The Myth of the Blitz
Page 41
London Auxiliary Ambulance Service, 225–6
London Can Take It (film), 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, 231–3, 240, 248
London Underground air-raid shelters, 34–5, 47, 83, 209; Henry Moore’s shelter drawings, 143
The Long Good Friday (film), 267–9
Low, David, cartoonist, 31, 88, 120, 180
Low Countries, Nazi occupation of (1940), 2, 24, 25, 28, 67, 93, 106
Lübeck, RAF bombing of, 39
Luftwaffe (German Air Force), 24, 41, 61, 98, 124; air-raid on Naples, 153; air-raids prior to Blitz on London, 124–5; ‘Baedeker’ raids, 39; Battle of Britain, 31–3, 99, 103–4, 157, 163, 215–17, 248–50; Blitz on London, 33–7, 240, 248; bombing of provincial towns, 36, 37, 119–20, 127–8, 129, 168, 178, 240; casualties, 99; night bombing, 33, 125, 218, 248
Luxembourg, Nazi occupation of, 24
Lye, Len, 190, 235
McAllister, Stewart, 228, 229, 231, 233, 238, 239, 240, 243, 261, 272
Macaulay, Rose, 88
McCrea, Joel, 214
MacDiarmid, Hugh (C.M. Grieve), x, 73
McEwan, Ian, Imitation Game, 266
McGovern, John, 71
McIntyre, Dr Robert, 72
McKendrick, Alexander, 265, 266
Mackenzie, Compton, 5
Mackenzie, John, 267
Mackenzie, John M., Propaganda and Empire, 53, 54–5
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie, 234
McLaine, Ian, 53, 110
McLaren, Norman, 240
Maclean, John, 70
MacNeice, Louis, 143–5, 192, 253; ‘Brother Fire’, 144, 145; ‘The News-Reel’, 141, 143–4; ‘The Streets of Laredo’, 144, 145
McShane, Harry, 81, 84
MacVane, John, 218, 222
Madge, Charles, 192, 235, 236
Maginot Line, 95
Mallory, Leigh, 103
Mann, Arthur, 218
Mansfield, F.J., 128–9
Manston, RAF, Nazi bombing of, 103–4
Manton, Squadron Leader ‘Minnie’, 102
Manvell, Roger, 233–4
Mao Tse Tung, 86
March of Time, 245
Marchant, Hilde, 96, 166, 216
Marshall, General George, 245
Martin, Kingsley, 87–8
Marvell, Andrew, 30
Marwick, Arthur, 76
Marx Brothers, 235
Masaryk, Jan, 213
Masefield, John, 149, 156; ‘To the Seamen’, 148
Masel, Nina, 133
Massingham, H.J., 182–3, 184, 188
Mass-Observation, ix, x, 55, 56, 63, 86, 102, 111, 119, 120, 121, 131–9, 142, 191–2, 235–6, 238
Maxton, James, 71, 77
Mayhew, Beryl, Lady, 108, 109
Mayhew, Christopher, 108–9
Mayhew, Pat, 108–9
Mayhew, Paul, 109
Mee, Arthur, 205; Book of the Flag: Island and Empire, 204–5; Nineteen Forty; Our Finest Hour, 204
Mendoza, Joe, 240
Menken, Art, 216
Menon, Krishna, 86, 87
Merseyside Blitz, 37, 166, 167, 240
middle-class, 59; and English countryside, 184; and evacuees, 59, 60–4; morale, 123, 124; mythology of ‘Old Country’, 11, 12–13
Middleton, Drew, 215, 252
Miles, Bernard, 13, 230
Miller, Alice Duer, The White Cliffs, 210–11
Millions Like Us (film), 191, 230, 237
Mills, John, 230
Milton, John, 8, 181; Areopagitica, 241
Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, 68, 71
Ministry of Aircraft Production, 101, 114; Civilian Repair Organisation, 100
