ANDREW ROBERTS The Storm of War A New History of the Second World War ALLEN LANE an imprint of PENGUIN BOOKS ALLEN LANE Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England www.penguin.com First published 2009 Copyright © Andrew Roberts, 2009 The moral right of the author has been asserted All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book ISBN: 978-0-14-193886-8 To the memory of Frank Johnson (1943–2006) I have, myself, full confidence that if all their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone Winston Churchill, House of Commons, June 1940 Contents List of Illustrations List of Maps Preface Prelude: The Pact PART I Onslaught Four Invasions: September 1939–April 1940 Führer Imperator: May–June 1940 Last Hope Island: June 1940–June 1941 Contesting the Littoral: September 1939–June 1942 Kicking in the Door: June–December 1941 Tokyo Typhoon: December 1941–May 1942 II Climacteric PART The Everlasting Shame of Mankind: 1939–1945 Five Minutes at Midway: June 1942–October 1944 Midnight in the Devil’s Gardens: July 1942–May 1943 10 The Motherland Overwhelms the Fatherland: January 1942–February 1943 11 The Waves of Air and Sea: 1939–1945 12 Up the Wasp-Waist Peninsula: July 1943–May 1945 PART III Retribution 13 A Salient Reversal: March–August 1943 14 The Cruel Reality: 1939–1945 15 Norman Conquest: June–August 1944 16 Western Approaches: August 1944–March 1945 17 Eastern Approaches: August 1943–May 1945 18 Land of the Setting Sun: October 1944–September 1945 Conclusion: Why Did the Axis Lose the Second World War? Notes Bibliography Index List of Illustrations General Werner von Blomberg and Adolf Hitler at Ulm in September 1933 (Getty Images) The signing of the Nazi–Soviet Pact, 24 August 1939 (Topfoto) Benito Mussolini, Hitler, Major-General Alfred Jodl and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, 25 August 1941 (akg-images/ullstein bild) Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Keitel and SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler confering with Hitler, 10 April 1942 (akg-images) Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt inspecting the Atlantic Wall, 18 April 1944 (akgimages) Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (Bettmann/Corbis) General Heinz Guderian (Topfoto) Field Marshal Walter (Austrian Archives/Corbis) Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber, 1940 (The Art Archive) 10 Refugees fleeing Paris, June 1940 (Getty Images) 11 Operation Dynamo, Dunkirk, May 1940 (Imperial War Museum, NYP – 68075) 12 Allied vehicles, arms, stores and ammunition disabled and left behind in France, 27 May 1940 (akg-images) 13 RAF and Luftwaffe planes battling over Kent, September 1940 (AP/PA Photos) 14 Pilots of 87 Squadron scrambling to their Hurricanes (The Art Archive/Imperial War Museum Photo Archive IWM) 15 Hitler and Goebbels at the Berghof, 1940 (Mary Evans Picture Library) 16 Operation Barbarossa, summer 1941 (ullstein bild/Topfoto) 17 Operation Typhoon stuck in atrocious mud, October 1941 (Robert Hunt Picture Library) 18 German soldiers surrendering to Russians, late 1941 (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 19 US Navy Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers at the battle of Midway, early June 1942 (National Archives/courtesy Armchair General ®) 20 USS Yorktown at the battle of Midway, June 1942 (National Archives/courtesy Armchair General ®) 21 Generals Sir Claude Auchinleck and Sir Archibald Wavell