History of the Second World War (138 page)

Salerno, Allied landings at, 452-3, 455, 460-2, 523; a poor choice of landing site, 455, 473-474; costly check at, 456, 463-4; Germans prepared for, 456-9; number of German tanks at, 459n.; harbour of, 462; advance from, 468-9, 473

Salerno, Gulf of, 459

Salla, 44, 46

Salonika, 115, 133-4

Salsk, 478

Salween River, 234, 687

Samar Island, 625

Samoa, 344

San, River, 27, 30-1, 581-2

San Bernardino Strait, 623-5, 627

Sandford, Brigadier D. A., 125

Sandomierz, 30

Sangro River, 470-1

Sansapor, Cape, New Guinea, 616-17

Sant’ Agata, 445

Santa Cruz islands, U.S. occupation of, 357; Battle of the, 361

Santa Isabel, 501

Santerno, River, 673

Saratoga,
U.S.S., 358-60

Sarawak, 689

Sardinia, 470; Hitler expects Allied landing on, 437-8, 444

Sarmi, New Guinea, 615

Sasaki, Major-General N., 505

Savige, Major-General S. G., 688

Savo Island, Battle of, 358

Sbeitla, 336, 405-7

Sbiba, 406-7, 409

Scapa Flow,
U.47
in, 371

Scharnhorst,
the, 371, 377, 388, 391, 393, 596

Schelde (Scheldt), River, 75, 560, 565

Schlusselburg, 241, 480

Schmid, Major, of Luftwaffe’s Intelligence department, 94

Schmidt, Heinz, on German technique with tanks and anti-tank guns, 267

Schmundt, Lieut.-General R., 40

Schnee Eifel, 653

Schorner, Field-Marshal F., 148, 574, 587-8

Schweinfurt ball-bearings plant, air-raid on, 602-4

Scoglitti, 441

Scoones, General Sir Geoffry, in Burma, 515; at Imphal, 518-19

Second Front, discussion of, for 1942, 310-311; Stalin demands, 310, 314; British objections to 1943, 438.
See also
‘Overlord, Operation’

Sedan, 39, 65, 71

Seine, River, Germans cross, 84; Allies reach and cross, 546, 562; smashing of bridges over, 547; possible German defensive line on, 557

Seiskari Island, 43

Selangor, 227

Sele, River, 462

Senger und Etterlin, Lieut.-General von, 436, 534-5; 14th Panzer Corps of, 527-8; reinforces Cassino, 529; 14th Army of, 671

Senio, River, 542, 672

Serafimovich, 259, 263

Seraph,
H.M.S., 338, 320

Sereth, River, 574-5, 584

Sevastopol, 248-9, 575-6

Severn Estuary, 89

Sfax, 336, 397

Shan Hills, 636-7

Shanghai, 206

Shantung, 204-5

Shepetovka, 570, 574

‘Shingle, Operation’, 526

‘SHO-I’ plan, 621-2

Shoho,
the, 347

Shokaku,
the, 346-8, 359, 361, 619, 683

Shumilov, General, 259

Shwebo, 636

Shwebo-Mandalay plain, 635

Siam, invasion of Malaya through, 224-5; preventing Japanese escape into, 687

Siauliai, 581, 588

Sicilian Narrows, tank-carrying ship lost in, 176

Sicily, invasion of, 433-46; aided by Allied initial failure in Tunisia, 342; planning of, 424, 438-40; Axis Powers deprived of battle-tested troops to block, 432; hidden causes of success of, 433; Allied slowness in embarking on, 435, 438-9; troops defending, 436, 442; command of, 439; landings on, 440-3; defenders ill-prepared for landings, 442; conquest of, 443-5; results, 445-6

Sidi Azeiz, 176

Sidi Barrani, 112, 114, 278, 306

Sidi Bou Zid, 405

Sidi Breghisc, 196

Sidi Mufta, 269, 274

Sidi Nsir, 411

Sidi Omar, 190-1, 198

Sidi Rezegh, Battle of, 186-92, 194-5

Siedlce, 581-2

Siegfried Line minefields, 32

Sierra Leone convoys, 380, 382; temporary suspension of, 386

Silesia, Upper, 664, 666-8

Silesian coalfields, 27; German loss of, 611

Simovich, General, 132-3, 151

Simpson, Lieut.-General William, 655, 678

Singapore, high priority to defence of, 182, 219; Egypt reinforced at expense of, 182, 232-3; Japanese landward approach to, 202-3; Japanese attack on Singapore Island, 228-9; surrender of, 203, 229-30; British naval base at, 205, 208, 230, 233;
Prince of Wales
and
Repulse
at, 226; faulty defences of, 230-2; strengthening of garrison of, 230; strategic and prestige effects of loss of, 233; Japanese fleet kept at, 620, 623, 683; move to recapture, 687, 689

Singapore Island, 203, 228-9

Singora, 224, 226, 234

Sino-Japanese War (1895), 204

Sio, 508

Sittang, River, 234-6, 687

Sivash Lagoon, 575

Skaggerak, the, 59, 61-2

Skala, 574

Skorzeny, Lieut.-Colonel Otto, 644

‘Slapstick, Operation’, 466-8

‘Sledgehammer, Operation’, 311

Slessor, Air Marshal Sir John, 389

Slim, River, 227

Slim, Lieut.-General (later Field-Marshal) Sir W. J., 515; in Somaliland, 125; in Arakan, 365, 516; orders counteroffensive at Kohima, 519; Burma campaign of, 631, 638, 687; recasts plan, 635-6; mentioned, 518