Ministry of Information (MoI), 211, 212, 221–2, 225, 259, 261, 264; ‘Advice on the Preparation of Broadcasts’, 130–1; American Division, 211, 232; ‘Anti-Lie Bureau’, 121; ‘Crusade’ campaign, 53; film division, 224, 231, 232, 233–4, 241, 250; Home Intelligence Reports, 55, 77, 120–31, 132, 134, 197, 221; ‘Home Propaganda’ directed by, 125, 133
Mitchell, R.H., 206
Mitchison, Naomi, 80, 113
Moffat, Abe, 70
Mola, General, 111
Monckton, Walter, 225
Monsarrat, Nicholas, 230; The Cruel Sea, 164–7
Montgomery, General Bernard, Viscount, 38
Moore, Brian, The Emperor of Ice Cream, 169–70
Moore, Henry, shelter drawings, 143
morale (under bombing), viii, 17–18, 33–7, 59, 106–9, 119–40, 142–3, 209, 215, 217, 218–20, 249, 250, 258–9; Home Intelligence Reports on, 120–31, 132, 221; German, 39, 40–1; joking/understatement, 17–18, 142, 209; ‘London Can Take It’ attitude, 215; Mass-Observation Reports on, 119, 131–9; RAF, 102–4
Morgan, Kenneth O., 63, 67, 68, 69
Morris, R.J., 70
Morrison, Herbert, 23, 29, 47, 83–4, 88, 90
Morton, H.V., In Search of England, 184
Mosley, Sir Oswald, 112
Moult, Thomas, 149–50
Mrs Miniver (film), 244–5
Muir, Edwin, ‘Scotland 1941’, 73–4
Muirhead, John MacCormick, 72
Muirhead, Roland, 72
Munich Agreement (1939), 71, 215
Munnings, Alfred, 193
Munson, Alan, 164
Murrow, Edward R. (Ed), 181, 211, 212–15, 220, 221, 222, 224–5, 247, 252, 272; broadcasts, 146, 180, 212–15, 217, 218–19, 220, 223
Murrow, Janet, 212, 213
Mussolini, Benito, 18, 75, 113, 114
Nairn, Tom, 66; The Break Up of Britain, vii
Narvik project, 91
Nash, Paul, 193, 194; Dorset, 193; ‘Rye Marshes’, 193
Nathan, Robert, ‘Dunkirk’, 149
National Coalition Government (1931), 191
National Gallery lunchtime concerts, 229, 238, 239, 240
National Health Service, 63, 272
National Union of Scottish Mineworkers, 70
Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939), 45, 57, 58, 69, 79, 80, 81, 86
NBC, 213, 214, 215, 217, 218, 222; Blue Network, 210
Nehru, Pandit, 86
New British Broadcasting Station, German, 67
New Statesman, 80, 87–8, 110, 112, 132, 236
New Yorker, Panter-Downes’s epistles to, 33–5, 51, 106–7
Newby, Howard, 184
Newman, Rosie, 229
Next of Kin (film), 259
Ney, Major, 54
Nicholson, Ben, 193
Nicolson, Harold, 92
Night Mail (film), x, 190, 236, 243
Nine Men (film), 264
Noncombatant Corps, 76
North Africa, French, Anglo-American landings (1942), 52; Allied victory, 24
North American News Agency, 213
North American Newspaper Alliance, 209
North Wales Miners’ Federation, 78
Norway, 91; British débâcle in, 22–3, 47, 77, 89, 91, 134, 155; Narvik project, 91; Nazi occupation, 22, 73, 77, 79, 91, 111
Nottingham, bombing of, 37
Observer Corps, 206
Olivier, Laurence, 11, 160, 241
Orage, A.R., 235
Ormiston, John, 262
Orwell, George, 30–1, 187, 198, 237, 251, 267; Animal Farm, 191; The Road to Wigan Pier, 191
Owen, Frank, 96
Owen, Wilfred, 18, 151, 152
pacifism, 48, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76–7, 81, 90, 91, 104, 108–9, 129, 158, 192, 234
Palmer, Samuel, 185
Panter-Downes, Mollie, epistles to the New Yorker, 33–5, 51, 106–7
Paris, German occupation of, 29, 80, 92
