Westminster Abbey/the Tower/the Thames (Tues., Sept21)  Maybe we might have moved it up in our planning, but we took a city bus tour of London on Tuesday.  We thought we'd be too tired on Sunday, and we had the Queen tickets for Monday and weren't sure we could get up near Soho in time, so we chose Tuesday.  That was fine, as it turned out.  We took an Evan Evans "Discovering London" tour (when the guide said Evan Evans, it sounded like 'effervescence' ... sort of).  We had a hot breakie at the hotel -- not really in love with the traditional English breakfast - you call that 'bacon'? -- and headed to Victoria Coach Station, just down the street from Victoria Station.

Our first stop was Westminster Abbey.  Now, we had already walked past, but it was good to get a tour of the place, the national cathedral.  Quite stunning inside.  Our guide showed us the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, near the main door of the cathedral.  Our guide also noted, with some reverence I might add, the tile plaque to Winston Churchill between the Unknown Warrior and the main door.  She said that Churchill was buried in a simple family grave at Bladon, near Blenheim; he could have been buried there but decided that he didn't want people walking all over him.  (Not sure about that one.)  Very interesting, walking around and seeing it all - the tombs of so many nobles who sought to preserve their memory in the country's cathedral.  Some great 360 degree photos of different parts of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster -- click Panoramic Views.  Walking along the Cloisters was nice.

Next it was off near Whitehall and the government buildings to see the changing of the Horse Guards.  The bus was parked in front of the Ministry of Defence -- in front of the Ministry is a lone statue to the Gurka Soldier.

I think then we drove around Buckingham Palace and the Mall.  The bus was pulled over because they didn't display some permit in the front window; that 'Batman' guy had everyone up in arms and this was a new policy since the Batman incident.  We went on.

We stopped for lunch at The Silver Cross pub, just south of Trafalgar Square.  The tour guide mentioned that the establishment's licence still permits them to operate as a brothel; I didn't spy any, er, workers though.  Had a Young's London Special Ale with lunch.  Lori didn't finish her steak and ale pie -- "who's the picky eater now?" (at a recent family get together, I was castigated for my picky eating habits of my youth, much to my wife's delight).

Thus far, our travels through London really hadn't brought us to ... London.  We were mostly around Westminster, Soho, etc. - all west of the old square mile of London.  So, luckily, the bus tour brought us through the old city.  Saw St. Clement Dane's Church - 'oranges and lemons ...' and St. Paul's Cathedral.  The Monument.  Fleet Street and the lot.  The face of Churchill in the logo on the Bracken Building.  The Roman excavation.  The monument to the firefighters from the Great Fire of London.

We came then to the Tower of London, world historical site.

Model of how the Tower looked in 1547

 

Here is the site of the scaffolding that saw the end of Anne Bolyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey, among others.  The legend is that, should the ravens ever leave the Tower, the Kingdom shall fall -- needless to say their wings are clipped and they're treated like royalty themselves.  We went through the Armory and saw the Crown Jewels - both well worth a look.

And here is Traitor's Gate, access from the Thames by which the unfortunates arrived at the Tower.  The Bloody Tower wasn't open that day.

We then took a boat tour of the Thames, from the Tower back to Westminster Bridge.  Enjoyed it; quite informative.  The 'guide' who said that he wasn't officially a guide, he was just making some comments about the sites while we were navigating along the river, oh, and there's this old river-going tradition of providing 'a bob or two' to your non-guide (which we did, it was a very informative non-tour).

Tower Bridge, with HMS Cornwall and HMS Belfast

HMS Belfast is part of the Imperial War Museum, and a permanent fixture on the Thames.  The Royal Navy cruiser hunted the Scharnhorst, and provided support to British and Canadian troops landing at Gold and Juno Beaches on D-Day.

The boat tour let us off at Westminster Bridge where we hooked back up with our bus tour.  The tour was over, but they were dropping people off and they let us off back at Trafalgar Square.  We walked up through China Town and into Soho.  Picked up our tickets at Queen's Theatre (Wardour and Shaftsbury) for the "Les Miserables" performance that night.  Wandered through Soho in hopes some of the cool particles would cling to us.  Stopped for dinner at Biagio Chez Victor (Italian and French cuisine), established 1901.  I had penne quatro fromagio and Lori had lasagna.  Funny waiter, young guy, he'd step out onto the street and joke with and sing to passers-by (particularly young females) trying to attract them in.

