GREEKS TAKE POGRADEC, ITALIAN BASE; BESSARABIA DECLARED TO BE IN REVOLT (12/1/40)

Max Hastings. Winston’s War: Churchill 1940-1945. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 483 pp. ISBN 978-0-307-26839-6.

"We ought not to flatter ourselves by imagining that we are irreplaceable, but at the same time it cannot be denied that two or three hundred by-elections would be a quite needless complication of our affairs at this particular time." – Winston Churchill, 17 September 1940.

While Winston Churchill makes a valid point in that politicians are not irreplaceable, it may be said that this axiom could not be applied to Winston himself. War in Europe was raging when Winston took over the reins of Prime Minister. His first action as the new PM was to preside over the defense of Western Europe upon which Hitler had on that very day decided to begin his assault. Britain would hold the distinction during the Second World War as being the one power that stood against the Nazis from the beginning right to the end and was active in the war longer than any other of the belligerents. A key to this longevity was the bulldog that refused to give in to Hitler, Winston Churchill. It is possible that if Churchill had not been Prime Minister at the time of the fall of France that Britain too would have sued for peace. But Churchill’s leadership was not always completely sound, nor was his position always completely secure. In Winston’s War, Max Hastings looks at these critical years from the perspective of Winston Churchill and the trials that the man faced not only against the Nazi juggernaut, but also with his own generals and allies.

Hastings’ look at Winston Churchill is of a more critical nature than one would expect from a western historian. While Hastings points out from the start his admiration for the man he does not try to gloss over the mistakes made by the British leader. Certainly the successes are captured in detail. The miraculous rescue of men at not only Dunkirk but again from the French coast as France succumbed to the Nazis are covered in great detail as is Churchill’s personal triumphs in persuading his partner in arms Franklin D. Roosevelt to conduct war on Europe’s “soft underbelly”. But Max Hastings also takes a look as some of Churchill’s biggest blunders. He examines the campaign for the Dodecanese, considered Churchill’s second Gallipoli, in detail even showing the American generals absolute refusal to support the campaign. Hastings also looks at many other schemes of equal daring or perhaps foolishness that while pursued by Churchill, never even made it to the drawing board.

Many do not realize just how close Churchill was from getting run out of office in 1942 with every attempt by the British Army to take on the Wehrmacht having ending in defeat. The unification of the British people that we remember from the Battle of Britain did not last throughout the entire war and by 1942 Churchill’s leadership was definitely being questioned. Hastings looks at just how near Churchill was to the end as well as taking a very critical stance of the British military men who orchestrated disaster after disaster. As success finally began to come to the Allies, Churchill’s position began to become more secure, but at the same time his role in global events became minor.

This books looks at Churchill’s struggle to maintain some semblance of the power that was the British Empire as he came to terms with the fact that in the end Britain was not to become one of the superpowers that would define the post war world.

Many of the players are quoted often in the book with Winston taking the majority of the lines. These quotes range to very familiar ones like the one at the opening of this review, to more obscure yet Churchillian quips like this one said by Winston in frustration over the actions of French Premier Paul Reynaud’s mistress:

"That woman...will undo everything during the night that I do during the day. But of course she can furnish him with facilities that I cannot afford him. I can reason with him, but I cannot sleep with him.”

This book is well researched using notes at the end of the book to tie lines in the book with the proper source material. This method leaves notation out of the text itself and requires the reader to search the notes to see if a questioned phrase has been referenced. The source material itself is wide ranged. Hastings not only cites a large number of other author’s works to put together this book, but he also uses many diary entries as well as press clippings from the time. There are many instances where Hastings has found commentary from the general populous either from editorials or from private diaries and used them in this work. This gives this look at Winston Churchill a different flair in comparison to many other works on the man. The view of the common man or woman as they too are experiencing the ups and downs of the war with their leader is represented. Some are thankful of Winston and lean on him tremendously while others see him as a doddering old fool that should be run out of Whitehall. Hastings presents both views and the idle fears and concerns as well. This provides a more complete picture of not only Churchill, but also to the sense of the British public during these times as well.

For someone who is not familiar with the Second World War or Winston Churchill, this would not be the book to introduce you to the events or man. Hastings, understanding that there is extensive reading out there on Churchill, is taking a deeper look at the man in this work. If you are someone who already has general knowledge of the history of the Second World War then this book will give you a new perspective on one of its most colorful leaders during the fight. For those who want to know more about Churchill, be prepared to see the man who kept the British hanging on against the Nazi’s aggression through a more objective and human eye than what the common history provides.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/01.htm

December 1st, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: Admiral Sir John Tovey succeeds Admiral Forbes as C-in-C, Home Fleet.
Grimsby: AB Alfred Miles (b. 1899) himself became trapped as he tried to free an AB trapped by a mooring wire; they were freed, but AB Miles had injuries which caused the loss of a hand. (Albert Medal)

Southampton: The city has a second successive night of heavy bombing.

London: Churchill to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The straits to which we are being reduced by Irish action [at denial of the Southern Irish ports] compel a reconsideration of the subsidies [to Ireland]. Surely we ought to use this money to build more ships or buy more from the US.
... let me know how these subsidies can be terminated, and what retaliatory measures the Irish may take.

