by Erik Larson
“The great gloomy hall”: Soames, Daughter’s Tale, 185.
“For once the shorthand writer”: Martin, Downing Street, 37.
“This was one of the happiest”: Diary, Dec. 25, 1940, Mary Churchill Papers.
“The gloomiest Christmas Day”: Nicolson, War Years, 131.
“The pubs were all full”: Wyndham, Love Lessons, 166.
CHAPTER 68: EGGLAYER
No balloons rose: Basil Collier, Defense of the United Kingdom, 274.
CHAPTER 69: AULD LANG SYNE
“I believe that the Axis”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 228.
“Roosevelt,” he wrote: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 222.
“This may help us”: Cadogan, Diaries, 344.
“Remember, Mr. President”: Gilbert, War Papers, 2:1309.
“Sometimes I hate the big city”: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 223.
In the Cabinet War Rooms: Martin, Downing Street, 37; Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:386.
PART FIVE: THE AMERICANS
CHAPTER 70: SECRETS
“What a nice wintry morning”: Lee, London Observer, 208.
“Nothing can exceed”: Churchill to Beaverbrook, Jan. 2, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“I am not a committee man”: Beaverbrook to Churchill, Jan. 3, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“My dear Max”: Churchill to Beaverbrook, Jan. 3, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“Mademoiselle Curie”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:2–3.
“With the beginning”: Ibid., 4–6.
“The P.M. has circulated”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:387.
“sank up to his ankles”: Ibid.
“At one time”: Singleton to Churchill, Jan. 3, 1941, F125/12, Lindemann Papers.
“I did not want to join”: Beaverbrook to Churchill, Jan. 6, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“I have not the slightest”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:35.
“You must not forget”: Churchill to Beaverbrook, Jan. 7, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“The truth is that they both”: A.J.P. Taylor, Beaverbrook, 465.
“Who?”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 234.
Brendan Bracken called: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:393.
“as he snuggled”: Ibid., 392.
“Oh! I wish you were here”: Pamela Churchill to Randolph Churchill, Jan. 1, 1941, RDCH 1/3/5 File no. 3, Randolph Churchill Papers.
CHAPTER 71: THE ELEVEN-THIRTY SPECIAL
“He was as unlike”: Ismay, Memoirs, 213–14.
“His was a soul”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:58.
“A rotund—smiling—red-faced”: Ibid., 59.
“I tried to be reasonably aloof”: Diary, Jan. 10, 1941, Colville Papers.
“It is so dreadfully dark”: Donnelly, Mrs. Milburn’s Diaries, 72.
“feeling strange—country-cousinish”: Diary, Jan. 11, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“embarrassed officials would often”: Soames, Clementine Churchill, 385–86.
“Dinner at Ditchley”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:395.
“We seek no treasure”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:68–69; Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:396.
“Heavens alive”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:69.
“which with all its salutes”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:397.
“The people here are amazing”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 243.
CHAPTER 72: TO SCAPA FLOW
“When?” Wilson asked: Moran, Churchill, 6.
The train carried: Nel, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, 78.
“We both felt Beaverbrook”: Andrew Roberts, “Holy Fox,” 280.
“Lord and Lady Halifax”: Lee, London Observer, 224.
“He looked miserable”: Ismay, Memoirs, 214.
“We really had a pleasant time”: Lee, London Observer, 225.
“came beaming into the breakfast car”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:86.
“The smile faded”: Ibid., 86–87.
CHAPTER 73: “WHITHER THOU GOEST”
“There was much discussion”: Martin, Downing Street, 42.
“The land is bleak”: Lee, London Observer, 226.
“I wanted Harry to see”: Ismay, Memoirs, 214.
“Excuse me, sir”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 246.
“There was no noise”: Lee, London Observer, 227.
“One of the projectiles”: Martin, Downing Street, 40; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 250.
“I was careful to avoid”: Ismay, Memoirs, 215.
“But there was no escape”: Ibid., 216.
“I suppose you wish”: Ibid.; Moran, Churchill, 6.
“He knew what it meant”: Moran, Churchill, 6.
“I found her charming”: Diary, Jan. 18, 1941, Colville Papers.
“Oh yes,” Hopkins told one valet: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 255.
“He gets on like”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:165.
CHAPTER 74: DIRECTIVE NO. 23
On Thursday, February 6: Trevor-Roper, Blitzkrieg to Defeat, 56–58.
“The decision to attack”: “Hermann Göring,” Interrogation Report, Military Intelligence Service, U.S. Ninth Air Force, June 1, 1945, Spaatz Papers.
“We’ve got England”: Interrogation Report, Generals Attig, Schimpf, et al., May 20, 1945, Spaatz Papers.
“Nothing leaked out”: Kesselring, Memoirs, 85.
CHAPTER 75: THE COMING VIOLENCE
“My dear Prime Minister”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:191.
“made some people’s flesh creep”: Home Intelligence Weekly Report for Feb. 5–12, 1941, INF 1/292, UKARCH.
