History of the Second World War (140 page)

Viipuri (Viborg), 46, 578

Vilkaviskis, 584

Villers-Bocage, 546

Vilna, 580

Vinnitsa, 570

Visayan Sea, 689

Vistula, River, line of defence on, 27; German forces reach and cross, 29-31; Polish forces trapped E. of, 30-1; Russian drive to, 581-582; Russians held up on, 584; Hitler permits no withdrawal from, or reinforcement of, 664, 666; extrication of forces from, 666; corridor between Warta and, 667

Ventnor radar station, 99

Verdun, 558

Verona, 674

Versailles, Treaty of, 204

Via Emilia (Route 9), 540, 672-3

Vian, Captain (later Admiral Sir) Philip, 55, 379

Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 454, 467, 537

Victorious,
H.M.S., 379

Vienna, 537, 539, 680

Vitebsk, 164, 493, 579

Vogelkop Peninsula, 613, 616-17

Volga, River, 247-8, 252, 256

Volkhov, River, 576

Volturno, River, 453, 465, 468-9

Voronezh, 251, 258-9, 263, 480

Voronov, 260

‘Vulcan, Operation’, 427

Vuoksi, River, 47

Vyasma, 167, 241, 483

Wadi Akarit defence line, 400, 416; Axis forces withdraw to, 418-19; assault on, 420-2; withdrawal from, 422-3

Wadi Zigzaou, 417

Wainwright, Lieut.-General J. M., 223

Wakde Island, 615-16

Wake Island, 216

Wake-Walker, Rear-Admiral Sir William, 378

Walcheren Island, 560

Waldenburg, Colonel von, 453

Walker, Captain F. J., 389

Walney,
324

Ward, Major-General O., 1st Armored Division of, 415

Warlimont, General Walter, 38-9; on standstill of panzer forces, 82; on British failure to take Tripoli, 118; on Hitler’s ‘hunch’ on Normandy, 548; mentioned, 89

Warsaw, Germans surround and take, 30-1; German army group starts from, 149; Russians approach, 581-2; rise of Polish ‘underground’ in, 582-3; Germans regain control of, 583; mystery of Russian inaction at, 583; Allies drop supplies on, 583n.; falls to Russia, 665-6

Warspite,
H.M.S., 60, 465

Warta, River, 29, 667

Washington
, U.S.S., 362

Washington Conference (1941), 310, 313n.; (1943) 450-1; directive of, on strategic bombing, 599; sets up U.S. bombing force in Britain, 603

Washington Naval Limitation Treaty, 205

Wasp,
U.S.S., 358-60, 384

Waters, Lieut.-Colonel J. K., 324, 338

Wau, New Guinea, 503

Wavell, General (later Field-Marshal) Sir Archibald, C.-in-C., Middle East, 109, 124; harasses Italian troops, 112; reinforcements reach, 112; and Italian defeat, 113; recalls Indian Division, 114; ordered to send force to Greece, 115, 117-18; disbelieves reports of impending German attack, 119, 171; and E. African campaign, 124-6; orders ‘delaying action’, 172; holds Tobruk, 172-3; attempts relief of Tobruk, 174, 176-8; asks for more armour, 175; aims of, for ‘Operation Battleaxe’, 178; does not press for more tank reinforcements, 178n.; on failure of ‘Battleaxe’, 181; replaced in N. Africa by Auchinleck, 184, 367; Supreme Commander, A.B.D.A., 227-8, 234; thinks Japanese skill overrated, 235; told of value of Ceylon to Britain, 237; asks for locomotives for India, 363; reorganises India Command, 364; plans reconquest of Burma, 364-5; Wingate and, 366-7; plans move on Sumatra, 368; Viceroy of India, 515

Wedemeyer, General A. C., 633, 635

Weichs, General M. F. von, 2nd Army of, 134, 245

Wellington, Vickers-Armstrong, 591, 593

Wesel, crossing of Rhine near, 678

West Africa, French, co-operates with Allies, 332

West Africans in British East African Army, 124

Western Approaches, U-boat attacks in, 370; bomber attacks in, 371; convoy escort in, 375, 380; Catalinas force U-boats from, 381; escort groups of, 382

