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Overview
In Triumph and Tragedy, British prime minister Winston Churchill provides in dramatic detail the endgame of the war and the uneasy meetings between himself, Stalin, and Truman to discuss plans for rebuilding Europe in the aftermath of devastation.
Beginning with the invasion of Normandy, the heroic landing of the Allied armies and the most remarkable amphibious operation in military history, Churchill watches as the uneasy coalition that had knit itself together begins to fray at Potsdam, foreshadowing the birth of the Cold War.
Triumph and Tragedy is part of the epic six-volume account of World War II told from the viewpoint of a man who led in the fight against tyranny, and enriched with extensive primary sources including memos, letters, orders, speeches, and telegrams, day-by-day accounts of reactions as the drama intensifies. Throughout these volumes, we listen as strategies and counterstrategies unfold in response to Hitler’s conquest of Europe, planned invasion of England, and assault on Russia, in a mesmerizing account of the crucial decisions made as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780795311475 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | RosettaBooks |
| Publication date: | 09/05/2019 |
| Series: | Winston S. Churchill The Second World Wa , #6 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 768 |
| Sales rank: | 123,403 |
| File size: | 24 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Sir Winston S. Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values."
Over a 64-year span, Churchill published over 40 books, many multi-volume definitive accounts of historical events to which he was a witness and participant. All are beautifully written and as accessible and relevant today as when first published.
During his fifty-year political career, Churchill served twice as Prime Minister in addition to other prominent positions--including President of the Board of Trade, First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home Secretary. In the 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to recognize the danger of the rising Nazi power in Germany and to campaign for rearmament in Britain. His leadership and inspired broadcasts and speeches during World War II helped strengthen British resistance to Adolf Hitler--and played an important part in the Allies' eventual triumph.
One of the most inspiring wartime leaders of modern history, Churchill was also an orator, a historian, a journalist, and an artist. All of these aspects of Churchill are fully represented in this collection of his works.
Sir Winston S. Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.”
Over a 64-year span, Churchill published over 40 books, many multi-volume definitive accounts of historical events to which he was a witness and participant. All are beautifully written and as accessible and relevant today as when first published.
During his fifty-year political career, Churchill served twice as Prime Minister in addition to other prominent positions—including President of the Board of Trade, First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home Secretary. In the 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to recognize the danger of the rising Nazi power in Germany and to campaign for rearmament in Britain. His leadership and inspired broadcasts and speeches during World War II helped strengthen British resistance to Adolf Hitler—and played an important part in the Allies’ eventual triumph.
One of the most inspiring wartime leaders of modern history, Churchill was also an orator, a historian, a journalist, and an artist. All of these aspects of Churchill are fully represented in this collection of his works.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
D DAY
The Normandy Landings — My Report to the House of Commons, June 6 — Important News from Stalin — His Telegram of June 11 — Enemy Dispositions on the Atlantic Wall — The German Warning System is Paralysed — Rundstedt's Mistake — I Visit the Beaches and Lunch with Montgomery, June 10 — Cruise in H.M.S. "Kelvin" — General Marshall's Message — My Telegrams to Stalin and Roosevelt, June 14.
Our long months of preparation and planning for the greatest amphibious operation in history ended on D Day, June 6, 1944. During the preceding night the great armadas of convoys and their escorts sailed, unknown to the enemy, along the swept channels from the Isle of Wight to the Normandy coast. Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force attacked enemy coast-defence guns in their concrete emplacements, dropping 5,200 tons of bombs. When dawn broke the United States Air Force came on the scene to deal with other shore defences, followed by medium and fighter-bombers. In the twenty-four hours of June 6 the Allies flew over 14,600 sorties. So great was our superiority in the air that all the enemy could put up during daylight over the invasion beaches was a mere hundred sorties. From midnight three airborne divisions were alighting, the British 6th Airborne Division north-east of Caen to seize bridgeheads over the river between the town and the sea, and two American airborne divisions north of Carentan to assist the seaborne assault on the beaches and to check the movement of enemy reserves into the Cotentin peninsula. Although in places the airborne divisions were more widely scattered than had been intended, the object was in every case achieved.
As dawn came and the ships, great and small, began to file into their prearranged positions for the assault the scene might almost have been a review. Immediate opposition was limited to an attack by torpedo-boats, which sank a Norwegian destroyer. Even when the naval bombardment began the reply from the coastal batteries was desultory and ineffective. There was no doubt that we had achieved a tactical surprise. Landing and support craft with infantry, with tanks, with self-propelled artillery, and a great variety of weapons, and engineer demolition teams to deal with the beach obstacles, all formed up into groups and moved towards the beaches. Among them were the D.D. ("swimming") tanks, which made their first large-scale appearance in battle. It was still very rough from the bad weather of the day before, and a good many of the "swimming" tanks foundered on the way.
