It would take a bomb … the Boys remarked. Townsend, journals, vol. 15, December 6, 1939, and February 7, 1939. PRO.
In twice-weekly … a long way. NS to LM, February 10, 1940. MS. Eng. c. 7381. BOD.
Having heard from … before signing up. WHA to JBA [September 1939]. BERG.
“make action urgent and its nature clear.” Auden and Garrett, The Poet’s Tongue, ix.
Point 1. If John … one’s public life. WHA to JBA [September 1939]. BERG.
He didn’t see … Spain and Munich. MacNeice, Letters, 319.
John had just been … he would give his life. JBA, draft of letter to WHA, November 11, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
He hoped his ability … would prove useful. JBA, draft of letter to NS, dated September 29, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA. JBA to NS, October 14, 1941. PSA.
Sudhin knew that he and … asleep on his desk. Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
The late nights … chance to be happy. JBA, draft of letter to Sheila Bonnerjee, September 2, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
And he’d rather die … the same revulsion as the Nazis. Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
Sheila would soon … into the mire. JBA, draft of letter to NS, September 29, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
Sheila had the right … nothing really mattered. JBA, draft of letter to Sheila Bonnerjee, September 2, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
Stay in America … wouldn’t judge him. JBA, draft of letter to WHA, July 9, 1939, in Auden, “1938–1939 Journal.” AMA.
The viceroy and the … the subject with him. Glendevon, The Viceroy at Bay, 103–4.
To Linlithgow’s surprise … had upset him. Glendevon, Viceroy at Bay, 136.
“I was greatly struck … to continue.” French, Liberty or Death, 120.
What sort of ultimatum … had thundered. Roy, India and War, 4–5.
Roy had pressed … war was declared. Roy, M. N. Roy and Mahatma Gandhi, 47.
“Winston rejoiced … firm as a rock.” Colville, Fringes of Power, 79.
Whatever the reason … distress did not go unnoted. Datta, The World of Twilight, 6–7.
The adda regulars … reluctantly. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, March 18, 1940, 198.
Sudhin furnished … remained the same. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, May 10, 1940, 204.
Since the outbreak of war … in the East.” Roy, M. N. Roy’s Memoirs, vi–vii.
“Manabendra can speak … say anything. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, April 12, 1940, 201.
The diarist had recently … women smoking. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 30, 1939, 208.
On Fridays the fireworks … down the street. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, July 5, 1940, 210.
Sudhin, whom they all … unaccountably irritable. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, April 19, 1940, 201.
But it was not until … defend Europe. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, April 12, 1940, 201.
Even an atrocious … ignite his exasperation. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, May 10, 1940, 204.
When the talk turned … gifted talker. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 14, 1940, 206.
His wife, Elinor … had excellent legs. Sinclair, “A Memoir,” 54. PSA.
“Never before in … absolute success.” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 14, 1940, 206.
“Are you happy … eventually triumph.” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 28, 1940, 207.
Hiren doubtless knew … with war material. Intelligence Branch, Home Department, New Delhi. May 17, 1940, CPI Secret Mtg. PMROK.
“The west has yet … end of Communism.” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 28, 1940, 207.
Sudhin’s coeditor … death of Christ. Sanyal, Twenty Years, September 16, 1932, 6.
But that evening … another sun’s orbit. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 28, 1940, 208.
Susobhan, who’d said little … making a profit.” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, July 5, 1940, 210–11.
“There is scarcely … conclusion of the war.” Amery, Empire at Bay, 606–7.
Bypassing Amery … being invaded? Moore, Churchill, Cripps and India, 34–35.
Churchill regarded … on their mettle. Colville, The Fringes of Power, 159.
Accordingly, the Viceroy folded … sent in installments. Amery, Empire at Bay, 634.
“A piece of hypocrisy from beginning to end.” Colville, The Fringes of Power, 166.
15. The Magnified Earth
Michael Spender’s expertise … would be back. F. L. Wills to Philip Spender, November 8, 1966. PSA.
In February 1940 … survey and mapmaking firm. Michael felt the Ordnance Survey was cramped by a military outlook and thereby failed to grasp the potential of the Wild A5. MS to Sir Harold Hartley, July 16, 1938. PSA.