Churchill opened by offering: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:192–200.
called it “insolent”: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 229.
“I could not have a better”: Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI, 447, 849.
“How many bombs”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:224.
“We must begin persuading”: Ibid., 225.
“The need for sustained”: Telegrams, Jan. 21 and 23, 1941, BBK/D, Beaverbrook Papers.
“Sunny day like spring”: Wyndham, Love Lessons, 171.
“Well, it is hell”: Interview Transcripts, July 1991, Biographies File, Pamela Harriman Papers.
CHAPTER 76: LONDON, WASHINGTON, AND BERLIN
“This bill has to pass”: Conant, My Several Lives, 253–55.
“It is impossible”: “Memorandum for the Chief of Staff,” War Department, March 3, 1941, Spaatz Papers.
On March 5 he issued: Trevor-Roper, Blitzkrieg to Defeat, 58–59.
CHAPTER 77: SATURDAY NIGHT
“slim grey beautiful”: Wyndham, Love Lessons, 160.
“the least melancholy”: Graves, Champagne and Chandeliers, 112.
“I don’t know why”: Ibid., 115.
“He has established”: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 260.
One important factor: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 213.
CHAPTER 78: THE TALL MAN WITH THE SMILE
“An extraordinary meal”: Averell Harriman, Memorandum to self, March 11, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
The U.S. Navy had no plans: Ibid.
“No one has given me”: Ibid.
“cheap old bastard”: Smith, Reflected Glory, 259.
Just two days earlier: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:320–24.
CHAPTER 79: SNAKEHIPS
Charles Graves’s Champagne and Chandeliers, a biography of the café, provides a vivid and detailed account of the bombing on pages 112–25. The National Archives of the United Kingdom holds a map made by investigators that shows the layout
of the club and the locations of injured guests and bodies, and includes this notation: “Six persons were found dead still sitting at table. They had no superficial injuries.” HO 193/68, UKARCH.
“I do find London shops”: Diary, March 8, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
He set off at a run: Graves, Champagne and Chandeliers, 116.
“The men, almost all in uniform”: Ziegler, London at War, 148.
“It is my sister’s birthday”: Graves, Champagne and Chandeliers, 121.
“It seemed so easy to forget”: Diary, March 8, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“Wilkins and I tried to lift”: Graves, Champagne and Chandeliers, 118–19.
“Oh it was so gay”: Diary, March 8, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“Recalling it now”: Soames, Daughter’s Tale, 191.
CHAPTER 80: BAYONET QUADRILLE
“a draught of life”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:331.
“Our blessings from the whole”: Ibid., 332.
“Papa not at all well”: Diary, March 9, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“The evening remains”: Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 145.
“To bed at the record hour”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:433.
“Luckily PM decided”: Alanbrooke, War Diaries, 144–45.
“There will be worse”: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 262.
CHAPTER 81: THE GAMBLER
“There was very high gambling”: Waugh, Diaries, 493.
“Poor Pamela will have to”: Smith, Reflected Glory, 75.
“Anyway,” he concluded: Interview Transcripts, July 1991, Biographies File, Pamela Harriman Papers.
“I mean, that was the first”: Ibid.
“I won’t advance Randolph”: Ibid.
“Not as glamorous”: Clarissa Eden, Clarissa Eden, 58.
“She combined a canny eye”: Ibid., 59.
“because I couldn’t really tell Clemmie”: Interview Transcripts, July 1991, Biographies File, Pamela Harriman Papers.
CHAPTER 82: A TREAT FOR CLEMENTINE
The list was like something: “Atlantic Clipper Passenger List,” New York–Lisbon, March 10–12, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers; Harriman, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 19.
Anyone who peeked: “World War II Diary,” 2, Meiklejohn Papers.
“Mr. Harriman in a rash moment”: Meiklejohn to Samuel H. Wiley, April 16, 1941, “Family Papers,” W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“We were prepared”: Martin, Downing Street, 42.
“Our fliers are talking of”: Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 268.
“I was surprised to see”: Harriman, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 21.
“You shall be informed”: Ibid., 22.
“The weekend was thrilling”: Diary, “Monday & Tuesday,” March 17–18, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“Will have to move out”: “World War II Diary,” 10, Meiklejohn Papers.
“Most impressive thing”: Ibid., 12.
“Mr. Harriman achieves”: Meiklejohn to Knight Woolley, May 21, 1941, Public Service, Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers. Harriman also was subject to episodes of dyspepsia, an arcane term for heartburn and indigestion.
“Young man,” Churchill said: Niven, Moon’s a Balloon, 242.
“a meal and a laugh”: Niven to Harriman, March 16, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“Mr. Harriman was too cagey”: Christiansen to Harriman, March 19, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“Of course,” Owen wrote: Owen to Harriman, March 19, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“For g. sake tell your father”: Kathleen Harriman to Marie Harriman, March 19 [n.d., but likely 1942], Correspondence, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
CHAPTER 83: MEN
“the strides which”: Anthony Biddle to Franklin Roosevelt, April 26, 1941. FDR/Diplo.