Destroyers and gun and rocket batteries mounted on landing-craft pounded the beach defences, while farther to seaward battleships and cruisers kept down the fire of the defending batteries. Ground opposition was slight until the first landing-craft were a mile from the shore, but then mortar and machine-gun fire grew. Surf and the partly submerged obstacles and mines made the landings hazardous, and many craft were wrecked after setting down their troops, but the advance went on.
As soon as the foremost infantry got ashore they dashed forward towards their objectives, and in every case except one made good progress. On "Omaha" beach, north-west of Bayeux, the Vth American Corps ran into severe resistance. By an unlucky chance the enemy defences in this sector had recently been taken over by a German division in full strength and on the alert. Our Allies had a very stiff fight all day to make any lodgment at all, and it was not until the 7th that, after losing several thousand men, they were able to force their way inland. Although we did not gain all we sought, and in particular Caen remained firmly in enemy hands, the progress made on the first two days of the assault was judged very satisfactory.
From the Biscay ports a stream of U-boats, facing all risks and moving on the surface at high speed, sought to break up the invasion. We were well prepared. The western approaches to the Channel were guarded by numerous aircraft, forming our first line of defence. Behind them were the naval forces covering the landings. Meeting the full blast of our defence, the U-boats fared badly. In the first crucial four days six were sunk by air attack and a similar number damaged. They were not able to make any impression on the invasion convoys, which continued to move to their objectives with trifling loss. Thereafter they were more cautious, but no more successful.
* * *
At noon on June 6 I asked the House of Commons to "take formal cognisance of the liberation of Rome by the Allied Armies under the command of General Alexander", the news of which had been released the night before. There was intense excitement about the landings in France, which everyone knew were in progress at the moment. Nevertheless I devoted ten minutes to the campaign in Italy and in paying my tribute to the Allied Armies there. After thus keeping them on tenterhooks for a little I said:
I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 first-line aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot of course commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, winds, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air, and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.
There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle that has now begun will grow constantly in scale and in intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say however. Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardour and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself, embarking in these last few days was splendid to witness. Nothing that equipment, science, or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.
By the afternoon I felt justified in reporting to Stalin.
6 June 44
Everything has started well. The mines, obstacles, and land batteries have been largely overcome. The air landings were very successful, and on a large scale. Infantry landings are proceeding rapidly, and many tanks and self-propelled guns are already ashore. Weather outlook moderate to good.
His answer was prompt, and contained welcome news of the highest importance.
Marshal Stalin to Prime Minister
6 June 44
I have received your communication about the success of the beginning of the "Overlord" operations. It gives joy to us all and hope of further successes.
The summer offensive of the Soviet forces, organised in accordance with the agreement at the Teheran Conference, will begin towards the middle of June on one of the important sectors of the front. The general offensive of the Soviet forces will develop by stages by means of the successive bringing of armies into offensive operations. At the end of June and during July offensive operations will become a general offensive of the Soviet forces.
I shall not fail to inform you in due course of the progress of the offensive operations.
I was actually sending Stalin a fuller account of our progress when his telegram arrived.
Prime Minister to Marshal Stalin
7 June 44
I am well satisfied with the situation up to noon to-day, 7th. Only at one American beach has there been serious difficulty, and that has now been cleared up. 20,000 airborne troops are safely landed behind the flanks of the enemy's lines, and have made contact in each case with the American and British seaborne forces. We got across with small losses. We had expected to lose about 10,000 men. By to-night we hope to have the best part of a quarter of a million men ashore, including a considerable quantity of armour (tanks), all landed from special ships or swimming ashore by themselves. In this latter class of tanks there have been a good many casualties, especially on the American front, owing to the waves overturning the swimming tanks. We must now expect heavy counter-attacks, but we expect to be stronger in armour, and of course overwhelming in the air whenever the clouds lift.
2. There was a tank engagement of our newly landed armour with fifty enemy tanks of the 21st Panzer-Grenadier Division late last night towards Caen, as the result of which the enemy quitted the field. The British 7th Armoured Division is now going in, and should give us superiority for a few days. The question is, how many can they bring against us in the next week? The weather outlook in the Channel does not seem to impose any prohibition on our continued landings. Indeed, it seems more promising than before. All the commanders are satisfied that in the actual landing things have gone better than we expected.
3. Most especially secret. We are planning to construct very quickly two large synthetic harbours on the beaches of this wide, sandy bay of the Seine estuary. Nothing like these has ever been seen before. Great ocean liners will be able to discharge and run by numerous piers supplies to the fighting troops. This must be quite unexpected by the enemy, and will enable the build-up to proceed with very great independence of weather conditions. We hope to get Cherbourg at an early point in the operations.
