History of the Second World War (125 page)

Read History of the Second World War Online

Authors: Basil Henry Liddell Hart

Tags: #History, #Military, #General, #Other

Eastern Task Force, to capture Algeria, 317, 323-6

E-boats, German, 391

Economics, warfare governed by, 22-4

Encirclement, attempts to destroy Russian Army by, 159-61; failures of, 162-3; frustration of grand, 163-4; successes of, at Kiev and Vyasma, 167; of Stalingrad, 261, 263, 710

Escort: carriers, 382-3; vessels, categories of, 382

Evacuation of civilians from E. German towns, 666-7

Experimental Armoured Force, 20

Exploitation, British failure to grasp principles of, 429; of superiority, Russian method, 481, 492; method, broad, 492; deep, Allied failure in, at ‘Overlord’ breakout, 557; of German collapse, failure in, 567

‘Fantails’, 671-3

Fighter(s), pre-war ratio of, to bombers, 592; in air defence, 592, 597-8; short range of British, 598; increase in German, 599; German jet, 609.
See also
R.A.F., Fighter Command, etc.

Fighter escort, German need for, in Battle of Britain, 100-2; in daylight raids on London, 104; of Beaufighters, 601; Harris calls for, 603; long-range, 603-4

Flares, use of, as guide to bombing, 597

Fleet Air Arm, British, pilots on ‘loan’ to R.A.F. from, 93; sinks battleships at Taranto, 212; escort carriers of, 382-3; short of fighters, 383; attacks
Tirpitz,
391

Fleet anchorages, anti-aircraft guns demanded for, 97

Flexibility of manoeuvre, achieved by Russian organisation of command, 261; Montgomery demonstrates, 302-3, 418, 543, 546

Flying boat(s), Catalina, 350, 379, 381; loss of Admiral Koga’s, 617

Flying bomb, 551; research and experimental station, raid on, 601; attacks on Antwerp, 677

Frigates, American-built, slow supply of, 383

‘Fronts’, Russian, 261, 579, 665

Fuel.
See
Oil

‘Gee’ navigational aid, 596

Glider(s), freight-carrying, 69; troop transport to Crete by, 136; troop-carrying, British, in Sicily landings, 441; in Chindit landings, 517

Glider bomb, 390; FX.1400 radio-guided, 465

Ground-and-air co-operation of Chindits, 366-8

Guerilla-type operations of Wingate, 366-8

H2S navigational aid, 599, 601

‘Hedgehog’, the, 242, 389

Hedgehog system of defence, 242, 664

Heinkel seaplanes in air-sea rescue service, 96

‘Homing’ torpedo, 390

Incendiary raids, on London, 105; on Lubeck and Rostock, 597; on Ruhr, 600; on Japan, 691

Indirect: leverage, Russian use of series of, 481, 492; approach, strategic concept of, in Pacific, 500, 512; approach into Hungary, 586

Infantry, tanks used in co-operation with, 160-1, 177-8; German reorganisation of, 243

Intelligence: poor, of Luftwaffe, 94; U.S. break Japanese diplomatic code, 209-10; Japanese, 209, 212; superiority of U.S., over Japanese, 346, 350; Australian ‘Coast-watchers’, 359; organisation relating to convoys, 377; German, on Normandy landings, 548, 550

Intelligence Service, British, warns Russia of pending invasion, 153; wireless, of German submarines, 385; deception ruse planted by, before invasion of Sicily, 437

‘Interior lines’ theory, Rommel prepares to exploit, 401-2

Iron-ore, essential for war, 23-4; Allied plans to stop Swedish supplies to Germany, 45, 52-3, 57

Joint Planning Staff, suggests Sardinia landing, 438

Jungle warfare, in Papua, 356; in Arakan, 365-6, 516; by Chindits in Burma, 367-8; in S.W. Pacific islands, 504; Slim’s new tactics of, 516

Kamikaze attacks, at battles for Philippines, 628-30; at invasion of Okinawa, 684-6

‘Kangaroo’ armoured personnel carriers, 671

‘Kikusui’ attacks, 686

Landing craft, Japanese armoured, 228; used in ‘Torch’, 326; needed in Burma, 365; priority given to, 383; at Salerno, 461, 464; failure to make use of, in Italy, 475; for Anzio landing, 526; number available limits scale of Normandy landing, 536, 543

Landing Ship Tank.
See
L.S.T.