in the Western Desert, 1941 (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 22 General Harold Alexander in Tunisia, early 1943 (Popperfoto/Getty Images) 23 General Erwin Rommel at Tobruk, June 1942 (Popperfoto/Getty Images) 24 Soldiers of the 9th Australian Division at the battle of El Alamein (Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria) 25 Jews undergoing ‘selection’ for work details at Auschwitz-Birkenau, late May 1944 (USHMM, courtesy of Yad Vashem – Public Domain The views or opinions expressed in this book and the context in which the images are used, not necessarily reflect the views or policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) 26 Corpses at the Dachau concentration camp, 29 April 1945 (Getty Images) 27 Destruction in Stalingrad, late 1942 (Getty Images) 28 Russian artillery in Stalingrad, early 1943 (RIA Novosti/Topfoto) 29 President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and others at the Casablanca Conference, January (Getty Images) 30 General Charles de Gaulle and General Henri Giraud in Algiers, 30 May 1943 (Bettmann/Corbis) 31 A convoy of merchantmen crossing the Atlantic, June 1943 (The Mariners’ Museum/Corbis) 32 The captain of a U-boat at his periscope (Cody Images) 33 The battle of Kursk, July 1943 (Cody Images) 34 Russian soldiers pass a burning Soviet tank at Kursk (Getty Images) 35 General Sir William Slim in Burma, 1944 (Getty Images) 36 Major General Orde Wingate (Bettmann/Corbis) 37 General Tomoyuki Yamashita (Getty Images) 38 General George S Patton Jr (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 39 General Mark Clark in Rome, June 1944 (Getty Images) 40 D-Day, 08.40 hours, June (Imperial War Museum, B 5103) 41 American troops behind anti-tank obstacles on Omaha Beach (Topfoto) 42 Mussolini, Hitler, Göring and Ribbentrop two days after the 20 July 1944 Bomb (AP/PA Photos) 43 General Dwight D Eisenhower and General Montgomery, June 1944 (Bettmann/Corbis) 44 Russian infantry in Belorussia during Operation Bagration, June 1944 (ullstein bild/Topfoto) 45 The Ardennes Offensive, December 1944 (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 46 The aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden, February 1945 (akg-images/ullstein bild) 47 Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke and Churchill crossing the, 25 March 1945 (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 48 Red Army troops heading for Berlin, April 1945 (Cody Images) 49 Marshal Georgi Zhukov entering Berlin, May 1945 (RIA Novosti) 50 Marshal Ivan Konev (© Sovfoto) 51 Nagasaki after the dropping of the atomic bomb, August 1945 (Getty Images) 52 Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu surrendering aboard the USS Missouri, September 1945 (Time-Life Pictures/Getty Images) Endpapers: Flak over a German city, 1940 (ullstein bild/Topofoto) 592, 593, 599, 600, 601, 605; present-day Volgograd 320, 330, 548 ‘Stand or die’ orders: Churchill’s 205; Hitler’s 181, 299, 314, 336, 404, 522, 532, 540, 591, 593, 595 Stark, Admiral Harold 193, 357, 451 Stauffenberg, Colonel Count Claus von 481–2, 483, 484, 584 Stavanger 39, 40 Stavka (Soviet State Committee of Defence) 157, 158, 328, 413–14, 417, 426, 427, 542, 560, 597, 600, 602 Stavka Reserve Force 414 Stavropol 319 steel 354, 438, 598 Steinberg, Paul 236 Steiner, General Felix 553 Steppe Front 414, 424–5 Stevens, Sergeant Roy 475 Stilwell, General Joseph ‘Vinegar Joe’ 212, 265, 266–7, 268, 269 