He’d written a … civil mapmaking. “To the Editor of the Spectator.” Spectator, December 9, 1938, 1006.
Though Hemming hadn’t been … “Come and see.” Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 36–37. Constance Babington Smith was in charge of the aircraft section and wrote the first book on wartime photographic intelligence. Of Michael she wrote, “He was to become one of the greatest influences on the development of interpretation in the early part of the war.”
When war was declared … in dry dock. Beesley, Very Special Intelligence, 74.
He photographed all of it. Barker, Aviator Extraordinary, 138–39.
Michael was so intent … nine times magnification.” Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 38.
Yet to maintain … suicidal for pilots. Millar, The Bruneval Raid, 131. Beesley, Very Special Intelligence, 127.
“Don’t worry about … something better.” Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 36–38.
Cotton had managed … identify ships. Ibid., 38.
To increase flying … Wilhelmshaven. Ibid., 45.
By the time … identified in this way. Halsall, “Historical Record, Squadron Leader Michael Spender.”
The Air Ministry refused … to Naval Intelligence. Millar, Bruneval Raid, 29.
The chief of naval … miracle machine. Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 49.
Only then did he realize … interpretation, or PI. Babington Smith interview with FO Eve Holiday, DFG 5690, May 1956. MED. Holiday credits MS for this insight, as did Sidney Cotton. Also Babington Smith interview with Air Vice Marshal Sir Geoffrey Tuttle, DFG 5791, May 1956/7. MED. After Cotton’s dismissal Tuttle took over command and was responsible for establishing PI on a regular RAF footing.
Antoine Saint-Exupéry … which devours.” As cited in Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 246.
He developed a … top of his head. Babington Smith interview with FO Eve Holiday, DGF 5690, May 1956. MED.
A number of possibilities … should consider it. Fleming, Invasion 1940, 172.
One-eyed Hemming … for civilian officers. London Gazette, July 23, 1940.
When the king … those, would you?” Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 79–80.
By the summer of 1940 … once been typists. Mrs. Doreen Mackie oral history, Article ID: A4587645, July 28, 2005. RAFL.
Cotton believed women … radar installations. Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 73–74.
A female aircraft … swelled the PI ranks. Daniel, Some Small Harvest, 132.
When Stephen heard … that is, America. SS to MS, February 14, 194[1?]. PSA.
Michael noticed … tanks and troops. Daniel, Some Small Harvest, 112.
Intelligence maps … in London’s docklands. Idle, War over West Ham, 113.
After crossing the … engines reached them. FitzGibbon, Winter of the Bombs, 42.
“Is this right for Oriental Road?”… “Oriental Road’s in Silvertown.” Nancy Coldstream’s account of the evening of September 7, 1940, is taken from letters written to her mother in the immediate wake of that night, another written two months later to John Auden, and also a taped account at the Imperial War Museum. The latter is the same account she gave to Constan
tine FitzGibbon for his book The Winter of the Bombs, 67–70. Nancy had written it up in December and, after Louis MacNeice edited it, sent it to Horizon. PSA.
Stacks of Canadian … showering sparks. FitzGibbon, Winter of the Bombs, 49.
Barrels of West Indian … burning ground. Ministry of Home Security, Front Line, 26.
The barges of Burma teak … prayer was called. Fleming, Invasion 1940, 283.
The civil authorities … Gandhi, who had. Scott, Time to Speak, 91–92.
Three weeks later … were still there. Ministry of Home Security, Front Line, 73.
By then the press … than the living. Calder, The Lesson of London, 23–24.
He called Anderson Jehovah. Amery, Empire at Bay, 699, 834.
By the time … she was homeless. NS to JBA, December 7, 1940. PSA.
The editor … “not literature.” NS to MS, January 17, 1941. PSA. Sharp, “Memoir and Chronology.” PSA. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 75.
That December, en route … They wept. NS to JBA, December 7, 1940. BERG.
Sonia had dumped him. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 75.
In the coming months … fiery heart. NS to JB, December 7, 1940. PSA.
When Michael arrived at midnight … trained in PI. Babington Smith interview with Harry Dawe, DFG 5673 [April 1956], 2. MED.
“Haven’t you had … drive to Dover.” Daniel, Some Small Harvest, 112.
