The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3 (Winston Churchill World War II Collection)

Long, but quite well worth reading........Churchill is a brilliant writer.

The Grand Alliance is the third of six World War 2 chronicles written by Sir Winston Churchill, Great Britain's Prime Minister during this phase of the War. For the sake of temporal orientation, I quote the Preface to Mr. Churchill's subsequent volume, The Hinge of Fate: "In The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, and The Grand Alliance I have described as I saw them the events leading to the Second World War, the conquest of Europe by Nazi Germany, the unflinching resistance of Britain alone until the German attack on Russia and the Japanese assault brought the Soviet Union and the United States to our side." The Grand Alliance details several of the War's more famous battles, including the "Dunkirk Miracle," but most significantly the events leading to the war with Japan, which were vastly more complex than the single event of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Brits did not cheer the attack of course, but nor were they ungrateful that the United States was catapulted out of the bleachers and into the cast of major players. Mr. Churchill's narrative relies heavily on his correspondence with President Roosevelt and his staff, as well as British military leaders, particularly General Wavell. Mr. Churchill is not awfully modest about his foresight, contributions to military as much as to political strategies, and his determined campaign to lever the United States into alliance with Great Britain; and nor should he be. Mr. Churchill's books are packed with details, and the reader may choose to read them with scrutinizing intensity and focus on detail, or more generally as an outline of events. His lucid journalistic style makes the depth of his material quite approachable.

This is Book 3 (The Grand Alliance) of Winston Churchill’s 6 book series on WWII. This volume covers the war years from Germany’s attack on Russia up until Pearl Harbor and the US entry into the war. Germany was frustrated by its inability destroy or demoralize the British homeland during the Battle of Britain (horrific air bombardment) in early 1940. An actual ground invasion of England was deemed way to costly for the Germans. So in 1941 Hitler decides to change course and turns his massive military machine against Russia in the east. This attack surprised an unprepared Russia because only 2 years earlier (1939), the two countries had signed a non aggression treaty to keep peace between them. Russia absorbed the initial German attack and forced the Germans to winter-over and endure brutal Russian winters (under constant military assault) for several years in a row. Then, in a brilliant counterattack led by the great Russian General Zhukov, the Russians completlely destroyed the weakened German army in the east and ensured Germany’s ultimate defeat by the allies. In the meantime, though, The British Empire was standing alone in the west. It had to defend England at home and also had to engage the Germans and Italians in many western war theatres, including the Balkans, North Africa and throughout the Mediterranean Sea (and also defend the Atlantic sea lanes to keep supplies flowing from America). The huge battles that were fought in Russia certainly changed the outcome of the war and are well documented by many historical sources (other than Churchill), but in this volume, Churchill gives fascinating details on many of the lessor known battles that were fought in the west during this same time period. The German attack in the west came through Yugoslavia and Hungary, then on to final victory for them over Greece. This was followed by General Rommel’s German occupation of North Africa. The English General assigned to defend against this invasion was Field Marshal Archibald Wavell. I’m a history nut and I’ve never even heard of this guy; but his contribution to the war effort was enormous. This book covers his 'watch' and his whole theatre of operation in great detail. Churchill got him sparse troops and supplies to work with: troops from British Empire countries of England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India, but never enough to get the job done….and meager war supplies diverted from homeland security and those smuggled from America under Lend/Lease. Amazingly, he somehow managed to counter Germany’s every move….fighting battles on many fronts, stalling, delaying, strategic retreat after strategic retreat, defeat after defeat. And this went on for years! I believe his goal was to just to ‘hold-on’ long enough for England to get back on her feet and re arm after the devastating Battle of Britain….and maybe win a few battles along the way. Anyway……somehow, he held it all together and slowed down the Germans and Italians and kept them from over-running Egypt and Persia and gaining the great oil fields. As I was reading this section of the book, I marveled at how this General was able to hold-up (personally) under all that stress over such a long period of time. My description here really doesn’t do this guy justice, but, from all accounts in this book, he was a true English hero….one of the greatest of this war. Another lessor known General from this time period (someone else I have never heard about) was New Zealand’s General Bernard Freyberg. General Freyberg and his New Zealanders were assigned to defend Crete during Germany’s Greek invasion. Crete is a Greek island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea which was strategic because of it’s runways (for air control of that part of the Med). Germany was determined to take it. Air Marshal Hermann Goring was a German ACE fighter pilot and hero during WWI and Hitler put him in charge of the whole German air force (The Luftwaffe) during WWII. In addition to the air force, he had put together a huge 'special forces' army of paratroopers to be used as forward shock troops that would parachute ahead of a main battle to soften up the opposition from the inside. Very much akin to today’s 101st Airborne, Green Berets, Seal Teams and other special forces units (only much, much bigger in scale). They had been used very effectively in the previous blitzkrieg attacks by Germany all across France, The Netherlands and Poland. Now Goring deployed them ‘full force’ against the defenders of Crete. The New Zealanders knew they were coming, though, and were ready for them….and destroyed them. Eventually the Germans amassed so many 'regular army' troops that they overwhelmed Crete and forced General Freyberg to retreat and ultimately abandon the island. So, in the end, Germany won at Crete, but the New Zealanders had so decimated that initial paratrooper army, that they could never to be used as a fighting force for the rest of the war. Those were troops and tactics that were sorely needed by the Germans during their blitzkrieg across Russia and might have been able to turn the tide of the war there. Not an option though, because the New Zealanders had killed them all at Crete. Salute to General Freyberg and New Zealand. Those are just two of the many lessor known heros that Churchill documents throughout Book 3. This is GREAT history from a great leader who was at the helm when it was all going down. A little ‘slow reading’ through some of the correspondence between the world leaders but still Great history!

