Second World War, The

by Corrigan, Gordon

  Zeigler, Philip, Mountbatten, Collins, London, 1985

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  There are not all that many military historians about, and I owe a huge debt to those there are, most of them fellow members of the British Commission for Military History. Without exception, they have been unstinting in pointing me in all sorts of directions, many of them useful but all interesting. I have not experienced the oft-cited arrogance of academe, and have always found scholars of far greater eminence than myself to be unfailingly helpful, even those who have not necessarily agreed with my conclusions. They know who they are and I am grateful to them all.

  There are, of course, some perks available to historians. One can be very fortunate and be invited to become an honorary research fellow of a university. The quid pro quo for a minuscule return (the occasional lecture) is, apart from a parking pass, access to libraries – and at a time when some books essential to the student of military history can cost up to £200 a volume,* this is an enormous help. Much thanks, therefore, to the Universities of Kent and Birmingham. Military history is but one aspect of history generally. It cannot, as I have also said above, be divorced from social, political and economic history – all are intertwined. Every so often, the question is raised as to whether schoolchildren and university students should be encouraged to study ‘useful’ subjects like engineering or chemistry, rather than ‘academic’ ones like literature or history. While in no way suggesting that engineering and chemistry are not vital to our economy (my own A Levels were in Physics and Pure and Applied Maths), history, it seems to me, is essential to our understanding of ourselves as a nation. It is rather like map-reading: how do you know where you are if you don’t know where you’ve been? And how do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are?

  We are incredibly fortunate in the availability and standard of proven records and information in Britain. The British Library, the National Archives at Kew, the National Army Museum, the Prince Consort’s Library in Aldershot and the Imperial War Museum, to name but some, are veritable treasure troves of historical fact, as are the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, and their staffs have, as always, been enormously helpful and informative. I owe a particular debt to Alan Wakefield, curator of the Photographic Archive at the Imperial War Museum in London, to Professor Kearby Lyde of San Jacinto College, Houston, Texas, and to Michael Orr, late of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. I am especially grateful to Angus MacKinnon, my editor at Atlantic Books, who has become not only a professional moderator of my occasional purple prose, but a friend in the very real sense, and Caroline Knight, Margaret Stead, Orlando Whitfield, Sachna Hanspal, Mark Handsley, Martin Lubikowski, and of course Toby Mundy, Chief Executive and Publisher, all of whom have not only cooperated hugely in the preparation of this book but without whom it simply could not have appeared. As always, my wife has been my intelligent reader and has done her best to prevent me from becoming too pompous. That she has failed is no reflection on her.

  INDEX

  Aachen

  Abbeville

  Abd-el-Krim

  abortions

  Abyssinia

  Action Française

  Adachi, General Hatazo

  Addison, Paul

  Adige, river

  Adowa

  aerial bombardment

  Afghan Wars

  Afghanistan

  Agincourt, battle of

  aircraft

  and battle of Stalingrad

  gliders

  jet aircraft

  and Pacific naval battles

  aircraft, types of Avro Lancaster

  Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

  Boeing B-29 Superfortress

  Brewster Buffalo

  Bristol Beaufighter

  Consolidated B-24 Liberator

  Curtiss P-40

  De Havilland Mosquito

  Dornier Do

  Douglas C-47 Dakota

  Douglas SBD Dauntless

  Fairey Swordfish

  Fiat G

  Focke-Wulf Fw

  Focke-Wulf Fw

  Focke-Wulf Fw 200C Condor

  Grumman F6F Hellcat

  Handley-Page Halifax

  HawkerHurricane

  Hawker Typhoon

  Heinkel He

  Heinkel He

  Heinkel He

  Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik

  Junkers Ju

  Junkers Ju

  Junkers Ju

  Junkers Ju

  Kawanishi N1K Shinden

  Lavochkin La-7

  Lockheed P-38 Lightning

  Macchi MC

  Messerschmitt Bf

  Messerschmitt Bf

  Messerschmitt Me

  Messerschmitt Me

  Mitsubishi A6M Zero

  Mitsubishi A7M Reppu

  Mitsubishi J2M Raiden

  Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar

  North American B-25 Mitchell

  North American P-51 Mustang

  Petlyakov Pe-2

  Reggiane Re

  Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

  Short Stirling

  Supermarine Spitfire

  Vickers Vildebeest

  Vought F4U Corsair

  Yakovlev Yak-9

  aircraft carriers

  aircraft industries

  Akyab

  Alam Halfa

  Alaska

  Albania

  Albert Canal

  Aleutian Islands

  Alexander, Field Marshal the Hon.Sir Harold

  and Far East

  and Italy

  and Middle East

  Alexandria

  Alfred the Great, King

  Algeria

  Algiers

  all-arms tactics, British

  Allfrey, General C. W.