“A fantastic climb”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:369.
“the mortuary men”: “Air Raid Casualties,” April 3, 1941, Metropolitan Police Report, MEPO 2/6580.
“Dearest,” she wrote: “ ‘Dearest, I Feel Certain I Am Going Mad Again’: The Suicide Note of Virginia Woolf,” Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 16, no. 4 (July 2020), www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/dearest-i-feel-certain-i-am-going-mad-again-the-suicide-note-of-virginia-woolf/8E400FB1AB0EEA2C2A61946475CB7FA3.
While flying over Chequers: C. R. Thompson to Hastings Ismay, March 26, 1941, Protection of Chequers, pt. 3, WO 199/303, UKARCH.
“A sleeping bag”: “Your Anderson Shelter This Winter,” PREM 3/27, UKARCH.
“If we can’t be safe”: Memorandum, “Yesterday evening…,” May 1, 1941, PREM 3/27, UKARCH.
“good looking in rather”: Diary, March 28, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“He’s marvelous”: Ibid.
The secretary had brought: “World War II Diary,” 15, Meiklejohn Papers.
“I saw the best-looking man”: Interview Transcripts, July 1991, Biographies File, Pamela Harriman Papers.
“Minister of Midnight”: Channon, “Chips,” 385.
“Yesterday was a grand day”: Gilbert, Finest Hour, 1048.
“has spent much of the weekend pacing”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:440.
“All day we felt jubilant”: Diary, March 30, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
PART SIX: LOVE AMID THE FLAMES
CHAPTER 84: GRAVE NEWS
“Snow—sleet—cold”: These various diary entries can be found at the indicated dates in Mary’s diary. Mary Churchill Papers.
“a place to be held”: Gilbert, Finest Hour, 1055.
“Let me have meanwhile”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:460.
“I am told”: Ibid.
In a gloomy speech: Ibid., 470. For the speech, see ibid., 461–70.
“The House is sad”: Nicolson, War Years, 162.
“the extent to which”: Harriman to Roosevelt, April 10, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“If one could really completely”: Diary, April 9, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“You know Duncan”: Winston Churchill to Randolph Churchill, June 8, 1941, CHAR 1/362, Winston Churchill Papers.
“The devastation in parts of the town”: Diary, April 11, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“The firing of the rockets”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:443.
“Rather strained pale faces”: Diary, April 12, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers; Soames, Daughter’s Tale, 193.
“Yes, sir!” the desk manager said: Thompson, Assignment, 215–16.
“He has the root”: Diary, April 12, 1941, Mary Churchill Papers.
“What did you say?”: “War Reminiscences,” 12, Oct. 13, 1953, Memoirs, Harriman Recollections, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“It was quite extraordinary”: Soames, Daughter’s Tale, 193.
“Many of those here today”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:480.
“They have such confidence”: “War Reminiscences,” 12, Oct. 13, 1953, Memoirs, Harriman Recollections, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“will favorably affect”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:486n1.
“Deeply grateful for”: Ibid., 486.
“That’s what I hope”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:444.
“whatever happens we do”: Clementine Churchill to Harriman, April 15, 1941, “Harriman Mission,” Chronological File, W. Averell Harriman Papers.
“Thrilled,” he telegraphed: Averell Harriman to Kathleen Harriman, April 15, 1941, W. A
verell Harriman Papers.
“We’re all dying to know”: Smith, Reflected Glory, 90.
Gloom settled over meetings: As Alexander Cadogan noted in a series of diary entries, beginning April 7, 1941: “V. gloomy.” “Altogether gloomy.” “Rather gloomy.” Cadogan, Diaries, 370.
CHAPTER 85: SCORN
“Churchill should be pilloried”: Boelcke, Secret Conferences of Dr. Goebbels, 143.
“Hitler was outraged”: Below, At Hitler’s Side, 93; Fred Taylor, Goebbels Diaries, 311.
“I set special importance”: Gilbert, War Papers, 3:502.
CHAPTER 86: THAT NIGHT AT THE DORCHESTER
eleven thousand tons of cheese: Roosevelt to Cordell Hull, April 16, 1941, FDR/Conf.
“Standing on the roof”: Greene, Ways of Escape, 112.
“I had quite a disagreeable walk”: Colville, Fringes of Power, 1:445.
“More scary than actual explosions”: “World War II Diary,” 23, Meiklejohn Papers.
“All this time”: Lee, London Observer, 244.
Nine blocks away: In Life of the Party, Christopher Ogden relies on, and amplifies, Pamela’s own recollections to place this dinner in the Dorchester apartment of Lady Emerald Cunard, a celebrated London hostess (118–20). During this period, however, Lady Cunard was not in England. Sally Bedell Smith, in Reflected Glory, offers a more convincing account (84–85). See also Anne Chisholm’s Nancy Cunard, which puts Cunard on an island in the Caribbean at the time the dinner party took place (159, 261). It should be noted, however, that the end result was the same.