Winston Churchill's history of WWII is an extremely interesting look into the inner workings of the relationships between the Allies and all of the considerations that had to be juggled in the war against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. There are many fascinating tidbits found here. If there was a separate rating for editing or proof-reading, I would be hard pressed to give the Kindle version even two stars. It appears that the text you read is the result of scanning a printed book with an optical character recognition (OCR) program. There is at least one typo on each page and many pages have more than one typo. You get used to this and, in most cases, the word that should be there is obvious - such as "arc" for "are". The OCR missed the horizontal mark in the "e". Some of the typos are even humorous. So, Amazon, get your proof readers back to the job and straighten this out.

Reading Churchill is a genuine treat. He wrote extensively and well and was given the right by the Crown to access the official archives were kept. This is a part of the six volume set Churchill assembled to describe the second world war. While the powers in Europe were disarming their military as a result of the treaty ending the first world war, Germany openly ignored constraints upon its power by that treaty and constructed the most powerful military in Europe.. Hitler calculated correctly that the allies would back down when challenged rather than go to war again so soon. Churchill soon saw that Hitler's military strength required that the allies re-arm and form an alliance to stop Hitler. After assuming the post of Prime Minister he gathered a small force and used it to hold off the Nazis until an alliance could be forged and armed to some degree of parity with the Germans.

This is the 2nd Volume of his Memoirs of the Second World War. Much of it is rather grim with many military campaign failures particularly those in Greece and Crete. Churchill finds virtues and successes in those battles but most historians consider them costly failures. One thing worth noting is that Britain was still an empire and relied very much on troops from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India. She could not have waged war in even the bad year 1941 without their support.

Excellent book.

Churchill's series on World War II is engrossing. The depth and scope of the war itself were immense so reading this much detail about them in the voice of the person who had arguably the best understanding and greatest involvement is fascinating. For a less capable writer, the detail of the material would be too meticulous to be interesting. That is not a problem with this book or this series. Deft handling of the language keeps the tension mounting and the interest building. Personally, my favorite pieces of the book dealt with the communications between Churchill and FDR but there are certainly other highlights. As an American, most of my education regarding World War II dealt with the European theaters. This book puts a tremendous amount of focus on the conflict in North Africa which I found highly educational and engrossing.