Western Approaches Command, under Noble, 382, 387; under Horton, 387-9

Western Approaches Tactical Unit, 389

Western Dorsal mountains, 405

Western Front (1939), Franco-German frontier of, 31-2, 41; German forces break through, 65, 69-72; French, along Somme and Aisne, 84; (1944) German lack of defences on, 546-9, 558-60, 566; German collapse on, 558, 566-7; German build-up of defences on, 560, 567; stripped to supply forces for Oder, 669, 677.
See also
Ardennes

Western Hemisphere Defence Plan Number 4, 381

Western Naval Task Force, 316, 323

Western Ocean Meeting Point, 382

Western Offensive (1939-40), 65-86; Hitler’s first plan for, 35-6, 38-40; lost plans for, 37-8; Manstein’s plan for, 38-40; likely effects of first plan for, 39-40; (1944-5), 543-67.
See also
Ardennes; ‘Overlord, Operation’

Western Powers, war objects of, 3; appeasement policy of, 6-7; sudden reversal of policy of, 7; in sympathy with German Eastern expansion, 8-9, 14; fail to profit from capture of German plan, 40-1; false confidence of, 41; consider expeditionary force to help Finland, 44-6; plan occupation of Norway, 52, 54-5, 57-9; prevalence of out-of-date ideas in, 66; Pacific strength of (1941), 208-9; lack flexibility of organisation, 261; supplies to Russia from, 392-3, 486; delay exploitation of Mussolini’s overthrow, 450; Badoglio’s difficulties in negotiating with, 451; Italy signs armistice treaty with, 452-3; could have ended war, Sept. 1944, 557-8; disastrous effect of lost opportunity of, 561

Westphal, General S., on Mussolini’s fear of German domination, 436; on conditions in Rome at and after Italy’s capitulation, 453-5; on course Allies should have taken in Italy, 473-4; on course Allies should have taken on Western Front, 566

Wewak, New Guinea, 508, 615, 688

Weygand, General, 74, 76; impossible plan of, 77, 79; new front of, 84; presses for armistice, 85

White Russia, Russian offensive in, 578-81

Whitley, Armstrong-Whitworth, 591, 593

Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, 37

Wilson, Field-Marshal Sir Henry Maitland, Supreme Commander, Mediterranean, 532-533; and ‘Operation Anvil’, 537-8; sent to Washington, 541; mentioned, 113, 131, 542

Wilson, Sir Horace, 14

Wiltz, 653

Wingate, Major-General Orde, 125, 366-7, 516-17

Winter Line, Italy, 470

Wislok, River, 30

Wisloka, River, 30

Wissant, German radar station at, 98

Witzig, Lieutenant (later Major), 68-9, 336-7

Wolff, General Karl, 674

Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, in radar stations, 99

Wood, General John S., 557
n.

Woodlark Island, 503

World War I, horsed cavalry in, 21; artillery bombardment before attack in, 32; breach of Norway’s neutrality would have been unthinkable in, 53; Allied Balkan Army in, 133; Foch’s strategy in (1918), 481, 492; creation of R.A.F. in, 589; air attacks on London in, 589

Wright, Captain Jerauld, 320n.

Yablonica Pass (Tartar Pass), 573, 586

Yalta Conference, 693

Yamaguchi, Rear-Admiral T., 352-3

Yamamoto, Admiral I., and attack on Pearl Harbor, 202, 207, 210, 212; plans capture of Midway, 343, 345; at Battle of Midway, 349-50, 352-3; fleet of, off Solomons, 361; ambushed and shot down, 503

Yamashita, General T., captures Malaya and Singapore, 224, 229; in defence of Philippines, 621-2, 629-30, 689-90

Yamato,
the, 621; at Battle of Midway, 349, 352; near New Guinea, 616; in Battle of Leyte Gulf, 623, 625-7; ‘suicide’ of, 685

