This is a Borzoi book”—T.p verso Churchill, Winston, 1874–1965—Military leadership World War, 1939–1945—Great Britain Great Britain—Politics and government—1936–1945 Great Britain—History, Military—20th century I Title DA566.9.C5H274 2009 940.53′41092—dc22 [B] 2009038836 v3.0 ... Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, C-in-C of Fighter Command, who passionately demurred No further ghters were committed That day Jock Colville, the prime minister’s twenty- ve-year-old junior private secretary... to join his all-party coalition were equal to the magnitude of their tasks If this is true of all governments at all times, it was notably unfortunate now Twenty-one out of thirty-six senior o... later—for a counterattack south-eastwards by the entire BEF—Pownall was even angrier: “Can nobody prevent him58 trying to conduct operations himself as a super Commander-in-Chief? How does he think