Landing vehicles, tracked (Fantails), 671-3

Leigh Light, 377, 385

Light, artificial, in Ardennes offensive, 648, 650

Liners, carrying U.S. troops, escorts for, 382, 386

‘Long-Range Penetration Groups’ (Chindits), 367-8, 517

Long-range sea-air action, first, in Coral Sea, 349; at Midway, 351-3

L.S.T. (Landing Ship Tank), not ready for ‘Torch’, 321; in Sicily landings, 439-41; in Salerno landings, 464

Luftwaffe, in 1939, 18, 591-2; part of, in conquest of Poland, 28, 593; value of, in conquest of Norway, 59, 593; in invasion of Holland and West, 67, 593-4; attacks Dunkirk beaches, 79; to finish off defeat of Allied forces, 81-2, 708; committed to softening up Britain for invasion, 90, 99; strength of, in Battle of Britain, 90-4; limited range of fighters of, 91, 96; Spanish Civil War a testing ground for, 92; pilot wastage in, 93-4; loss of morale in, 93-4; poor Intelligence system of, 94-5; overestimates R.A.F. losses, 95, 101; weather handicap of, in Battle of Britain, 95-6; air-sea rescue service of, 96; aircraft lost over Britain, 98-101, 103-4, 106-8, 142; starts ‘grand offensive’ against R.A.F., 99; poor co-ordination between bomber and fighter forces, 99, 101; hedge-hopping raids of, 101; uses more escort fighters, 102, 104; tries new tactics, 102, 107-8; nearly wins Battle of Britain, 102-3; turns to daylight bombing of London, 104-7; ‘pathfinder’ force of, 108; attacks Royal Navy off Crete, 136, 138; to eliminate industrial centres in Urals, 147; strained by supplying German-held bastion-towns in Russia, 242-3; attacks Arctic convoys, 392; attacks at Anzio, 529-30; co-operates with Army, 593-4; mistakes of, resulting in appearance of indiscriminate bombing, 594; night-fighters used in air defence, 597, 611; increased fighter strength of, 599; destruction of, the prime Allied bomber objective, 599; ever-growing, 602; effect of Mustangs on, 604; decreasing fuel supply of, 605, 608, 610-11; new jet-engined fighters of, 609, 611; and Ardennes offensive, 649-51

Luftflotte (Air Fleets):

2, in Battle of Britain, 90-1, 100, 102, 104, 108; in Russian campaign, 153

3, in Battle of Britain, 90-1, 100, 102, 107, 153

5, in Battle of Britain, 91, 100

Machine-guns, aircraft fitted with, 92

Manganese, essential for war, 23-4; Germans lose source of, 571

Manoeuvre, flexibility of, provided by Russian organisation of command, 261; Russian space for, 487-8, 496, 711-12; Russia’s increased power of, 580, 664-5; space for, in France, 712; Pacific space for, 711-12

Marines, United States, garrison of, at Reykjavik, 380; under Halsey in S.W. Pacific, 502; in conquest of Marianas, 618-620; at Iwo Jima, 631; at Okinawa, 684-6

Divisions:

1st, 358-62, 686

2nd, 358-62, 507, 510-11

6th, 685-6

Merchant cruisers, armed, 371, 374-5

Merchant shipping,
British,
U-boat attacks on, 370-1, 374-7, 380-91; losses in, 370-1, 377, 380, 383-6, 388, 390, 394; attacked by surface raiders, 371, 374, 377; sunk by mines, 371, 374; air attacks on, 371, 377, 382; sailing in convoy, 371, 375; night attacks on, 376-7; lost in U.S. waters, 384; more built than sunk, 389; in Arctic convoys; 392-4;
German,
converted for raiding, 374;
Japanese,
weakness of, 209, 682; lost to U.S. submarines, 506, 682-3; lost in bombing raids, 691;
United States,
attacked by U-boats, 383-4.
See also
Convoys; Shipping, etc.