Yamethin, 637

Yampol, 572

Yap Island, 621

Yawata, bombing of, 690

Yenangyaung oilfields, 236, 634

Yokoyama, Lieut.-General S., 689

Yorkshire, air raids on, 100

Yorktown,
U.S.S., 346-7, 349-51, 684

Yugo-Slavia,
coup d’etat
in, causes postponement of Russian invasion, 132-4, 152; Axis pact with, 134, 151; German conquest of, 137, 152; Russians reach frontier of, 585; German forces escape from, 585-6; liberation of capital of, 586

Yunnan, China, 364, 516, 634-5

Zaafran, 195

Zakharov, General, 579

Zangen, General von, 528

Zaporozhye, 493

Zeitzler, Kurt, 258, 483

Zero (Mitsubishi A6M), 209, 212

Zhitomir, 495, 570

Zhlobin, 493, 579-80

Zhukov, Marshal G., 1941 counteroffensive of, 168; and encirclement of Stalingrad, 255, 260; strategy of, 264; drives West, 572-3; repairs rail communications, 578; ‘1st White Russian front’ of, in 1945 offensive, 665-9; in Berlin, 680

Ziegenberg, 647

Ziegler, General H., 403, 405

Zubza, 519

Zuiho,
the, 361, 627

Zuikaku,
the, 346-50, 359, 627

FURTHER READING IN THE BOOKS OF CAPTAIN SIR BASIL LIDDELL HART

Memoirs

The Liddell Hart Memoirs, 2 vols. (London, Cassell, 1965; New York, Putnam, 1965)

The Conduct of War (and general history of wars)

Strategy — The Indirect Approach (London, Faber, latest edition 1954 — enlarged from
The Decisive Wars of History,
1929)

Thoughts on War. 1919-39 (London, Faber, 1944 — contains the collected essence of the author’s military thought)

The Revolution in Warfare (London, Faber, 1946; Yale University Press, 1947)

The Ghost of Napoleon (London, Faber, 1933; Yale University Press, 1933)

The Theory of Mechanised War (in particular)

Paris, or The Future of War (London, Kegan, Paul, 1925 — in the Today and Tomorrow’ series; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925)

The Re-making of Modern Armies (London, John Murray, 1927)

When Britain Goes to War (London, Faber, 1935 — enlarged from
The British Way in Warfare
, 1932; also Penguin, 1942, with additional chapters, and under the original title. In America The British Way in Warfare, New York, Macmillan, 1933)

The Future of Infantry (London, Faber, 1933; Harrisburg, Military Service Publishing Co., 1936)

Dynamic Defence (London, Faber, 1940)

The Current of War (London, Hutchinson, 1941 — in particular Chapters I-VI. The rest of the book is a commentary on the 1939-40 campaign)

The Tanks — The History of The Royal Tank Regiment and its predecessors (etc.) 1914-45, 2 vols. (London, Cassell, 1959; New York, Praeger, 1959)

Other Books on the Theory and Future of War

Europe in Arms (London, Faber, 1937)

The Defence of Britain (London, Faber, 1939)

This Expanding War (London, Faber, 1942 — partly a commentary on the 1941-42 campaigns)

Defence of The West (London, Cassell, 1950)

Deterrent or Defence (London, Stevens, 1960)

Infantry Tactics

New Methods of Infantry Training (Cambridge, 1918)

Science of Infantry Tactics (Becclcs, Clowes, 1921, 1923, 1926)

Historical Biography — with a bearing on future warfare

T. E. Lawrence — In Arabia and After (London, Cape, 1934. In America Colonel Lawrence: The Man Behind the Legend, New York, Dodd, Mead, 1934)

Foch (London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1931; also Penguin)

Sherman (London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1929. In America Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American, New York, Dodd, Mead, 1929)

Great Captains Unveiled (London, Blackwood, 1927; Boston, Little, Brown, 1928)

A Greater than Napoleon — Scipio Africanus (London, Blackwood, 1926; Boston, Little, Brown, 1927)

World War I (1914-18)

A History of the First World War (London, Cassell, 1970. Originally published as
A History of the World War, 1914-1918,
London, Faber, 1934. Enlarged from
The Real War 1914-1918,
London, Faber, 1930; Boston, Little, Brown)