Slonim, German encirclement fails near, 162

‘Slot, the’, 358-9, 503

Slovakia, breakaway of, 10-11; Russians in, 586-7; German divisions sent to Silesia from, 666

Smigly-Rydz, Marshal, 28, 31

Smith, Major-General Holland M., 510

Smolensk, German advance to, 149, 164; parachute troops at, 255; German withdrawal to line covering, 483; Russian push towards, 491; abandonment of, 493, 496

Smuts, Field-Marshal J. C., urges action in East Africa, 125; advises change of command of Eighth Army, 290; on appointment of Darlan, 332

Smyth, Major-General J. G., 234-5

‘S.N.S.’ organisation, 366

Sollum, 178, 190, 192, 273; pursuit of Rommel’s forces to, 306-7

Solomon Islands, Japanese plan to take, 344-345, 353; MacArthur’s and Nimitz’s spheres divided by, 346, 502; plan for U.S. occupation of eastern, 357; Japanese move first in, 357; Japanese commanders ordered to hold, 498; Japanese Navy gives priority to, 501; Japanese forces in, 501-2; in U.S. strategic plan, 502; Allied landings in, 503-505, 507-8; Japanese evacuate central, 505; classed non-essential to Japanese plans, 506.
See also
Guadalcanal

Solomons, Battle of Eastern, 359-60

Somaliland Camel Corps, 124

Somerville, Admiral Sir James, Indian Ocean force of, 237; Force H of, 379; in South-East Asia Command, 515

Somme, River, 77, 84-5

Sommerfeld, 668

Sorrento peninsula, 460

Soryu,
the, 351

Sosnkowski, General, 31

Souk Ahras, 334

Souk el Arba, 335

Sousse, 336, 422

South Africa, convoys sent round, to Egypt and East, 109, 178n., 438; U-boat sinkings off, 386, 390

South America, U-boat sinkings off, 386

South Dakota
, U.S.S., 361

South-East Asia Command, 515; projected amphibious move of, 687

South-west Pacific area, 346; campaigns in, 353-62, 364, 502-9, 613-18; as route for attacking Japan, 499-500; apparent stalemate in, 500-1; divided command in, 502; Allied forces in, 502-3; slow progress in, leads to ‘by-passing’ plan, 504-5; Japanese forces in, 507

Southampton, air raids on, 107-8

Soviet-German Pact, 13-14, 206

Spa, U.S. First Army H.Q., 642, 654

Spaatz, General Karl, 604, 606

Spadafora, 445

Spain, Germany gets iron and mercury from, 24; drive to Gibraltar planned through, 145; danger of entry of Germans into, 297; fears of hostility of, to landings on Moroccan coast, 313; no intervention from, at ‘Torch’ landings, 333

Spanish Civil War, 6, 23, 92

‘Special Force’.
See
Chindits

‘Special Night Squads’, 366
n.

Speer, Albert, Hitler’s Minister of War Production, 243, 605, 608, 610-11; shaken out of loyalty to Hitler, 679

Sperrle, Field-Marshal Hugo, 98; and Battle of Britain, 90, 104, 107

Spezia, 453, 465

Spitfire, Supermarine, in Battle of Britain, 91-2, 94-5, 103, 592; in Italy, 466; in Burma, 517; in ‘Circus’ operations, 598; as bomber escort, 608

Spitzbergen, raid on, 391

Sponeck, General Graf, 68

Spruance, Admiral Raymond A., at Midway battle, 352; Central Pacific forces under, 510-12, 613; attacks Marianas, 617-618; 5th Fleet of, 621; captures Iwo Jima, 630-1

Stalin, Marshal, and Polish Guarantee, 12; makes pact with Hitler, 13-14, 143; seeks safeguards against German attack, 43-4, 143; moderate in terms to Finland, 46; Cripps visits, 144; Hitler’s opinion of, 147; seeks to avoid war with Germany, 154; demands ‘Second Front’, 310, 314; on German losses, 494; unwilling to take on Japan, 499; stimulates move from Rumania, 577; terms of, to Finns (1944), 578; pleased by Berlin raids, 602; January offensive of, 663-4; at Potsdam Conference, 691; Japan’s peace approaches to, 692-4; determined on entering war with Japan, 693, 695; benefits from ‘unconditional surrender’ demand, 713

Stalingrad, German advance to, 247, 251, 255-6; plan to capture, 247-8; escaping Russian troops accumulate near, 252; struggle for, 252, 256-63, 710; reinforcements to, hamper Caucasus drive, 254; Russian counteroffensive at, 255, 258, 260-265, 478; street fighting in, 259-60; encircled, 261, 263, 710; German morale declining in, 260, 478; German surrender at, 264, 479, 483; Russian forces investing, spared to cut off retreat from Caucasus, 478-9; German prisoners taken at, 479; sacrifice of army at, saves Manstein’s and Kleist’s forces, 479; airborne stroke suggested at, 484