Stepping out to angellucci’s for my coffee beans
Checking out the movies and the magazines
Waitress she watches me crossing from the barocco bar
I’m getting a pickup for my steel guitar
I saw you walking out shaftesbury avenue
Excuse me for talking I wanna marry you
This is the seventh heaven street to me
Don’t be so proud
You’re just another angel in the crowd
And I’m walking in he wild west end
Walking with your wild best friend
    --  Dire Straits, "Wild West End"

I hadn't seen Les Miz before, so it was good.  Maybe it was just a bit of a let-down after seeing the Queen one, but I was left wondering what was all the fuss about?  Great story, of course; I think I liked some of the recurring music themes than most of the songs themselves.

Picadilly Circus at night is fun; so many flames, so many moths.  I'll note here that we never once felt nervous or threatened in London; everything was all pretty cool. 

Back to Pimlico Station and a short walk home.

Up Wednesday morning and checked out after breakfast; we left the luggage at the hotel and set out on foot down towards the Thames and went to the Tate Britain.  [The Tate Modern, btw, is on the other side of the river, and holds more of the modern art, as well as an international collection, but it didn't tempt me this time around.]

The Tate Britain displays the art of Britain.  There was a tour leaving just as we arrived, so we tagged along.  Some interesting comments from the guide, including how Elizabethan artists used very linear techniques and avoided shadow and depth in their paintings.  She told us of the portrait of Elizabeth, painted more to depict the myth of the Queen's image, as opposed to a depiction of the actual subject.  Art patrons of the era certainly kept this in mind ~ paint what you like so long as I look good.

A very interesting painting is the Saltonstall family portrait by David Des Granges.  The woman seated at the side of the bed holding the baby was once thought to be the nurse or nanny, but research had found that Saltonstall had a second wife.  His first wife, looking quite pale, is in bed, and the woman seated by the bed is his second wife.  She's looking more colourful; also, the two children at left from the first wife are featured at their age when their mother passed away.  An odd depiction, a little eerie.

Tate Britain has an excellent collection of paintings by John Constable ~ lots of wonderful scenes of the Salisbury countryside ~ and by Joseph M.W. Turner.

Mmm, the Marine Room is nice.  The gallery is laid out quite nicely, by theme.  I had never heard of Sir John Everett Millais, but I liked a lot of his work.

We walked along the Thames back through Westminster and Whitehall to ... ta da ... the Cabinet War Rooms.

What Churchillian visit to London would be complete without a visit to the Cabinet War Rooms.  It's a very interesting look at what life was like during the Blitz and how the government held things together ~ not exactly high tech stuff.  There's also a Churchill exhibit -- writings, letters, etc -- at the end of the tour.  Lori enjoyed it, so you know it's just not for Churchill nerds, er, buffs.

Back to the hotel to get our luggage and hail a cab to Waterloo Station.  From there, an hour's train ride south to ...

Winchester.

We spent about 24 hours in Winchester and simply loved it.  We both agreed we could retire there, if not move there right away.  Don't know exactly what did it, just the whole sense of the place.  It's an old cathedral town of about 25,000 people, several ducks and about three swans.

Winchester was the ancient Saxon capitol of the kingdom of Wessex.  Winchester Cathedral has chests that contain the bones of Saxon kings from the 7th century.  The Cathedral itself was built from 1079 and has the longest nave in Britain (so well grounded as I am in historical fiction, I find it awesome to think that Robin of Loxley hadn't even been born when this cathedral's construction began; a Saxon Christian Church from the 7th century also stood at the site).  Somehow, it struck me more than Westminster Abbey did; I don't know, just the age of the place.  Perhaps a more simple beauty.  Jane Austen is also buried here, as are Canute and William the Conqueror's son, William II.

Here's one for Al - a wall along Winchester Cathedral - "1632".  It was right next to some Latin inscription that was difficult to read, because it was well worn and because I can't read Latin.

Winchester Cathedral, you're bringin' me down
You stood and you watched as my baby left town
You coulda done somethin', hey,  you didn't try
You didn't do nothin', you just let her walk by

 

The River Itchen, a name I think Tolkien could have come up with, or even borrowed, runs through Winchester.  As you can see, it's not very wide, but it is just so beautiful.  The water is very clear and you can see the bottom, and the river itself is fairly swift.  We were both quite taken with it, and found it enchanting; I feel kind of silly saying that, but that's the way it was, Dear Reader.  Nice path along the Itchen.  Properties on the other side generally had stone or brick walls at the river, with a small door and perhaps a small balcony setting at the riverside.

Walking along the Itchen, you'll come to remains of an old Roman wall.  Even the wall that covers up the old Roman wall seemed old and picturesque to us.