  Alsace and Lorraine

  American Civil War

  Amiens

  Amoy

  Anami, General Korechika

  Anapo, river

  Andaman Islands

  Anderson, General Kenneth

  Anglo-German Naval Agreement

  Anglo-Japanese treaty

  Annam

  Anti-Comintern Pact

  anti-Semitism

  anti-tank guns

  Panzerfaust

  Antonescu, Marshal Ion

  Antwerp

  Anzio

  Aosta, Duke of

  appeasement

  Arabs

  Arakan

  Arcadia Conference

  Archangel

  Arctic convoys

  Ardennes

  Battle of the Bulge

  Argenta gap

  Argentina

  Armenia

  Army Staff College

  Arnhem

  Arnim, General Hans-Jürgen von

  Arno, river

  Asquith

  Assam

  Astrakhan

  Athens

  Atlantic Charter

  Atlantic Wall

  atomic bombs

  Attlee,Clement

  Atu

  Auchinleck, General Sir Claude

  and Middle East

  sacking

  Aung San

  Auschwitz

  Australia

  and Japanese threat

  and treatment of deserters

  Austria

  Anschluss

  Austria-Hungary

  Austro-Prussian War

  autobahns

  Ava bridge

  Avignon

  Azerbaijan

  Bach-Zelewski, Obergruppenführer Erich von dem

  Bad Nauheim

  Badoglio, Marshal

  Baku

  Balaclava heights

  Balbo, Marshal Italo

  Balck, General Hermann

  Baldwin, Stanley

  Balfour, Arthur

  Balfour Declaration

  Bali

  Balkan Wars

  ballistic missiles

  Baltic Sea

  Baltic States<
br />
  Bank of England

  Bank of France

  Barclay de Tolly, Michael Andreas

  Barnes, Ernest William

  Barnett, Correlli

  Barstow, General Arthur

  Bastogne

  Bataan Death March

  Bataan peninsula

  Batavia

  Battle of Britain

  Battle of Cape Bon

  Battle of Cape Esperance

  Battle of Cape Matapan

  Battle of France

  Battle of Leyte Gulf

  Battle of Midway

  Battle of the Atlantic

  Battle of the Bismarck Sea

  Battle of the Bulge

  Battle of the Coral Sea

  Battle of the Java Sea

  Battle of the Philippine Sea

  Battle of the Somme

  battlefield radios

  battleships

  Bavaria

  Bay of Bengal

  Bay of Biscay

  Bayonne conference

  BBC

  Beda Fomm

  Bedell Smith, General Walter

  Belfast

  Belgium

  German invasion

  German occupation

  neutrality

  Belgorod

  Belgrade

  Belorussia

  Bengal famine

  Benghazi

  Bennett, General Gordon

  Benson, Admiral William S.

  Berezina, river

  Bergen

  Berghof

  Berghof conference

  Beria, Lavrenti

  Berlin

  and allied advance

  and Soviet advance

  Berlin Olympics

  Beveridge, Sir William

  Bevin, Ernest

  Bevin Boys

  Biak

  Bialystok

  Biarritz

  Bilin, river

  Bir El Gubi

  Bir el Hafi

  Birmingham

  Bismarck,Ottovon

  Bismarck Archipelago

  Bizerta

  Black Death

  Black Sea

  Blamey, General Sir Thomas

  Blaskowitz, General Johannes

  Bletchley Park

  Blitz

  Blitzkrieg

  Blood, General Sir Bindon

  Blum, Léon

  Bock, Field Marshal Fedor von

  Bohemia

  Boineburg-Lengsfeld, General

  Baron Hans von

  Bologna

  Bond, Brian

  Bône

  Bonin Islands

  Bonus Marchers

  booby-traps, Soviet

  Bordeaux

  Bormann, Martin

  Borneo

  Borodino

  Bose, Subhas Chandra

  Bosnia

  Bougainville

  Bougie

  Boulogne

  Bourne, John

  Boxer Rebellion

  Bradley, General Omar N.

  Brandenberger, General Erich

  Brandenburg

  Brauchitsch, General Walter von

  Braun, Eva

  Braun, Margarethe

  Breda

  Brenner Pass

  Brereton, General Louis

  Brest

  Brest-Litovsk

  see also Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  Bretton Woods Agreement

  Brink, General George

  Brisbane

  Bristol

  Britain

  air defences

  death toll

  dependence on imports

  domestic conditions

  entry into war

  and gold standard

  and history

  invasion threat

  and peace moves

  post-war

  relations with USA

  and Soviet Union

  and Spanish Civil War

  and universal suffrage

  war economy

  British Army

  and Dunkirk evacuation

  mutinies

  organization

  regimental system

  British Empire

  post-war

  British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

  Brittany

  broadcasting

  Brooke, General Sir Alan

  and Cairo Purge

  and Montgomery

  Brooke-Popham, Air Marshal Sir Henry

  brothels

  Browning, General Frederick ‘Boy,’