Park, Air Chief Marshal, 99, 103
Parrinder, Patrick, 181
Parry, Sir Charles, 194
Passport to Pimlico (film), 265
peace ballot (1935), 75
Peace Pledge Union, 75, 108, 111
Peake, Mervyn, ‘Is There No Love Can Link Us’, 44, 48
Pearl Harbor, 38, 55, 245
Penrose, Roland, 235
‘The People Must Act’ (CP leaflet), 83
‘The People’s Convention’, 82–3, 85, 88, 89
‘People’s Peace’, 85
People’s War, myth of, viii, 218, 251–2, 256, 257, 260–1, 265, 266, 267
Perry, Colin, 114
Pétain, Marshal, 29
‘Phoney War’ (1939–40), 21, 24–5, 61, 66, 82, 145, 162
Picture Post, 120, 142, 143
Pimpernel Smith (film), 206
Pinewood Studios, 243
Pioneer Corps, 117
Piper, John, 193–4; official art artist, 194; Oxfordshire, 193
Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalists), 67–8, 72
Plymouth Blitz, 37, 119, 230, 240
PM (New York newspaper), 215, 221
Poland, Hitler’s conquest of, 2, 20, 21, 81, 200, 240; Soviet invasion of, 79
Polanski, Roman, 13
Pollitt, Harry, 69, 81–2, 84, 87;
How to Win the War, 81
Portsmouth, bombing of, 37, 119, 131
Postal Censorship, 121, 128
Postgate, Raymond, 79
Poston, Elizabeth, 207–8
Potts, Alex, 184
Pound, Sir Dudley, 21
Pound, Ezra, 16
Power, Tyrone, 249
Power, William, 73
PoWs, 94, 95, 107
Priestley, J.B., 88, 90, 181, 187, 188, 191, 195, 196–204, 223, 231, 237, 251, 264–5, 266, 272; The Beauty of Britain, 185–6; broadcasts (Postscripts), 120, 123, 146, 180, 196–204, 206, 217, 229; Dunkirk Postscript, 199; English Journey, 198; foreword to The Heart of England, 186; 1940: A Reminiscence (TV documentary), 168, 229; They Came to a City, 265
Pritt, D.N., 82–3, 85, 87
propaganda/propagandists, 179, 180–1, 195–208, 228, 256–7; addressing USA, 196–7, 206–8, 210–12, 222–3; British films, 120, 180, 190, 191, 192, 195–6, 200, 206, 224, 225, 227, 228–44, 245, 264; broadcasts, 37, 50–1, 120, 123, 146, 180, 196–204, 205–8, 212–13, 252; CP, 78, 83–4; MoI-directed Home-Propaganda, 125, 133, 259; Nazi broadcasts, 67, 74–5, 108, 110, 112; US films, 244–50; see also US press corps
provincial towns, ‘Baedeker’ raids, 39; morale under bombing, 119–20, 129, 132; Nazi Blitz on, 36, 37, 119–20, 125, 127–8, 129, 131–2, 168, 177, 249, 250
Purvis, Tom, 209
Radio Caledonia, 67, 74
radio propaganda, 37, 50–1, 120, 123, 146, 180, 196–204, 205–8, 212–13, 240, 252; see also US press corps
RAF (Royal Air Force), 20–1, 22, 27–8, 30; Battle of Britain, 30, 31–3, 42, 98–100, 101–6, 157–8, 159–61, 162, 215–17, 248, 249; books and films about, 157–63; casualties, 42, 99, 104; European and Commonwealth recruits, 104, 106; morale, 102–4; supply of aircraft, 31, 32, 100–2; see also Bomber Command; Fighter Command
Ralegh, Sir Walter, 13, 241
Ramblers’ Association, 183
Ramsay, Captain Maule, 112
Raymond, Cyril, 161
Red Clyde, myth of, 70, 71
Redgrave, Michael, 88
Reith, Sir John, 73, 77
Reston, James B. ‘Scotty’, 220, 221
Reynaud, Paul, 80, 91, 95
Reynolds, Quentin, 209–10, 216, 219, 221, 223–7, 231, 233, 249, 259; London Can Take It (script and commentary), 224, 225, 227, 229, 231, 232–3; open letter to Goebbels (broadcast), 225, 240; post-war autobiography, 225, 226; The Wounded Don’t Cry, 223, 224, 225–6