Off High Street, you'll find remains of William the Conqueror's fort ~ most of it was destroyed by Cromwell's men.  Also, you'll find the Great Hall, which was once the seat of the king; the English Parliament first met here in 1246.  Behind the Hall is a lovely recreation of a 13th century garden ~ Queen Eleanor's Garden.  Inside the Hall, which is just one big empty room, hangs King Arthur's Round Table.  Built around 1280, the table is about seven centuries or so too late for its namesake, but, even later, King Henry VII liked to show it off; a visiting Holy Roman Emperor apparently commented how the painted image of Arthur resembled Henry himself.

That night, we had dinner a really great pub/restaurant, the Wykeham Arms.  I doubt I've ever been in a pub that was so well appointed with old photos and memorabilia.  Nelson used to drink there, as the Hamiltons lived nearby.  After dinner, we met up with my Churchill colleague, Robert Courts.  Robert's a young lawyer who lives in Winchester.  He and I encountered one another on the Churchill Centre listserv, started talking one on one at some point, and have corresponded fairly regularly on all kinds of matters for a good four years.  So, it was great to meet him ~ a really nice guy.  Was drinking Gales that night, btw, a local Hampshire brewery.

We went high end for our accommodations in Winchester, staying at the Hotel du Vin on Southgate Street.  Hotel du Vin is a small luxury chain, and we didn't regret it one bit.  After the rush of London, it was wonderful to relax in such a well appointed room ~ even fresh milk in the fridge for tea/coffee, a nice bar, the most amazing giant shower head I've ever encountered, nice bath, amenities, tv, cd and dvd player in the room, a trouser press, Egyptian linen, bath robes, etc.  Nice spot, we'd definitely spend the money to stay at one of these places again.

We had had thoughts of heading to Salisbury and on to Stonehenge that day, but we just decided to stay around Winchester and were glad we did ~ it's probably our favourite highlight of our trip.

Here are someone else's pics of Winchester.

... more to come... on to Portsmouth and the 21st International Churchill Conference ... ("aha" you say, Dear Reader; yes, you've caught me up)

21st International Churchill Conference
Portsmouth, U.K. - September 23-26, 2004

In life, one must indulge one's interests.  If something strikes you, follow it, embrace it, explore it until you find yourself either bored with it or further intrigued.  And so, Churchillian fools and their money are soon parted as they go off to Churchill conferences.  Although I had been to a Churchill Society for the Preservation of Parliamentary Democracy in Toronto in 2000 (to see the guest speaker John Lukacs, and visit with friends in the Big Smoke), the 2004 Portsmouth conference was my first of the Churchill variety.  Lori and I had talked about a trip to England, and this seemed like a good way to cap it off (for me anyway) ~ we built a very nice vacation around it.

It was a very interesting and informative conference ~ I felt like I was in a little Masters seminar.  I think this should count as credit to a Masters in Arts in History somewhere.

We stayed at the Royal Beach Hotel in the Southsea area of Portsmouth, but there was a shuttle service to the Marriott where the conference was held.  In attendance were Lady Mary Soames, Churchill's daughter, and Celia Sandys, Churchill's granddaughter.

Each Churchill Conference has a theme ~ this year's theme was the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, the planning and execution of the greatest military endeavour in history.

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey

The Friday session began with talks on the late Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey.  Killed in a plane crash on January 2, 1945 en route to a conference in Brussels, Ramsey didn't get the chance to write his memoirs.  There seemed to be the feeling that Ramsey had not received his due credit over the years, but that this was now changing as people remembered his skills and success as a military planner.

We first heard from Ramsey's son, Major General Charles Ramsey.  He spoke of how his father came from an old Scottish soldiering family, but Bertram Home Ramsey entered 'the silent service' - the navy.  He gained experience and had great success in planning operations -- the evacuation at Dunkirk, Operation Torch - the invasion of North Africa, Operation Husky - the Sicily landings, and other combined operations in the Mediterranean in 1943.  But this was nothing compared with Neptune, the naval operation on D-Day.  Ramsey was there at the Battle of Jutland where the total fleets amounted to 240 ships; Neptune was to involve 3-4000 ships.

We heard of the difficult but effective relationship between Eisenhower and Montgomery.  Monty who would say, "As God Almighty says, and I must say I agree with Him..."  Ike, the supreme Allied commander.  Ramsey felt that the two men had an effective relationship.

He stressed the importance of the Enigma decrypts ~ "Churchill's golden eggs" ~ and their inescapable importance to history.  Without the Allied deception that they would make their landing at Calais, Adm. Ramsey believed that the Germans would have been able to build up at least as many troops to counterattack.