This third volume in Churchill’s massive six-volume history of the Second World War covers 1941, a kind of transitional period during which Britain begins to go on the offensive, taking the war to Germany in the Mediterranean and North Africa; the Battle of the Atlantic, with the rise of the German U-boat and the convoy system which protects the vital supply chain that is keeping the Allied Forces in Europe fed and supplied; Hitler’s attack on the USSR; and finally, as the year ends, the straw that breaks the back of US procrastination and brings them into the war as a combatant – Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. These events mean that by the end of the year a Grand Alliance has been formed, involving some unlikely bedfellows – Great Britain with its Dominions and territories, the US, the USSR and China. There is no way to summarise the historical content of the book in a short review, so I won’t try. As with the preceding volumes, it is a mix of detail on troop movements and supply of equipment, broad discussions of the strategies of both sides in the various theatres, intimate pictures of Churchill’s relations with major players, from his military officers and fellow parliamentarians to world leaders like Roosevelt, Smuts and Stalin, and wonderfully told depictions of dramatic and often tragic events. Now that we are in the thick of war with theatres spread throughout the world, I found it hard work to keep on top of what was happening where, and who was in charge of what, and felt strongly that the book needs more and better maps, especially for those regions of the world where borders and names have changed, often more than once, since Churchill’s time. Google was an indispensable aid! However, a bit like an impressionist painting, as one steps back the detail merges into a marvellously clear picture of an incredibly complex conflict, and illustrates the relative strategic importance of each manoeuvre and every decision. It left me again astonished at how any one man could possibly have kept control of all the competing requirements and demands and my admiration of Churchill and his colleagues, military and civilian, continues to grow. The stress they lived under for so long must have been quite incredible, and though they sometimes made bad decisions, they never made them lightly or carelessly, though it may not always have seemed so to many of those affected by them at the time. As well as explaining what happened, Churchill also occasionally discusses the what-ifs. For example, he makes it clear that had Hitler persevered with his plans for invading Britain rather than turning his attention to the USSR, Britain would have been in trouble, since we were still in the process of building up our forces. He also gives his opinion on some of the strategically smaller but headline-grabbing events of the time, like the arrival of Rudolph Hess in Britain on a one-man mission to negotiate peace. It’s pretty clear Churchill thought Hess mad, and rather regretted that he was incarcerated as a war criminal. Often, in fact, Churchill shows a degree of sympathy for individuals on the other side, and sees them as acting out of patriotism and loyalty – two qualities that make up such a large part of his own character. His desire to win at all costs isn’t driven by hatred, except perhaps for Hitler himself. Similarly he detours to give a concise and very clear background to the situation with Japan, which shows his admiration for them as a people despite his fear of them as an adversary. He shows how from a mediaeval society just a hundred years earlier, Japan had built up an impressive modern Army and Navy, under the tutelage of, ironically, Britain and Germany. Churchill is clear that the Allies expected Japan to attack British and Dutch holdings in the Pacific, and that he wasn't sure even this would bring the US in. But he didn't think the Japanese were mad or suicidal enough to attack American territories. What makes it such an exceptional history is the writer’s personal involvement in every major decision. When Churchill tells a story, it is as thrilling as any adventure novel: for example, his account of the sinking of the Bismarck, a ship that had inflicted massive damage on the British fleet; or deeply moving, like his dramatic account of the Battle of Crete, explaining the decisions made and the huge toll of losses on both sides. And for the first time in this volume we really see the toll, not just on the troops, but on the senior commanders clearly exhausted and suffering from stress, and driven ever on by the relentless Churchill – high-handed, demanding and, yes, also supportive, but perhaps rather blind to how it must have been to see the deaths rather than read about them in reports. He tends to talk of numbers – pawns, not people. Again, perhaps this ability to insulate oneself mentally from the unfolding tragedies is the secret of being a successful war leader – I leave that to the psychologists to argue over. Churchill’s personal courage and willingness to risk his own life in pursuit of victory cannot be doubted, and in my opinion absolves him for expecting so much from those he commanded. He tells of his two voyages across the Atlantic to try to persuade Roosevelt to do more, and he makes these episodes light and entertaining, downplaying the very real threat of the U-boats patrolling the sea. But it’s during the second visit that we see the first real signs of his age and possible physical frailty, and the toll upon him of constant anxiety, when he strains his heart and is forced to rest. Even then, he jokes about Roosevelt and he, both in pyjamas as Churchill lay in bed and Roosevelt sat beside it, discussing strategy! And then he tells of how he flew home – an entertaining account of what was clearly an immensely hazardous journey, justified only by the gathering of hungry U-boats to hunt him on the voyage home. By the end of 1941, Japan has complete mastery of the Pacific, Germany has driven the USSR back hundreds of miles inside its own territory, and U-boats have weakened British dominance in the Mediterranean. But finally America has declared war on Japan, prompting Germany to declare war on the US. Churchill’s overwhelming feeling is one of relief that at last the US will be an active combatant. He is anxious about impending disasters in ’42 but has confidence that the tide will turn in ’43, and, as always, is unwaveringly certain of eventual victory.