GERMANY: U-171 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

SWITZERLAND: Rationing of Textiles, shoes, soap and detergent starts today. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)

ITALY: Flour, spaghetti, macaroni and rice are rationed.

ALBANIA: The Greek army reaches Pogradec on Lake Ohrida. Upon arriving there Dimitry Statharos notes the contrast between the war taking place on the albanian side of the lake and the peace which the Serbs enjoy on the other side. He notes that he could see through his field glasses the Serbians living in peace on the other side. (Steven Statharos)

ROMANIA: Severe fighting is taking place in the Ploesti oilfields. The Fascist Iron Guards and the army are in conflict. A message from Budapest states that Premier Antonescu seems to have lost all authority and that Hitler may be forced to take control of the country to restore order.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Station A personnel evacuated from Shanghai to Corregidor. At least one battalion of the 4th Marines was moved to Cavite at the same time, though one battalion may have remained in Shanghai.

Grunert advised he would receive 75 additional officers for training the Philippine Army but that it would not be Federalized. (Marc Small)

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South West Pacific, ‘Komet’ and ‘Orion’ share in the sinking of five ships near the phosphate island of Nauru. Later in the month ‘Komet’ shells the installations.

U.S.A.: Washington: The US government has arranged to make another $100 million available to the government of China.

Polls report that 59% of Americans think that the US should go to war, 41% that she should stay out.

Joseph P Kennedy, the pessimistic US ambassador to London, has resigned. For many months there have been reports that President Roosevelt was displeased with his ambassador, who made no secret of his belief that Hitler should be appeased, or of his conviction that Britain would lose the war. He has great influence on Wall Street, however, and Roosevelt needed his endorsement.
There are reports that his resignation followed a painful scene at the president’s home at Hyde Park in New York State.
The ex-ambassador has not gone home empty-handed. He has taken a London air-raid siren to install in his Cape Cod home.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed merchant cruiser ‘Carnarvon Castle’ is badly damaged in action with raider ‘Thor’ off Brazil, her second and equally successful fight with an AMC.
‘Kormoran’ is the first of a second wave of raiders to leave for operations. She starts in the Atlantic and later moves to the Indian Ocean, where she is lost in November 1941.

Destroyer HMCS St Laurent (ex HMS Cygnet), a Crusader or C-class destroyer known in the RCN as a River-class destroyer, was dispatched to escort convoy HX-90 in the Western Approaches, which was under heavy attack by seven U-boats. The attacking U-boats were commanded by some of the most successful aces of the war including Kretschmer, Prien, and Schepke. Between 01 Dec and 03 Dec, they sank ten ships for a total of over 69,000 tons.

HMCS St Laurent rescued survivors from the merchant ship SS Conch. Later the same day, St Laurent, along with the destroyer HMS Viscount, rescued survivors from the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar. St Laurent gained contact on the submarine that sank Forfar and called in Viscount for support. Under the direction of Lt. Rayner, the two ships hunted the submarine for hours and, after a final depth-charge attack, a large volume of oil seemed to indicate that a kill had been scored. For his part in the efficient direction of this action, Lt. Rayner was awarded the first of his two Distinguished Service Crosses. It was only after the war that record reconstruction showed that the German submarine had escaped. The submarine in question was U-99, commanded by the greatest U-boat ace, Kptlt. ‘Silent’ Otto Kretschmer.

U-101 sank SS Appalachee and damaged SS Loch Ranza in Convoy HX-90.
U-37 sank SS Palmella.

Destroyer HMCS Saguenay badly damaged by Italian submarine Argo while escorting Convoy HG-47 300 miles west of Ireland. 21 crewmembers killed. First Canadian warship to be torpedoed by an enemy submarine.

(Dave Shirlaw)

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 458 December 1, 1940

At 8.20 AM, Norwegian liner Oslofjord, in use as an Allied troopship, sinks on a mine in the River Tyne, Northeast England (1 killed, 179 survivors).

200 miles West of Ireland, escorting convoy HG-47, Canadian destroyer HMCS Saguenay is torpedoed by Italian submarine Argo destroying the bow (21 killed). HMCS Saguenay reaches Barrow in Furness for repairs (until May 22 1941).

German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sinks British SS Tribesman in the Atlantic 500 miles West of the Cape Verde islands (8 killed, 14 crew rescued and taken prisoner). British warships leave Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the island of St. Helena to search for Admiral Scheer.

At 8.22 PM, U-37 sinks British SS Palmella 200 miles West of Porto, Portugal (1 dead, 27 crew and 1 gunner picked up by Spanish trawler Navemar and landed at Lisbon).

Convoy HX-90 is left undefended 340 miles West of Ireland when its ocean escort leaves but the coastal escort does not arrive due to bad weather. At 8.12 PM, U-101 attacks sinking British tanker Appalachee (7 killed, 32 crew picked up by corvette HMS Heliotrope and landed at Londonderry) and damaging steamer Loch Ranza (beached by a tug in Rothesay Bay and repaired at Glasgow until May 1941).

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