  Brunei

  Brüning, Heinrich

  Brusilov Offensive

  Brussels

  Bryansk

  Buckner, General Simon Bolivar

  Budapest

  Budenny, Marshal Semyon

  Bug, river

  Bulgaria

  Buna

  bunkers, Japanese

  Burma

  allied defence

  allied recovery

  allied retreat

  and Bengal famine

  roads

  victory parade

  Burma Independence Army

  Burma railway

  Burma Road

  Busch, Field Marshal Ernst

  Busse, General Theodor

  Buthidaung

  Butt Report

  Buyarat

  Caen

  Cairo

  CairoPurge

  Calabria

  Calcutta

  California

  Callaghan, Brigadier Cecil

  Calvert,Brigadier ‘Mad Mike’

  Cambodia

  camel trains

  Canada

  Canaris, Admiral Wilhelm

  Canary Islands

  Canton province

  Cape of Good Hope

  Caporetto

  Caribbean naval bases

  Carolines

  Carpathian mountains

  Carpiquet

  Casablanca

  Casablanca conference

  Caserta

  Casey, Richard

  Caspian Sea

  Cassione

  Catania

  Catherine the Great, Empress

  Catroux, General Georges

  Caucasus

  Caucasus oil fields

  Cavallero, Marshal Count Ugo

  cavalry

  Celebes

  Cesarina

  Ceylon

  Chad

  Chamberlain, Austen

  Chamberlain, Neville

  Chan, Admiral

  Changi

  Channel Dash

  Channel Islands

  Channel ports

  Charlemagne

  Charles II, King

  Chennault, General Claire

  Cherbourg

  Cherkassy

  Chiang Kai-shek, General

  and Japanese surrender

  and ‘Vinegar Joe’ Stilwell

  China

  death toll

  Japanese invasion

  and Japanese surrender

  and Korean War

  post-war

  Qing dynasty

  China Incident

  Chindits

  Chindwin,river

  Chinese Nationalists (Kuo MinTang)

  and Burma offensive

  and Burma retreat

  Chittagong

  cholera

  Choltitz, General Dietrich von

  Christison, General Philip

  Chuikov, General Vasily

  Chungking

  Churchill, Winston

  and allied invasion

  anti-communism

  and Balkan Front

  and Beveridge Report

  and Coventry raid

  and de Gaulle

  and fall of France

  and Far East

  and Gallipoli

  and General Dill

  and general election

  and Greece

  and invasion of Soviet Union

  and Japan
r />   and Jewish homeland

  meeting with Slim

  meetings with Roosevelt

  and the navy

  and North Africa

  and Norway

  and Orde Wingate

  and the RAF

  and SOE

  and strategic bombing campaign

  and US entry into war

  and war crimes trials

  Ciano, Galeazzo

  Ciliax, Admiral Otto

  Cividale

  civilians, targeting of

  and strategic bombing campaign

  clandestine operations

  Clark, General Mark

  Clydeside

  Cochin China

  code-breaking

  Cold War

  collective punishments

  Cologne

  Colombo

  Colville, John

  Combat

  Combined Operations Directorate

  ‘comfort women’

  Commando Order

  Commissar Order

  communism and anti-communism

  and Churchill

  and invasion of Soviet Union

  Communist Party of Great Britain

  Conca, river

  concentration and extermination camps

  Condor Legion

  Coningham, Air Marshal Sir

  Arthur

  Connelly, Mark

  conscription

  convoy system

  Coolidge, Calvin

  Copenhagen

  Corbett, General Thomas

  Cork and Orrery, Admiral the Earl of

  Corregidor

  Corsica

  Corunna, retreat to

  Cossack revolt

  Cotentin peninsula

  Courland peninsula

  Coventry

  Cowan, General David ‘Punch’

  Cracow

  Crécy, battle of

  Crerar, General Henry

  Crete

  Crimea

  Crimean Tatars

  Cripps, Sir Stafford

  Croatia

  Croix de Feu

  Crüwell, General Ludwig

  Cuba

  Cunningham, General Sir Alan

  Cunningham, Admiral Sir Andrew

  Curtin,John

  Cyprus

  Cyrenaica

  Cyril, Prince, of Bulgaria

  Czech Legion

  Czechoslovakia

  Dachau

  Daily Graphic

  Daily Telegraph

  Dakar

  Daladier, Édouard

  Dalmatia

  D’Annunzio, Gabriele

  Danube, river

  Danzig

  Dardanelles

  Darien

  Darius the Great

  Darlan, Admiral François

  Darwin

  Dawes, Charles W.

  Dawna mountains

  de Beers

  de Gaulle, General Charles

  and French North Africa

  and French Resistance

  and Madagascar

  de Guingand, Brigadier ‘Freddie’

  Decoux, Admiral Jean

  Defence of the Realm Act (DORA)

  Delhi

  Dempsey, General

  Denmark

  German occupation

  Jews

  liberation and German surrender

  Denmark Strait

  Derna

  desertion

  Detroit

  Deutsche Arbeitsfront

  Deverall, Field Marshal Sir Cyril