4. On the other hand, the enemy will concentrate rapidly and heavily and the fighting will be continuous and increasing in scale. Still, we hope to have by D plus 30 about twenty-five divisions deployed, with all their corps troops, with both flanks of the second front resting on the sea and possessed of at least three good harbours — Cherbourg and the two synthetic harbours. This front will be constantly nourished and expanded, and we hope to include later the Brest peninsula. But all this waits on the hazards of war, which, Marshal Stalin, you know so well.
5. We hope that this successful landing and the victory of Rome, of which the fruits have still to be gathered from the cut-off Hun divisions, will cheer your valiant soldiers after all the weight they have had to bear, which no one outside your country has felt more definitely than I.
6. Since dictating the above I have received your message about the successful beginning of "Overlord", in which you speak of the summer offensive of the Soviet forces. I thank you cordially for this. I hope you will observe that we have never asked you a single question, because of our full confidence in you, your nation, and your armies.
He replied:
9 June 44
I have received your message of June 7 with the information of the successful development of the operation "Overlord". We all greet you and the valiant British and American Armies and warmly wish you further successes.
The preparation of the summer offensive of the Soviet armies is concluding. To-morrow, June 10, the first stage will open in our summer offensive on the Leningrad front.
I repeated this at once to Roosevelt.
Stalin telegraphed again on June 11:
As is evident, the landing, conceived on a grandiose scale, has succeeded completely. My colleagues and I cannot but admit that the history of warfare knows no other like undertaking from the point of view of its scale, its vast conception, and its masterly execution. As is well known, Napoleon in his time failed ignominiously in his plan to force the Channel. The hysterical Hitler, who boasted for two years that he would effect a forcing of the Channel, was unable to make up his mind even to hint at attempting to carry out his threat. Only our Allies have succeeded in realising with honour the grandiose plan of the forcing of the Channel. History will record this deed as an achievement of the highest order.
The word "grandiose" is the translation from the Russian text which was given me. I think "majestic" was probably what Stalin meant. At any rate, harmony was complete.
* * *
Let us survey the enemy's dispositions and plans as we now know them. Marshal Rundstedt, with sixty divisions, was in command of the whole Atlantic Wall, from the Low Countries to the Bay of Biscay, and from Marseilles along the southern French shore. Under him Rommel held the coast from Holland to the Loire. His Fifteenth Army with nineteen divisions held the sector about Calais and Boulogne, and his Seventh Army had nine infantry and one Panzer division at hand in Normandy. The ten Panzer divisions on the whole Western Front were spreadeagled from Belgium to Bordeaux. How strange that the Germans, now on the defensive, made the same mistake as the French in 1940 and dispersed their most powerful weapon of counter-attack!
When Rommel took up his command in late January he had been displeased with the defences he found, and his energy improved them greatly. Along the coast there was a line of concrete works with all-round defence, many mines and difficult obstacles of various patterns, especially below high-water mark. Fixed guns pointed seawards, and field artillery covered the beaches. While there was no complete second line of defence, villages in rear were strongly fortified. Rommel was not content with the progress made, and had more time been left him our task would have been harder. Our opening bombardment by sea and air did not destroy many of the concrete works, but by stunning their defenders reduced their fire and also upset their Radar.
The German warning system had been completely paralysed. From Calais to Guernsey the Germans had no fewer than one hundred and twenty major pieces of Radar equipment for finding our convoys and directing the fire of their shore batteries. These were grouped in forty-seven stations. We discovered them all, and attacked them so successfully with rocket-firing aircraft that on the night before D Day not one in six was working. The serviceable ones were deceived by the device of tin-foil strips known as "Window", which simulated a convoy heading east of Fécamp, and they thus failed to detect the real landings. One piece of equipment near Caen managed to keep going and discovered the approach of the British force, but its reports were ignored by the plotting centre as they were not corroborated by any of the other stations. Nor was this the only menace which was overcome. Encouraged by their success two years before in concealing the passage up the Channel of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the enemy had built many more jamming stations for thwarting both the ships which directed our night fighters and the Radar beams upon which many of our forces depended for an accurate landfall. But they too were discovered, and Bomber Command made some highly concentrated raids upon them. All were obliterated, and our radio and Radar aids were secure. It may be mentioned that all the Allied effort in the radio war for D Day was British.