Stimson, Henry L 193 Stokes, (Sir) Richard 456 Stone, Norman 147, 458, 591 Stopford, General Sir Montagu 272 Strachan, Hew 282 Strachey, Lytton 91 Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of 557 Strangeways, Captain David 54 Streicher, Julius 562, 583 ‘Strength Through Joy’ (Nazi cruise line) 222 Strong, Major-General Kenneth 91, 504 Stroop, SS-General Jürgen 244 Stuart (Allied tank) 198, 285 Student, General Karl 125, 149, 587–8, 597 Studnitz, General Bogislav von 72 Stukas (Junkers Ju-87 dive-bombers) 21, 66–7, 93, 106, 323, 418, 537 Stülpnagel, General Karl von 77 Stülpnagel, General Otto von 73, 77 Stumme, General George 287, 288, 293 Sturmabteilung (SA; Brownshirts) 1, 28 Stutthof concentration camp 522 SU-85 (Russian self-propelled gun) 422 SU-100 (Russian self-propelled gun) 425 SU-152 (Russian tank) 161 Sudan 121, 261 Sudetenland 7–8, 143, 410, 483 Suez Canal 120, 121, 285–6, 376, 588 Suffolk, HMS 361–2 Sumatra 209, 213 Summa 34 Sun Tzu 463 Suomussalmi 31, 32, 33 Supercharge, Operation 296–7, 302 Supermarine Spitfire see Spitfire Supreme War Council (Allied) 33, 70–71, 274 swastika 1, Sweden: accommodation of Nazis 114, 445; iron ore 38, 112, 114, 541; neutrality 34, 38, 85, 112, 114 Sweeney, Major Charles ‘Chuck’ 577 Swinderby, RAF 455 Switzerland 112, 113, 114, 445, 451, 453; Lucy (Soviet spy ring) 155, 417 Sword beach 467, 475, 476 synthetic oil 236, 248, 432, 445, 446, 453, 539, 574 Syria 84, 126, 127, 129, 131, 132 Szilard, Leo 574 T-34 (Russian tank) 161, 181, 422, 423, 425, 525–7, 600 Tagonrog 521 Taiwan see Formosa Takagi, Rear-Admiral Takeo 210 Takijiro, Onishi 188 Talvela, General Paavo 33 Taman Peninsula 523 Tanaka, Rear-Admiral Razio 258 Tanimoto, Kiyoshi 575–6 tank production: German 413, 422, 425, 426, 442, 447, 525, 527–8, 594; Russian 425, 426, 525, 526–7, 600 tank warfare 54, 62, 76, 161, 181–2, 388, 414–15, 418, 419, 422–3, 525–9 Tanner, Väinö 29–30 Taranto 379 Taranto, battle of (1940) 191, 193 Tarawa 260 Task Force 34 (Allied North African invasion force) 303, 305–6 Task Force 38 (United States Pacific force) 565 Task Force 81 (Allied Italian invasion force) 393–4 Tatsinskaya 339 Tatsuta Maru (liner) 190 Tavoy 211 taxation: Britain 111, 112; United States 197, 198 Taylor, Frederick 456 Taylor, Robert 104 Tedder, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur 126, 451, 468, 477 Teheran 131 Teheran Conference (‘Eureka’; 1943) 382–3, 403, 545 Tel el Aqqaqir 298 Telemark 117 Teller, Edward 574 Tellermines 381 Temme, Pilot Officer Paul 67 Tenaru River, battle of (1942) 258–9 Tenth Army (German) 23, 378, 393, 400–401 Tenth Army (Italian) 120 Tenth Army (Russian) 158 Tenth Army (United States) 569, 572 Thailand 188, 201, 213 Thala 311–12 Thames, River 35, 36, 101, 106, 463 Theresianstadt concentration camp 496 Thermopylae 30, 125 Thesiger, (Sir) Wilfred 261 Thierack, Otto 581 Third Army (French) 72 Third Army (Romanian) 333, 334, 335 Third Army (Russian) 171 Third Army (United States) 468, 486, 487, 497, 498, 499, 506–7, 514 Third Communist International Third Fleet (United States) 565 Third Tactical Air Force (British) 273 Thirteenth Army (Russian) 30 Thirty-second Army (Japanese) 569 Thirty-second Army (Russian) 171 Thirty-seventh Army (Russian) 170, 175 Thoma, General Wilhelm von 60, 293, 298, 299–300, 305, 492, 493–4, 526 Thomas, General Georg 196 Thomsen, Petur 470 Thorn 542 Thrace 125 Thursday, Operation 265 Tibbets, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul W Jr 439, 575 