Très bon livre. Bien écrit. Un incontournable de la littérature. 10/10 A+

Enjoyable and informative

バトルオブ・ブリテンに際し、チャーチル首相は総力戦研究部に独英の航空機生産比率を現戦況に捕らわれず正確に予測するよう指示。結果は独英比率は４：３（戦後の実測値は３：２）、差は予想以上に小さいのでは負けないと確信（精神論ではなくデータ重視）。戦争遂行の重点をU-ボート、ポケット戦艦、Fw200コンドル爆撃機等の攻撃による艦船被害の急拡大に対抗すべきシーレーン防衛に戦争重点を移す（バトルオブ・アトランティック）。その後、イタリア軍のエチオピア侵攻、独軍のギリシャ・クレタ島侵攻。更には北アフリカでのロンメル将軍との戦い、独戦艦ビスマルクの追跡と轟沈等、多くの事変が発生しますが、彼は常にルーズベルト大統領に現況報告書簡を送り英米の信頼感を高めていきます。昭和16年4月、松岡外相は日ソ中立条約締結にモスクワを訪問。そこにチャーチル首相から書簡が来、独ソの不安定な関係と、「英米の鉄鋼生産量は日本の10倍、それでも日本はドイツと手を組むのか？」との忠告。やがてチャーチル首相は一つの変化に気づきます。ドイツ軍がバルカン半島に派遣され、ブルガリア、ギリシャ、ユーゴスラビア等を制圧し、一部部隊がドイツ本国に戻りつつあるとき、ユーゴスラビア国軍が反乱し、それを抑えるために再度ユーゴスラビアへ戻る。この事からチャーチル首相はヒットラーの本心はソ連侵攻と見抜く（流石です）。続々と独軍がソ連に隣接するポーランドに集結する情報をチャーチル首相はスターリン書記長に書簡で暗示するも、反応は無し。チャーチル首相は内心ソ連首脳を厳しく非難する。昭和16年6月22日、独軍のソ連侵攻（バルバロッサ作戦）が開始。その夜チャーチル首相はBBC放送で共産主義をよりも独裁者ヒットラーの方が強敵(nemesis)と位置づけた説得力ある演説をする。 裏から連合国を操るチャーチル首相 独軍の侵攻は想定外のソ連軍の強力な抵抗に遭いつつもモスクワ・レニングラード占拠まで後一歩まで迫って行くが、そこには冬将軍が待ち受けていた。極寒で戦車、航空機のエンジンがかからず、機関銃も最初の一発のみで2発目以降は発射しない。神風はいつ吹くか分からないが、冬将軍は毎年やってきます。チャーチル首相はスターリン書記長と連絡を取り合うがそれ以上にルーズベルト大統領へ頻繁に書簡を送り、日本への石油輸出全面禁止等を要請し締め付け強化を要請。チャーチル首相の巧みな文章と、痒いところに手が届く気配りに大統領は完全にチャーチル首相の意のままになり、最後通告として「日本の中国からの撤退」を要求、この通告は日本が受け入れる術が無く、日米開戦は必至と予測してる。本書でチャーチル首相は「日本に虎の尾を踏ませる」意志はなかったと苦しい言い訳。チャーチル首相の優れた点は彼の自身の勉強・リサーチによる日本理解度が広く深い。①日本人は技術の習得・応用に非常に優れているが本質を掴めてない。②根拠が無いまま重要な意思決定を行う。この2点が彼の指摘です。チャーチル首相の思惑通りアメリカを参戦させたのですが、日本の軍事力は予想以上に強力で瞬く間に太平洋の制海・制空権を失い、英国軍の要シンガポールも会えなく陥落。ただ彼はパールハーバー奇襲が日本軍の絶頂期と位置づけ、軍事・工業・輸送能力の拡大を計画し、2年後の1943年を反攻開始とルーズベルト大統領の合意する。一方スターリン書記長は戦時協力と同時に戦争終結後の世界体制の重要性を強調し、チャーチル首相は1942年初頭の段階で、United Nations:国際連合の構想を打ち立て、スターリン・ルーズベルト両名から合意を得る。こうしてヒットラーが表に立って指導する枢軸国側と、チャーチル首相が裏から操る連合国側の構図が明確になる。

I admit: the moment I bought "the gathering storm" (Vol 1) I still held the prejudice that the Literature Nobel prize was awarded to the former British prime minister for winning the war. After few pages and, even more deeply, in the following three months till after finishing "Triumph and tragedy" (vol 6), I felt I was reading something extraordinaire and now I regret that the tale is finished. It reads as a thriller, a very complicated one, and it's unbelievable that a book made mostly by official letters and directives can catch your attention so completely. The sense of that historical period is given with the fresh feelings of the precise moments things happened but always with a mind that could read the real meaning of events, with an accurate analysis of the past ones and a lucid forecast of the ones to come. Together, you can catch the spirit of a first class politician, a statesman, capable of operating with whatever scanty material he has, of taking difficult decisions implying sometimes sacrifices of immense gravity in view of the least damage for his people. As I wrote in the title: when the tale of history is told by one who makes and understands it, then it lasts forever