(Continues…)
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Table of Contents
| Book I | The Tide of Victory | |
| Chapter I | D Day | 3 |
| Chapter II | Normandy to Paris | 15 |
| Chapter III | The Pilotless Bombardment | 34 |
| Chapter IV | Attack on the South of France? | 50 |
| Chapter V | Balkan Convulsions. The Russian Victories | 63 |
| Chapter VI | Italy and the Riviera Landing | 75 |
| Chapter VII | Rome. The Greek Problem | 92 |
| Chapter VIII | Alexander's Summer Offensive | 104 |
| Chapter IX | The Martyrdom of Warsaw | 113 |
| Chapter X | The Second Quebec Conference | 129 |
| Chapter XI | Advance in Burma | 143 |
| Chapter XII | The Battle of Leyte Gulf | 153 |
| Chapter XIII | The Liberation of Western Europe | 165 |
| Chapter XIV | Prelude to a Moscow Visit | 180 |
| Chapter XV | October in Moscow | 197 |
| Chapter XVI | Paris | 213 |
| Chapter XVII | Counter-stroke in the Ardennes | 229 |
| Chapter XVIII | British Intervention in Greece | 247 |
| Chapter XIX | Christmas at Athens | 267 |
| Book II | The Iron Curtain | |
| Chapter XX | Preparations for a New Conference | 287 |
| Chapter XXI | Yalta: Plans for World Peace | 302 |
| Chapter XXII | Russia and Poland: The Soviet Promise | 319 |
| Chapter XXIII | Yalta: Finale | 340 |
| Chapter XXIV | Crossing the Rhine | 353 |
| Chapter XXV | The Polish Dispute | 367 |
| Chapter XXVI | Soviet Suspicions | 386 |
| Chapter XXVII | Western Strategic Divergences | 399 |
| Chapter XXVIII | The Climax: Roosevelt's Death | 412 |
| Chapter XXIX | Growing Friction with Russia | 424 |
| Chapter XXX | The Final Advance | 440 |
| Chapter XXXI | Alexander's Victory in Italy | 454 |
| Chapter XXXII | The German Surrender | 463 |
| Chapter XXXIII | An Uneasy Interlude | 480 |
| Chapter XXXIV | The Chasm Opens | 495 |
| Chapter XXXV | The End of the Coalition | 508 |
| Chapter XXXVI | A Fateful Decision | 520 |
| Chapter XXXVII | The Defeat of Japan | 532 |
| Chapter XXXVIII | Potsdam: The Atomic Bomb | 545 |
| Chapter XXXIX | Potsdam: The Polish Frontiers | 560 |
| Chapter XL | The End of My Account | 578 |
| Appendices | ||
| A. | List of Abbreviations | 587 |
| B. | List of Code-Names | 588 |
| C. | Prime Minister's Directives, Personal Minutes, and Telegrams, June 1944-July 1945 | 589 |
| D. | The Attack on the South of France | 656 |
| E. | Monthly Totals of Shipping Losses, British, Allied, and Neutral, June 1944-August 1945 | 665 |
| F. | Prime Minister's Victory Broadcast, May 13, 1945 | 666 |
| G. | The Battle of the Atlantic: Merchant Ships Sunk by U-boat: The Last Phase | 674 |
| H. | Ministerial Appointments, June 1944-May 1945 | 675 |
| Index | 679 | |
| Maps and Diagrams | ||
| North-West Europe | 22 | |
| Normandy | 29 | |
| Operations on the Russian Front, June 1944-January 1945 | 73 | |
| Northern Italy | 77 | |
| "Anvil" | 89 | |
| Burma, July 1944-January 1945 | 151 | |
| Battle for Leyte Gulf, Philippines: Approach and Contact, October 22-24, 1944 | 158 | |
| Battle for Leyte Gulf: The Decisive Phase, October 25, 1944 | 160 | |
| Battle for Leyte Gulf: The Pursuit, October 26-27, 1944 | 162 | |
| The South-West Pacific | 163 | |
| The Pursuit | 169 | |
| South Holland | 173 | |
| The Gothic Line | 193 | |
| The Frontier Regions | 232 | |
| Rundstedt's Counter-Offensive | 246 | |
| Greece | 281 | |
| Crossing the Rhine | 355 | |
| The Northern Crossing | 358 | |
| Occupation Zones in Germany, as Agreed at Quebec, September 1944 | 438 | |
| The Invasion of Germany | 454 | |
| The Battle of the River Po | 457 | |
| Merchant Vessel Losses by U-boat, January 1940-April 1945 | 473 | |
| The Withdrawal of the Western Allies, July 1945 | 526 | |
| Central Burma | 537 | |
| The Last Phase in the Pacific War | 542 | |
| Occupation Zones in Germany and Austria, as Finally Adopted, July 1945 | 566 | |
| The Frontiers of Central Europe | 678 |
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