By the time … had declined. Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera, 79.
When Michael came on duty … French ports?” Daniel, Some Small Harvest, 129.
16. A Representative Indian
The secret diarist … sea from torpedoes. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, August 9, 1940, 216.
It was well-nigh … looking at Hiren-da. Ibid., September 1, 1939.
“England will surrender … ‘August Proposals?’” Ibid., August 9, 1940, 216.
Linlithgow was as dim-witted … self-awareness. Nehru, The Discovery of India, 414.
Apurba paused long enough … to the natives.’” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, August 9, 1940, 216.
When the wireless began … not to gloat. Ibid., September 13, 1940, 220.
At the end of September … store window displays. Ibid., September 27, 1940, 225.
The adda diarist had heard … pass through cleanly. Ibid., July 12, 1940, 211.
When someone ventured … enlighten us?” Ibid., November 22, 1940, 229.
Where Susobhan argued … India her natural ally. Ibid., November 15, 1940, 227.
If Stalin hadn’t … they are Jews?” Ibid., November 22, 1940, 230.
Boatloads of Jews … worn with exhaustion. Sinclair, “A Memoir,” 52.
“I will take you … homeland.” Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, November 15, 1940, 228.
“Muslims in Madras … Hiren-da predicted. Ibid., November 22, 1940, 229.
A number of his … nonviolent strategy as toothless. Intelligence Branch, Home Department, New Delhi, May 17, 1940, CPI Secret Mtg. PMROK.
Sudhin had it … into the Blitz. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, November 22, 1940, 230.
For the Ministry of Information … a night of bombing. January 18, 1944. “Since Walter White has been in London White has heard two Air Raid alerts, accompanied by a very moderate amount of gun fire, but this has impressed him quite beyond expectation. “Ah” said he, shaking his silver head, “that brings home the terrible terrible reality of war in a way you could never know in New York.” I think this is a key to the solving of the White problem here: he is an imaginative and impressionable character and if our people can show him stirring and remarkable things as he goes about the Empire it will do much more good than arguing over his race theories. AF Morley File 462/32BB Proposed visit of Walter White, secretary, National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, to UK and India, BL: IOR/L/I/1/830 1943–1945.
Upon his appointment … “distressing and repugnant in the last degree.” Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, vol. 5 companion, part 3, 827. Cited in Mukerjee, Churchill’s Secret War, 10.
“As you have laid it … hold the line. AMEL 1/6/21, India Office to PM, April 8, 1941. Cited in Mukerjee, Churchill’s Secret War, 13.
Where was India … of Nations”? Raghavan, India’s War, 214–215. Sarila, The Shadow of the Great Game, 112.
“What a story that might be!” Schuster, “The Deadlock in India.”
Uncle George had this from Leo Amery. Amery, Empire at Bay, 758. “Incidentally I think I have done a good bit indirectly through Wint and Schuster’s book which I largely influenced…. The expansion of the Indian Army and of India’s munitions production during the year has been a very considerable thing.”
Blessed with … to be imported. Snow, People on Our Side, 20.
“Can anyone be satisfied … the full scale?” Schuster, “The Deadlock in India.”
The GSI director … even more cheaply. Cyril S. Fox, “The GSI and War, Confidential memo.” BL: IOR/V/27/610/4 1940 and BL: IOR/V/27/410/13B 1943.
The tycoon in … “Baboo” aeroplanes. Amery, Empire at Bay, 675.
“He need only tell the truth … war is over.” Schuster, “The Deadlock in India.”
Sudhin was in … and his wife. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, January 10, 1941, 220.
After the fall … for a year. Raghavan, India’s War, 59, citing various sources.
“How do I become … never survive. Roy, In Freedom’s Quest, vol. 1, ix–xi.
Sudhin asked Roy … a good likeness. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, January 10, 1941, 235.
Roy’s foreign … he thought, grumpily. Ibid., January 10, 1941, 235.
Lindsay Emmerson … “Who is this?” Interview with Datta-Ray, March 2014, Kolkata.
“I quite realized that Sheila is an Indian.” CRA to JBA, April 12, 1940, May 15, 1940. BERG.
“Since I began coming … gallantly. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, February 14, 1941, 240.
