and Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee 96, 97, 98, 99
Octagon (Second Quebec) Conference (September 1944) 522, 523, 524, 526
and Operation Gymnast 82–3
and Operation Sledgehammer 187
plans for invasion of mainland Italy 403
Riviera Conference (August 1941) 52
and Roosevelt’s memorandum on future strategy (May 1942) 171
on strategists and Chiefs of Staff 429
Teheran Conference (Eureka; November 1943) 443, 444
at White House conference (November 1938) 26
Arromanches 465, 494
Ascension Island 378
ASDIC (sonar device) 540
Ashfield, Albert Stanley, Baron 463
Asquith, Herbert Henry, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith 34, 236
Assam 321, 322, 362, 370
Astley, Joan 408, 570
Athenaeum Club, London 483, 582
Athens 527, 528, 538, 556, 558
Athlone, Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of 514
Atlantic Charter 54, 125, 313, 440, 555–6
Atlantic Ocean
Allied shipping losses 4, 92, 93
as area of ‘joint British and American responsibility’ 124, 171
battle of the Atlantic 92–3, 160
necessity of operations in 1942 171–2
US Navy patrols 50–51, 53, 63
Atlantic Wall 212, 246, 489
atomic bomb 189, 406–7, 485, 578
Attlee, Clement (later 1st Earl Attlee)
becomes deputy prime minister 118
and CCS 94
memorandum 256
at Chequers 47
and division of Middle East Command 269
at Downing Street 310
and Far East strategy 504
London Combined Chiefs of Staff talks (June 1944) 493
and Marshall’s mission to London (Modicum; April 1942) 141, 153, 156
and Operation Torch 286–7
and plans for Operation Overlord 418
prime minister 466
and proposal to bomb German villages 183
and replacement of Pound 415–16
and Roosevelt’s death 567
row with Churchill over India 501
visits Roosevelt (October 1941) 202–3
in War Cabinet 81
Auchinleck, General Sir Claude
Brooke’s letters to 409
defence of Egypt 227–8, 263
defence of Tobruk 182, 185, 186
in Dill’s clique 95
‘dwarfed by Churchill’ 275
and fall of Tobruk 3, 200
goes behind Churchill’s back to Brooke
100–101
at Imperial Defence College 21
and Operation Torch 263
possibility of replacement by Alexander 117
relief of first siege of Tobruk 62–3
replaced by Alexander and Montgomery 264, 265–9, 396
and Rommel’s advances 181–2, 182–3, 241
takes over command from Ritchie 217
Audubon, John James 100
Augusta, USS 52, 53
Augustus, Emperor 491
Australia
in ‘American area of responsibility’ 124, 126
American bases 473, 503
and Combined Chiefs of Staff system 76
defence of 154, 155, 170, 288
demands return of divisions from Libya 89, 91
and fall of Singapore 117
Fleet Train 521
and Operation Overlord 487
Pacific War Council 238
threatened by Japan 4, 64, 70, 160, 238, 332
and ‘unity of command’ strategy 67, 79
Austria 370, 410, 415, 431, 476, 515, 516, 544, 560
autobahns 220
Autumn Mist (Herbstnebel), Operation 532, 535, 586
see also Ardennes Offensive
Avalanche, Operation 385, 386, 388, 389, 408, 411
Aykab 436
Azores 63, 200, 371
Azov, Sea of 305
B-17 Flying Fortress (bomber) 562, 588
B-24 Liberator (bomber) 19, 270, 315, 348
Badoglio, Marshal Pietro 390
Bagnères-de-Bigorre 12
Bahamas 61
Balaklava, battle of (1854) 553
Balbo, Marshal Italo 348
Baldwin, Stanley, 1st Earl Baldwin of
Bewdley 286
Balfour, Arthur, 1st Earl of 34
Bali 119, 120
Balkans
British Balkans strategy 308, 312, 370, 376, 387–8, 429, 498
Churchill’s Balkan ambitions 458–9, 485, 498–9, 505, 511
discussions at Casablanca Conference (January 1943) 328