Reynolds News, 87
Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 47
Riefenstahl, Leni, 246
Right Club, 112
Ritchie, Charles, 34, 35–6, 107–8
Roberts, Alderman and Margaret Hilda, 204
Roberts, Wilfred, 89
Robertson, Ben, 209, 215, 217, 218, 220, 222, 224; I Saw England, 215–16
Robeson, Paul, 86
Robinson, Derek, 167; Goshawk Squadron, 161–2; Piece of Cake, 157, 161, 162–3
Rollins, Ed, 229
Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 37–8, 49–50, 55, 56, 57, 245; New Deal of, 56, 57–8, 270
Rose, William, 266
Rosenberg, Isaac, 151
Rotha, Paul, 246
Rothermere, Lord, 111, 117, 118
Rouse, W.H.D., 235
Royal Flying Corps, 161–2
Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 98
Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), 97
Royal Navy, 21, 23, 25, 26, 119, 230; Dunkirk, 26, 95, 96, 98, 199; scuttling of Graf Spee, 21
Royster, Charles, 14
Ruhr, RAF bombing of the, 39, 43
Runyon, Damon, 223
Rust, William, 84
St Martin-in-the-Fields, 217
St Paul’s Cathedral, 36, 43, 148, 202, 221, 222, 241, 250
Salerni, P.M., 114
San Demetrio London (film), 237, 264
Sansom, William, 242–3
Sassoon, Siegfried, 15, 151
Sauers, Dorothy, ‘The English War’, 149
Schwitters, Kurt, 116
Scotland, viii, 66–7, 69–74, 90, 130, 170–2; Communist Party, 69–70, 77, 84, 85; evacuation, 60; Highland Division captured by Germans, 95; ILP, 71–2; Italian internees, 114; Labour Party, 70, 71; Scottish Nationalist (SNP), 72–3; unemployment, 67, 73
Scott, Lieutenant Colonel, 115
Scott, Peter, Easter Day broadcast (1943), 10–11, 12, 13
Scott of the Antarctic (film), 265
Scottish National Party (SNP), 72–3
Scottish Trade Union Congress, 70
Scottish Unionists, 72, 122
Sevareid, Eric, 213, 217, 219, 220, 222, 252–3
Shakespeare, William, 11, 44, 241
Sheean, Vincent, 209, 213, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 222; Personal History, 214
Sheppard, Canon Dick, 75
Shirer, William, 247
The Silent Village (film), 237, 260–1
Sinclair, Robert, 195
Sing As We Go (film), 191
Singapore, defence of (1942), 154
Skelton, Robin, Poetry in the Forties, 151
Sloan, Alexander, 70, 71, 79–80
Smiles, Samuel, 187–8
Smith, Geoffrey Nowell, 236, 237–8, 242
Smith, W.H., newsagents, 122
Socialist Clarity Group, 80
Somaliland, withdrawal of British troops from, 124
Somme, Battle of the (1916), 15–16, 17, 18
Southampton, bombing of, 36, 119, 131–2
Southwold, S. (‘Miles’), The Gas War of 1940, 59–60
Soviet Union (Russia), 38, 81, 82, 85, 225, 240; advance on Berlin (1945), 41; distortion of history, 44–5; Finnish war, 79, 91; German invasion of, 37, 47, 89, 240; invasion of Poland, 79; Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939), 45. 57, 58, 79, 80, 81, 86; socialist realism, 237; casualties, 45
Spanish Armada, 1, 12, 13, 27
Spanish Civil War (1936–9), 8, 111, 192, 214, 215, 217; International Brigades, 8, 69
Spare Time (film), 238–9