Meteorological reports, British radio, from Atlantic, 96

Midget submarines, at Pearl Harbor, 216-17; attack
Tirpitz,
391

Minefields, of Siegfried Line, 32; Allied, off Norway, 51-3, 57, 60; Russian, 163; at Tobruk, 174; at Gazala, 273, 275; at Mersa Matruh, 279; British tanks run into, at Alamein, 288; at Alam Haifa, 293; German, at Alamein, 301, 303-4; dummy, hinder pursuit, 306; German, during retreat, 398-9; German, in Tunisia, 422-3; Russian, in Kursk offensive, 488-9; could have stopped Germans from crossing Meuse, 708

Mines, merchant shipping sunk by, 371, 374

Minelaying by air, in North Sea, 371. 374; in Baltic, 393

Mobile Service Force, of U.S. Navy, 510-12

Mobilisation, French system of, 32, 705; Norwegian, ordered too late, 60; Russian, 169

Mobility, revolutionised by tanks, 158; German, lost by rain on mud roads of Russia, 163-4, 170; German, based on wheels not tracks, 170; increased, of Russian armies, 580, 664-6; German Army’s decrease in, 666

Mopping-up operations, in Pacific, 686-90; in Burma, 687

Morale, decline in French, 35
n., 708;
loss of, in Luftwaffe pilots, 93-4; effect on, of ‘scorched-earth policy’, 229; of Eighth Army, after ‘the Cauldron’, 278; at Alam Haifa, 295-6; in U.S. Army in Tunisia, 338-9; effects of bombing civil population on country’s, 591, 595, 610, 612, 691; decline in Japanese, 691

Motorisation, of Russian infantry by U.S. trucks, 580, 664-5

Naval gunfire, helps Sicily landings, 443; helps Salerno landings, 461-2, 464-5; supports ‘Overlord’, 547

Navigational aids for aircraft, ‘Gee’, 596-7; Oboe, 599-600; H2S, 599

Navy, British.
See
Royal Navy Navy, Canadian.
See
Royal Canadian Navy

Navy, Dutch, in Pacific, 1941, 208

Navy, French, sinking of fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, 238; British action against, at Oran, 319; threat from, at Casablanca, 322-3; fate of fleet at Toulon, 330-3

Navy, German, not built up by Hitler, 7; in attack on Norway, 59; main effort of, against Britain, 146; surface ships of, in Atlantic, 371, 374, 377-9; pocket-battleships of, 371, 374; E-boats of, 391; in Norway against Arctic convoys, 392.
See also
U-boats, and under ships’ names in General Index

Navy, Italian, 453, 465-6

Navy, Japanese, and attack on Pearl Harbor, 207, 210, 212, 216; strength of, in 1941, 208; aircraft of, 209; in Indian Ocean, 236-7; alternative plans of, for further action, 343-4; in Battle of Midway, 349-53; crushing defeat of, 352-3; and Guadalcanal campaign, 358-62, 504; skill of, in night-fighting, 358; Pacific operations preferred by, 501; sea actions of, during Allied landings, 504; losses in air attacks on Truk, 512; escorts reinforcement convoy for Biak, 616; in Battle of Philippine Sea, 617-20; depends on East Indian oil, 620, 622-3; Toyoda’s gamble with, 622-3; in Battle of Leyte Gulf, 623-8; rendered useless, 628; suicide action of, at Okinawa, 685.
See also
under ships’ names in General Index

Combined Fleet of, 207, 210; plans of Staff of, 343, 345; plan of, for Midway battle, 349; off Guadalcanal, 360-1; planned build-up of, 507; withdrawn from Truk, 512

Fleets:

3rd, 503

8th, 501

Navy, Russian: German plans to paralyse, 147; Black Sea fleet of, 249

Navy, United States: exchanges old destroyers for leases of bases, 375

Fleets:

Asiatic, 221

Atlantic, task force carries forces to Casablanca, 316; in battle off Casablanca, 322-3; anti-submarine patrols of, 380; Newfoundland base of, 380; convoy escort work of, 381, 384

Pacific, in 1941, 208-9, 212-13; Japanese plan to paralyse, 210; crippled at Pearl Harbor, 216-17; Japanese Navy seeks to eliminate bases for, 343-4; Yamamoto plans trap for, 344-5, 350, 352; S.W. Pacific and Pacific Ocean areas of, 346; at Battle of Coral Sea, 346-9; at Battle of Midway, 349-53; given breathing space, 353; and Guadalcanal campaign, 356-62; serious defeat of, 358-9; baited trap for, in Solomons, 359; chooses central Pacific route for attack on Japan, 499, 507; regains Aleutian Islands, 500-1; in S.W. Pacific operations, 503-5, 507-509; strength built up in Pearl Harbor, 506; in central Pacific operations, 509-13, 613, 616-20; traps laid for, 617-18, 621; in Battle of Philippine Sea, 617-20; in Battle of Leyte Gulf, 623-8; at landing on Luzon, 629; losses in, from Kamikaze attacks, 628-9, 684-6.
See also
under ships’ names in General Index