discussions at First Cairo Conference (November 1943) 428
divisions over Allied strategy 417, 427, 433, 458–9, 485, 498–9, 511, 516–17, 538–9
weak spot for Axis 292, 303
Balliol College, Oxford 325
Baltenland (cargo ship) 553
Baltimore 24, 25
Barbarossa, Operation 51, 54, 119, 127, 215, 586
Bardia 85
Barham, HMS 169
Barker, Major-General Ray W. 386
Barkley, Senator Alben 296
Barrington-Ward, Robin 102
Baruch, Bernard 564
Basra 263
Bastogne 534
Bataan Peninsula 12, 145
Bath, Order of the 301, 482, 584
Battle of Tunisia (film) 61
Batty, Operation 588
‘Bay of Bengal Strategy’ 469–70, 472, 473, 475, 509, 518, 520
Bay of Pigs 296
Baytown, Operation 408, 410, 586
BBC 166, 384
Beaton, (Sir) Cecil 258
Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, 1st Baron
Arcadia (First Washington) Conference (December 1941–January 1942) 84
character and career 118, 119
friendship with Churchill 44, 264, 419, 472
on Italian campaign 460
resigns from government 118
Second Front campaign 118, 119
‘suspicion and hatred’ of 264
Trident (Third Washington) Conference (May 1943) 358
in War Cabinet 81
Bedell Smith, Brigadier-General Walter ‘Beetle’ 94–5, 96, 243, 292, 314, 377, 455, 457, 508, 529, 535–6, 543
Belem 378
Belgium 4, 32, 36–7, 61, 76, 583
Below, Nicolaus von 567
Beneš, Eduard 183
Bengal, Bay of 238, 313, 318, 391, 437, 520–21
‘Bay of Bengal Strategy’ 470, 472, 473, 475, 509, 518
Benghazi 287, 310
Benson, Sir Frank 24
Berenson, Bernard 509
Berghof, Berchtesgaden 583
Berlin
Blockade (1948–9) 559
Kriegsakademie 130
‘race for’ 434, 510, 561, 565–6
Red Army advance on 549, 569
Berlin, Sir Isaiah 316, 574
Bermuda 151, 364
Bethesda, Maryland 130
Bethlehem 443
Bethnal Green tube station disaster 353–4
Bevan, Aneurin 224, 558
Bevin, Ernest 108, 183, 227, 269, 309, 504
Billotte, Pierre 168
Binderton, Sussex 179, 460
Bir Hacheim 179, 182
Birkenhead, F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of 34, 42
Biscay, Bay of 452, 456
Bishop, California 526
Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire 483, 545
Bissett, Commodore James 513
Bizerte 234, 296, 298
Black Sea 263, 489, 545
Blamey, General (Sir) Thomas 98
Bletchley Park 92, 221
Blitz 108, 140, 257, 537
blitzkrieg 32, 35, 214
Blore, Edward 546
Blot, Operation 588
Blue, Operation 275
Boettiger, Anna 546
Bohemia and Moravia, Reich Protectorate 183
Bohlen, Charles ‘Chip’, Witness to History 450–51
Bolero, Operation 143, 586
authorship 121
British acceptance of 137, 146, 157, 160, 165
clarification of terms 228–9
‘destroyed’ by Gymnast 240
discussed at Argonaut (Second Washington) Conference (June 1942) 191, 193–5, 196, 197–8, 201, 203–4, 211
discussed in British Defence Committee and by Chiefs of Staff 159–60, 163
implementation 149, 165, 170–71, 194
precondition for Roundup or Sledgehammer 130
projects concomitant with 155
scale of 309–10
Stimson outlines advantages of 189–90
Bolshevism 126, 215
‘Bomber Alley’ 264
Bond, Brian 579
Bonesteel, Colonel C. H. 543
Bonn 530
Bormann, Martin 130
Borneo 67, 120, 520
Bose, Subhas Chandra 348
Boston 411
Botwood, Newfoundland 374
Boulogne 129
Bracelet see Moscow Conferences
Bracken, Brendan (later Viscount Bracken) 30, 42, 119, 183, 184, 353, 535
Bradley, General Omar
Allied attack on Germany 540, 542
broad-front strategy 511, 529, 531
command of 12th Army Group 510
command of First Army 534, 563, 564
and Marshall 29, 95
North African campaigns 381–2
presented with Order of the Bath 482
Stimson visits headquarters 580