Tiddim 269 Tiger (German tank) 412, 418, 419, 422, 525–6, 527 Tilburg 55 Times, The 438, 559 Timor 209 Timoshenko, General Semyon 34, 154, 159 tin 213 Tinian 575, 577 Tippelkirsch, Kurt von 343 Tippelskirch, General Kurt von 522 Tirpitz (battleship) 353, 364, 365–6, 441 Tito, Marshal Josip Broz 117, 125, 383, 540, 555 Tjisalak, SS 275–6 Tobruk: bombardment of 284, 293–4; British capture of 121, 129, 301; German capture of 134, 303, 588, 608; sieges of 127–8, 131, 132–3, 281, 286 Todt, Fritz 138, 196, 371 Tofp & Sons (engineering contractors) 236 Tojo, General Hideki 187–8, 207, 274 Tokyo 573, 577; bombing of 214, 566, 571–2 ‘Tokyo Express’ 258, 259 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal 275, 277, 280 Tolbukhin, Marshal Fedor 532, 540 Tolvajärvi 33 Torch, Operation 268, 301–8, 310–314, 461 Torgau 550 Total War 23, 110, 249, 389, 429, 460 Toulon 73, 307 Tours 71 Townsend, Group-Captain Peter 97 Transjordan 131 Transportation Plan 451, 453, 454 ‘Treaty’ Army (German) 20 Treblinka extermination camp 224, 233, 244 Trenet, Charles 488 Trent Park (British Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre; CSDIC) 492–7, 585 Trento Division 289 Trevelyan, Raleigh, The Fortress 399 Trevor-Roper, Hugh, Baron Dacre of Glanton, Hitler’s Table Talk 218 Trident Conference see Washington Conferences Trier 501 Trieste Division 296 Trincomalee 201 Tripartite Pact (Germany–Italy–Japan; 1940) 124, 193, 589–90 Tripoli 122, 123, 284, 301, 306 Tripolitania 129 Trondheim 38, 39, 40, 41–2, 44 Troubridge, Rear-Admiral Thomas 394 Truman, Harry S 547, 575, 576, 577 Truscott, Major-General Lucian 395, 401–2, 404 Tsaritsyn see Stalingrad Tuker, Major-General (Sir) Francis 290 Tukhachevsky, Marshal Mikhail 33 Tula 171, 173, 176 Tulagi 257 Tulle 479 Tunis 307–8, 314 Tunisia 283, 308, 310–11, 314, 351, 606 Turenne, Henri, Vicomte de 14 Turing, Alan 348–50, 367, 372 Turkey 112, 120, 593 Türkheim concentration camp 237 Turner, Lieutenant-Colonel Victor 294 Twelfth Army (German) 56 Twentieth Air Force (United States) 573 Twenty-fifth Army (Japanese) 201 Twenty-first Army (Russian) 414 two-front wars 136–8, 141 Tyler, Lieutenant Kermit 185 Typhoon, Operation 365 U-boats: Allied bombing of U-boat pens 440; and Allied Normandy landings 372, 468; Allied tracking of 35, 350, 365–6; battle of the Atlantic 35–6, 37–8, 130, 346, 352, 354, 357–8, 359–60, 368, 369–72, 373–4; losses 354, 357, 371, 372, 373; Norwegian bases 38, 373; production of 352, 353, 354, 358, 369, 371, 373, 541, 586, 596; threats to Arctic convoys 365; threats to North African supply lines 285, 305 U-Go, Operation 269–75, 568 Udet, Ernst 196 Uganda 221 Ukraine: Hitler’s invasion plans 152, 153, 590–91; Jews in 239; and Lebensraum policy 138, 139, 163, 165; nationalism in 163; Russian atrocities in 162, 163, 590 Ulam, Stanisław 574 Ullersperger, Major-General Wilhelm 496 Ultra (cipher decrypts) 126, 297, 312, 346, 348, 350–51, 370, 384, 394, 417, 470, 506, 581 Umezu, General Yoshijiro 577 unconditional-surrender policy 309, 483, 560 Unit 731 (Japanese biological warfare research unit) 275 United Nations Organization 383, 546 United States of America: aid to Britain 87, 89, 112, 130, 194; aid to China 212, 268; aid to USSR 128, 174, 176, 194, 411, 551; Citizenship Act (1907) 107; declares war on Japan 193; elections (1940) 87; (1942) 303; Great War 193–4; industrial production 195–6, 198–9, 214–15, 289, 373, 604; internment of Japanese-Americans 200; isolationism 151–2, 194; Jewish