Sudhin was preparing … Hiren-da ignored him. Ibid., March 21, 1941, 242.
The times seemed … the geological record. SD to JBA, January 11, 1937. BERG.
He had shared … it was thought. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, June 14, 1940, 205.
Sudhin blamed Shaheed … were among his patrons. Sinclair, “A Memoir,” 54. PSA.
No one needed … loan of one hundred thousand pounds. Tharoor, An Era of Darkness, 138.
Jinnah’s dream … feel inevitable. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, March 14, 1941, 241.
It’s not as if … iron to Japan.” Ibid., March 18, 1941, 244.
Japan was believed … Japan was up to. Ibid., June 21, 1940, 206.
“I had hoped … realization each day.” Datta and Robinson, Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore, 525.
Twenty light bombers … tons of merchant shipping. Amery, Empire at Bay, 725.
“[Should India] be … fire the wrong way?” Mukerjee, Churchill’s Secret War, 57. Citing Connell, Wavell: Supreme Commander, 31, 19.
FDR and Churchill … familiar to Leo Amery. Raghavan, India’s War, 216–18.
“really not quite normal.” Amery, Empire at Bay, 750.
The following morning … to the Germans.” Ibid., 841.
Even in happier … set him apart. Kanakendranath Datta, memoir of his uncle.
While Wystan … the Blitz began. Spender, “Letter to a Colleague in America.”
“We are where we are, because we believe what we believe.” Spender, Citizens in War, and After, 12.
Yet when Michael … “mass life outside?” SS to MS, February 14, 194[1]. PSA.
Stephen eventually … BBC Light Programme. Spender, World within World, 270.
Wystan accused him … version of his uncle. WHA to SS, March 13, 1941. BERG.
As India would doubtless … found this fatuous. BL: IOR/I/1506.
“I think it’s too late … talk like that.” Schuster, India and Democracy, 441–42.
His once elliptical … or third language. Bose, An Acre of Green Grass, 66, 77–78.
He abandoned his fa
ther’s … East and West. Datta, World of Twilight, 52.
And therein lay … wholeheartedly of it. Shils, The Culture of the Indian Intellectual, 21. Originally published in Quest and Sewanee Review (1958). Though Datta is unnamed, it seems clear from the context that Shils was describing the man for whom he arranged a fellowship at the University of Chicago.
17. An Infinite Ocean of Sorrow
During the Great War … into the 1930s. Raghavan, India’s War, 35.
“the shoulders of our small island.” Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 4, 181. “No great portion of the world population was so effectively protected from the horrors and perils of the World War as were the peoples of Hindustan. They were carried through the struggle on the shoulders of our small island.”
At the war’s peak … every month. Raghavan, India’s War, 68–71.
“largest volunteer force in history.” Kamtekar, “A Different War Dance.”
With the sudden … Bengal and Bihar. Khan, The Raj at War, 162–63, 170.
While Nehru … money to be made. Roy, In Freedom’s Quest, vol. 1, ix–xi.
Even so there … after the war. Voigt, India in the Second World War, 170–71.
Since the viceroy … twenty-two billion. Bose and Jayal, Modern South Asia, 131.
“A new station … Azad Hind could be attained.” Special Branch file, March 1942. PMROK.
Who would get … Japanese Zeros? Curie, Journey among Warriors, 401.
India was wide open … pigeons than warships. Newell, Burma: 1942, 36.
Everyone was … from Delhi. SB to JBA, March 31, 1942. BERG.
The first thing the foreign press … journalist said. Weigold, Churchill, Roosevelt and India, 101. Curie, Journey among Warriors, 448.
Roosevelt’s envoy … had played him. The Papers of Colonel Louis B. Johnson, UVASC: “To my amazement, when a satisfactory solution seemed certain with an unimportant concession, Cripps with embarrassment told me that he could not change the original draft declaration without Churchill’s approval.”
“Everyone was frightfully … was even possible. SB to JBA, March 31, 1942. AMA.
The cost of living was up 400 percent. LM to HM, September 25, 1947, Box 64. BOD.
Minnie was dead broke … humiliated in return. SB to JBA, March 31, 1942. AMA.
The Last Englishmen Page 39