Bramall, Field Marshal Edwin, Baron 58, 98, 345, 393
Brazil 61, 121, 378
Breastplate, Operation 109
Brest 38, 118, 214, 249, 318, 402
Salient 191, 192
Brett, Oliver (later 3
rd Viscount Esher) xxxiii
Brettle, Frank (bell-hop) 393
Bridges, Sir Edward xxxiv, xxxv
Bright, Joan 316, 363, 391, 392, 474–5
Bright, John 537
Brimstone, Operation 306, 340–41, 586
Bristol (flying boat) 186, 187, 210
Britain
American aid 33, 45–6, 53, 551, 577
anti-Americanism among upper classes 100
battle of Britain 51, 118, 273
casualties 580
declares war on Germany 16
declares war on Japan 63
domestic politics 59–60
elections 164, (1935) 286, (1945) 406–7, 431
planned invasion of 46–7, 49, 126
Second Front movement 54–5, 118, 119, 163–4, 184
total mobilization 85, 432
British Empire
and American Pacific strategy 99
and British Mediterranean strategy 84, 223, 295–6
contribution to war effort 213, 293, 294, 518
British Expeditionary Force (BEF; 1939–40) 23, 36, 37–40, 104, 140, 249, 382, 402
British Mobile Division 21
British Press Service 363
Brittany 38, 39, 506
Broadlands, Hampshire 563
Brook, Norman (later 1st Baron Normanbrook) xxxiv, 113, 170, 352, 413, 567
Brooke, Field Marshal Sir Alan (later 1st Viscount Alanbrooke)
background and family 12–13, 14, 23, 39
education and early career 14–15, 20–23
first marriage 14–15, 20–21
death of first wife 20–21, 22, 42
second marriage 22
and British Expeditionary Force (1939–40) 23, 36, 37–40, 140, 249, 382, 402, 490
Dunkirk evacuation 37, 106
first contretemps with Churchill 10, 38–40, 106
commander-in-chief Home Forces 41, 46–7, 57, 105
Operation Victor 46–7
Operation Ajax 41, 47–8, 157, 173, 179
appointment as CIGS 46, 56–9
not present at Arcadia (First Washington) Conference 66–7, 76, 576
opposes ‘unity of command’ strategy 66–7, 75, 81, 99
outlines North Africa and Far East strategy 90
sees shipping as key aspect of war 91
in Dill’s clique 95
replaces Pound as chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee 102–3, 105–7
doubts about bombing campaign on Germany 116, 117
and fall of Singapore 118, 119–20
opposition to plans for early Second
Front 5, 70, 119, 120, 126, 133–4, 137–8, 139–40, 163–4, 166, 167, 172–3
Marshall’s first mission to London (Modicum; April 1942) 140–66, 576
Argonaut (Second Washington) Conference (June 1942) 1–3, 181, 185–6, 188, 190–96, 199, 200–202, 204, 211, 215–18, 576
and fall of Tobruk (June 1942) 3, 200–201, 218
inspection of troops at Fort Jackson 207–9
summarizes opposition to early cross-
Channel invasion 220–22
Marshall’s second mission to London (July 1942) 243–59, 576
and CCS 94 memorandum 254–7
planning and preparation for
Operation Torch 260–62, 275, 277–8, 280–82, 296
visits Cairo with Churchill (August 1942) 264–8
refuses offer of Near East Command 265–8
talks with Stalin in Moscow 264, 270, 271–2
and Dieppe Raid 273–4
and success of Operation Torch 289, 293–4, 296
development of Mediterranean strategy after Torch 298–305, 306–9, 312–14, 347
Casablanca Conference (January 1943) 315, 317–21, 322–4, 325–7, 329–45, 385, 407, 576
visits Turkey with Churchill 348, 351
Trident (Third Washington) Conference (May 1943) 357–8, 360–62, 363, 364–73, 379–80, 393, 576
Algiers strategy talks (May–June 1943) 372–3, 376, 378, 379–80, 577
Churchill offers command of
Operation Overlord 381–2, 384
plans for invasion of mainland Italy 385–6, 387, 388–9, 390, 403, 408–10
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