emigration to 221, 574; Lend-Lease scheme 87, 130, 411, 551; Pax Americana 604; post-war 578–9, 604; war economy 197–9, 214–15, 604 Untermenschen 19, 27, 163, 420, 492, 547 Upkeep (bouncing) bombs 441 uranium 550, 574, 608 Uranus, Operation 334–5 Uruguay 37 US Army; losses 259–60, 376, 568–9, 604; size 214–15; tension with Navy 564; war crimes 555, 566–7; see also individual field armies and divisions US Army Air Force see USAAF US Maritime Commission 469 US Navy: advocates Pacific First policy 564; aircraft carriers 189, 215, 251–2, 252–3, 256, 258, 565; Atlantic patrols 130, 357; grant of destroyers to Britain 87, 130; Italian campaign 396; losses 192, 251, 252, 256, 258, 259, 396, 565, 572; Pacific Fleet transferred to Pearl Harbor 187, 189; submarines 572; tension with Army 564; see also individual fleets and task forces USAAF (US Army Air Force): bombing of Germany 432, 435, 439, 444–5, 447, 449, 450–51, 453, 455, 457, 459– 60, 600, 604; bombing of Japan 564–5, 566, 571–3; co-operation with RAF 199, 439–40, 449–50; Italian campaign 381, 392, 440; losses 435; and Normandy campaign 478, 486; at Pearl Harbor 191, 192; in Philippines 187, 208; supplies to China 212, 268; and Warsaw Uprising (1944) 245, 538; see also individual numbered air forces Ushijima, Lieutenant-General Mitsuru 569, 572 USSR: Allied aid 128, 174, 176, 194, 364–5, 366, 411, 551; bombing of 105, 173, 174, 459; conscription 156–7; cruelties and inefficiencies of regime 163–4, 183–4, 590; declaration of war on Japan 571, 577; forced relocation of ethnic Germans 184; German invasion see Barbarossa, Operation; German occupation 522; industrial base moved eastwards following German invasion 182–3; Jews in 148, 222–3; nationalism in 163–4; Nazi–Soviet Pact (1939) 10, 25, 26, 29, 149, 151, 539, 603; non-aggression pact with Japan (1941) 186, 382; non-aggression treaty with Finland (1932) 30; partisans 159–60, 599; Russo-Japanese neutrality pact (1941) 268; Soviet Information Buro (Sovinform) 524; territorial gains 561–2; Third Communist International 5; total civilian losses 556–7; Winter War with Finland (1939–40) 29–34, 114, 143, 154, 171, 323, 587; see also Red Army; Soviet Air Force; Soviet Navy Utah beach 464, 467, 473, 474 V-1 flying bombs 110, 485, 498, 514–19, 595 V-2 rockets 110, 114, 485, 498, 514–19, 586, 595, 596 Valčik, Josef 242–3 Valenciennes 52 Valmontone 400, 401–2 Vandergrift, Major-General Alexander A 257, 259 Vasilevsky, Marshal Alexandr 414, 539 Vatican 112, 388, 390–91; see also Catholic Church Vatutin, General Nikolai 412, 414, 417, 418, 421, 529 Vaughan-Thomas, Wynford 395 VE Day (Victory in Europe Day; May 1945) 520, 571, 604 Veldenstein Castle 438, 439 Venlo 348 Venomous, HMS 104 Verdun 72 Verdun, battle of (1916) 58, 80, 415 Verlaine, Paul 471 Vermork 117 Versailles Treaty (1919) 3, 4, 7, 18–19, 20, 37, 353 Viborg see Viipuri Vichy 74 Vichy France: Anglophobia 84; anti-Jewish measures 78, 81–2; armed forces 81, 84, 92; autonomy of 77–8; death sentence on de Gaulle 72; deferrence to Germany 80–81; establishment of 74, 77; German invasion 306; internment of ‘enemies of the state’ 82; Milice (paramilitary police) 81–2; and North African campaigns 305–6, 307, 308–9, 311 Vickers Wellington (bomber) 438 Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy 376, 600 Victorious, HMS 362 Vienna 7, 16, 180, 220, 549, 562 Vietinghoff, General Heinrich von 378, 382, 402, 404, 405, 591, 597 Vietnam War 435 Viipuri 30, 34, 171 Vilnius 226 Vincennes 56 