Speer, Albert, 40
Spring Offensive (film), 231
Springhall, David, 81
Stalingrad, Battle of, 45
‘Stay Where You Are’ leaflet, 132, 133
Stephen, Campbell, 71
Stevenson, Anne, ‘From an Unfinished Poem’, 1
Stone, Lew, 88
Stoneman, Bill, 222
Strachey, John, 56–7, 79, 80, 82, 252; Post D (US: Digging for Mrs Miller), 200–1; Programme for Progress, 57–8
strikes, 70, 101, 135; ‘Forty-hour Strike’, 70; General Strike (1926), 69; Women’s Rent Strike (1915), 70
Surrealism, 194, 231, 235, 236
Sutherland, Graham, 193
Swinton, Lord, 113
Tawny Pipit (film), 13
Taylor, A.J.P., 49, 52, 91
Telephone Censorship, 121
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 182; In Memoriam, 13
Terraine, John, 39, 40, 99
Thatcher, Mrs Margaret, Thatcherism, vii, viii, ix, 174, 204, 267, 268, 269–70, 271,
272
They Came to a City (film), 265
Thomas, Dylan, ‘Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London’, 145
Thomas, Leslie, The Dearest and the Best, 155–7
Thompson, Dorothy, 219, 222
Thompson, Edward, ‘England, 1941’, 150
Thompson, Laurence, 28–9; 1940:
Year of Legend, Year of History, 109–10
Thomson, Alastair, 7
Tiomkin, Dimitri, 247
The Titfield Thunderbolt (film), 266
Titmuss, Richard, 45
‘Tommy at the Front’, myth of the, 18
Topham, John, 222
Townsend, Group Captain Peter, 102, 103
Trade Union Congress (TUC), 71
trade unions, 21–2, 29, 56, 78, 83, 84, 86–7, 90, 260, 271
Transport and General Workers’ Union, 78
Treaty of Union (1707), 72, 74
Tribune, 79, 87
The Triumph of Will (Nazi film), 246
Turner, J.M.W., 185
Ulster (Northern Ireland), viii, 65–6, 67, 168–70; see also Ireland
unemployment, 67, 69, 73, 190–1, 261
Unionists, Ulster, 66
United States, 58, 195; British propaganda directed at, 196–7, 206–8, 210–12, 222–3; British relations with/dependence on, 48–53, 55–8, 90, 253; car ownership, 182; dislike of class distinctions, 206–7, 210–11, 219, 220, 221; distortion of history, 48; effect of British internment on, 117; Irish emigrants in, 66; isolationism, 211, 212; Lend-Lease, 37–8, 49, 51, 213; London Can Take It screened in, 231–2, 233; National Recovery Act (1933), 58; New Deal, 56, 57–8, 270; Pearl Harbor, 38, 55; Roosevelt’s re-election as President (1940), 37; war against Germany, 38; wartime films, 244–50
US Film Service, 245
US Office of War Information, 245
US Press Corps in UK, 209–27, 252–3, 269
US Signals Corps films, 245–50
V1 flying bombs, 41, 62
Vaughan, Dai, 228, 236, 238–9, 240
Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 88, 194, 206, 262; The Lark Ascending, 208
Veiller, Anthony, 247
Vernon, Dr P.E., 129
WAAF, 104–6
Wales, 66–9, 74, 90, 126, 260–1; Communist Party, 68–9; Mass-Observation, 134–6; Plaid Cymru, 67, 68; Popular Front demonstration (1935), 68–9; trial of Saunders Lewis (1936), 67–8; unemployment, 67, 69
Walsh, Mary, 232
Wanger, Walter, 214
War Cabinet, Churchill’s, 83, 91, 117; Committee on Communist Activities, 88; Emergency Powers, 29; Labour and Liberal leaders join, 25, 47, 71, 80, 270–1