Vincennes, USS 258 Vistula river 17, 230, 534, 544 Vitebsk 161, 533 Volga Fleet 329 Volga, River 315, 317, 319, 320, 321, 325, 329, 331, 335, 599 Volga–Archangel line 151, 315 Volga Canal 175 Volga Germans 184 Volgograd see Stalingrad Volkhov Front 528 Völkischer Beobachter (Nazi Party newspaper) Volkssturm (German home guard) 554, 607 Voltaire 24 Volturno river 383, 387 Vonnegut, Kurt, Slaughterhouse Five 455–6 Voronezh 316 Voronezh Front 334, 412, 414, 418, 420, 424–5 Voroshilov, General Klementi 154, 161, 323 Vosges 503 Vyazma 171, 173 Waffen-SS (SS combat arm) 28–9, 177, 243, 419, 420, 537, 554, 590; and battle for Berlin 553–4; crushing of Warsaw Uprising (1944) 536, 537–8; reprisals against French Resistance 479–80; II SS Panzer Corps 421, 422, 424; 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich 419, 424, 479–80; Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler 64, 419, 424; Totenkopf (Death’s Head) regiments 27, 28, 64, 419, 424, 480 Wagner, Cosima 220 Wagner, Richard 548 Wagner, Walter 559 Wajcblum, Ester 232 Wake Island 189, 191, 201 Wallenius, General Kurt 32 Wallwork, Staff Sergeant Jim 470–71 Wannsee conference (1942) 238–40 War of 1812 532 War Cabinet (British) 68–9, 122–3, 125, 207, 257, 308–9, 397, 417, 436–7, 452, 485–6, 501, 556, 557–8 War Department (United States) 246, 305, 465 War Office (British) 51, 69, 77, 117, 132, 203, 437 War Refugee Board (United States) 247, 248 Ward, Major-General Orlando 311 Ward, USS 185 Ward Price, G Warlimont, General Walter 62, 285, 328, 371, 584, 594 Warsaw 16; bombing of 430; German capture of 18, 19, 23–4, 26, 27, 61; ghetto 221, 243–4, 536; Russian takeover 538, 542, 544; Uprising (1944) 245, 248, 489, 534, 536–9 Warspite, HMS 126 Warwickshire Yeomanry 296 Washington Conferences (1941–2) 134, 199, 214; (1943; ‘Trident’) 375, 393, 440 Wasp, USS 189, 258 Waterloo Bridge (film) 104 Watkins, WAAF Sergeant Gwen 372 Watson-Watt, Robert 94, 95 Watten 515 Wavell, Field Marshal Archibald, 1st Earl: background and career 119–20; Crete campaign 126, 127; Greek campaign 122, 124, 125; North African campaigns 119, 120–21, 122, 128–9, 131, 133; relations with Churchill 120, 128–9; South-East Asia command 129, 205; Generals and Generalship 552 Wehrmacht (German armed forces): Central Economic Agency 165; creation of field marshals 75; effectiveness of 24–5, 54, 581; and extermination of Jews 227; fragmented nature of authority 581; High Command see OKW; Hitler takes personal command of 180; Hitler’s expansion of 3–4; training 24; see also German army; Kriegsmarine; Luftwaffe; Reichswehr Weichs, Field Marshal Baron Maximilian von 20, 75, 316, 335, 541 Weidling, Lieutenant-General Helmuth 421 Weil, Simone 82 Weinberg, Gerhard 476–7 Welchman, Gordon 349, 350 Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of 289, 297 Wellington, Vickers (bomber) 438 Wells, H G 90 Wells, Lance-Corporal John 67 Welsh, Air Marshal Sir William 450 Werth, Alexander 534–5 Weser river 498 Weserübung, Operation 39 West, (Dame) Rebecca 90–91 West Front (Russian) 421 West Wall see Siegfried Line Western Desert Force (British) 121–3, 132 Westerplatte 21 Weygand, General Maxime 59, 70, 71, 73, 76, 85 Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John 2, 510 White, Major Geoffrey 273 Whitshed, HMS 66 Wiedemann, Fritz 15 Wigner, Eugene 574 Wildermuth, Colonel Eberhard 496 Wilfred, Operation 39 Wilhelm II, Kaiser 86, 90, 137, 600 Wilhelm Gustloff (liner) 549 Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands 55, 117 Wilhelmshaven 22, 431 Wilmot, Chester 433 Wilson, Lieutenant-General Henry ‘Jumbo’ (later 1st Baron Wilson) 122–3 Wiltshire Regiment 406 Wimberley, Major-General Douglas 290 ‘Window’ (anti-radar device) 444, 464 Wingate, Major-General Orde 120, 260–65, 267 Winkelman, General Henri 58 Winter Line 384, 385, 386 Winter Tempest, Operation 338, 339 Winter War, Russo-Finnish (1939–40) 29–34, 114, 143, 154, 171, 323, 587 Witzleben, Field Marshal Erwin von 75, 482 Wolfschanze (Wolf’s Lair; Hitler’s East Prussia HQ) 317, 480–81, 482–3, 551, 592 Wolverine, HMS 357 women: Korean ‘comfort’ women 275; and Russian war effort 329–30; snipers 326, 330; war crimes against 268, 275, 278–9, 280, 541, 554–6; in war economies 110, 608 Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (British) 95 Women’s Land Army (British) 110 Wood, Sir Kingsley 35, 111 Wormhout 64 Wright, Flight Lieutenant Robert 101 Wünsche, Max 100 Wyllie, Bruce 436 Xerxes 301 Y Department (British monitoring organization) 99, 348 Yalta Conference (1945) 454, 538, 545–6, 550, 571 Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku 188, 189, 192, 252, 253 Yamashita, Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki 201–2, 206, 207 Yamato (battleship) 570 Yamauchi, General Masafumi 274 Yanagimoto, Captain Ryusaku 256 Yekaterinburg 139 Yelets 176 Yenangyaung 212 Yeremenko, General Andrei 542 Yokohama 190, 214, 566 Yokosuka 214 York 88 Yorktown, USS 189, 252, 253–4, 256 Young, Peter 291 Yugoslavia: Allied invasion plans 383, 403; Chetniks 125, 383; German invasion 124–5, 587; joins Axis 124; partisans 117, 124, 383, 540; post-war 546, 562; Russian invasion 539, 540–41; SOE operations in 117, 124 Yukhnov 171 Yunnan 212, 268 Yvoir 501 Z Force (Allied naval detachment) 202, 203–4 Zagreb 124 Zaitsev, Vasily 325–6 Zaporozhe 412, 528 Zeitzler, General Kurt: character 326, 592; Eastern Front 326, 334–5, 336, 344; Operation Zitadelle (battle of Kursk) 412, 413, 416, 601; replaces Halder 326, 592; trial 593 Zholudev, Major-General V 322, 331 Zhukov, General Georgi: background and character 154, 182, 328–9; battle of Berlin 550, 559; battle of Korsun 529; battle of Kursk 413–14, 418, 421, 424, 427; battle of Stalingrad 321, 323, 334, 338, 344; and German invasion 156, 159; and German surrender 560; as military strategist 530; offensives (1941–2) 176, 323, 591; (1944) 529, 530; (1945) 542, 543, 549; orders shooting of retreating troops 183; post-war career 561; relations with other generals 601; relations with Stalin 154, 530, 602; war with Japan 182, 323 Zitadelle, Operation 412–13, 416, 417, 418–24, 427–8, 594 Zonhoven 508 Zossen 181 Zubza 272 Zuckerman, Solly (later Baron Zuckerman) 451 Zuikaku (aircraft carrier) 252 Zulu War (1879) 271 Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB; Jewish combat organization) 243–4 Zyklon B (poison gas) 224, 226, 227–8, 229, 231, 232, 240 ... inviolability of the Wehrmacht, in fulfilment of the testament of the late Field Marshal, and in accord with my own will to establish the Army firmly as the sole bearer of the arms of the nation.’... the sense of superiority of many veteran infantrymen that it was they who had borne the brunt of the fighting in the Great War Both the OKW Chief of Staff Wilhelm Keitel, and his lieutenant the. . .ANDREW ROBERTS The Storm of War A New History of the Second World War ALLEN LANE an imprint of PENGUIN BOOKS ALLEN LANE Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books