By June 3, 1940, the two naval task forces that would support Neptune had put to sea.  Weather delayed the invasion, of course, and one of the task forces had difficulty regaining the lee of the Dorset coast.  But, there did turn out to be a break in the weather and Ike gave his "Go" order.  Another day's delay would have likely set the invasion back to the next full moon; not to mention the security risks, it turned out that there was a severe gale during the next full moon, so they could not have done it then.  If it weren't for that break in the weather in the early days of June, D-Day may not have happened in 1944.  Then, would it ever have happened, or been successful had it happened?  Ramsey said that "like Waterloo, it was a close run thing."

Ramsey recorded that the fleet crossed the Channel "without a murmur from the enemy."  Rommel had gone home to Germany for his wife's birthday.  And D-Day happened.  By the next day, Ramsey was getting feedback with respect to delays unloading ships; those in charge of the beaches had differing views with respect to the priorities of what ships should be unloaded -- Ramsey replied to just unload them and the priorities would take care of themselves.  By early July, Rommel believed the war was lost, and by August 23 the Germans had lost 400,000 men.

As was the case in the past -- against Spain, against Napoleon, in the Battle of the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean -- naval power had helped secure victory.

We then heard from Fanny Hugill who had served with Admiral Ramsey as one of the 'Ramsey Wrens'.  She served with him at Dover and St. James Square.  Most of the Wrens were young and just out of school, but security was high (for those times) -- "to spill the beans, any beans, would have been unthinkable".  She said there were white-gloved Marine guards at Northwick House.  The inner rooms had a model of the beaches ~ still, the key to the room sat in her unlocked desk drawers.

On April 26, 1944, they packed up and moved to Southwick House in the hills behind Portsmouth.  150 huts were set up on the grounds, and 60 Wrens lived on the top floor of Southwick House sharing one bath and loo.  "Tidiness and tolerance" were the orders of the day, and sleeping during the day was chancy.  But, she said, the attitude, friendliness and good manners of both Ramsey and Ike reflected on all the others who worked there.  They rolled up their sleeves and worked 7 day weeks, with no leave and no communication with their families.  As D-Day approached, the workload for the Wrens eased; the orders and plans were there on a thousand sheets of foolscap.

On the morning of June 6, Hugill was on watch until 5am and heard the invasion had begun.  She couldn't sleep.  "The wind howled and the shutters rattled."  The King called for prayers for peace on the radio.  Soon, the headquarters was transferred to Normandy and all the Wrens went over; she witnessed the devastation in France.  Their quarters were filthy and they couldn't drink the water (they drank wine instead).  Before long, it was on to Paris.  Ms. Hugill was a warm, wonderful speaker and it was great to hear from someone who was so close to the planning.

We then heard from another of Admiral Ramsey's sons, David.  Bertram Home Ramsey was the 4th of 5 children.  As mentioned before, the Ramseys were an old military family; Bertram did not see his parents from age 12-18.  Stationed in India in the late 19th century, Col. Ramsey (the Admiral's father) had as a subaltern and young lieutenant from the 4th Hussars, a young chap named Winston Churchill.  Churchill would write home: "I am now getting on quite well with Colonel Ramsey, who takes my advice on most matters."

Bertram Ramsey chose the Navy, and in 1909 entered the signal corps as his specialization, although gunnery was popular.  This likely aided him in developing the command and control experience and thinking that he would later demonstrate.  [It's interesting that Philip Vian's specialization was gunnery.]  In 1914, Ramsey took a Staff course and became a devotee of staff work.  He would serve on destroyers, cruisers and battleships, and at the Imperial War College, also spending time in Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Made a Rear Admiral in 1935, he was Chief of Staff for the Home Fleet.  Ramsey's 'new school' ways clashed with the old school upper echelons and he walked away from the post; he stayed on half-pay, on the active list but unemployed and focused on his family life.

As war arrived, the new First Sea Lord recalled him to duty.  He would show exceptional planning skills, helping to change Dunkirk from a disaster ~ only 45,000 were expected to be retrieved ~ to a brilliant evacuation of 329,000 soldiers.  While Churchill noted that wars are not won by evacuations, Dunkirk was absolutely necessary in providing Britain with its army and home security.  [Indeed, Churchill immediately sent an armored division to the Middle East where they would eventually help stop the German advance.]  Ramsey would repeat his successful naval planning in the Mediterranean and Normandy.  Churchill actually only restored him officially to active duty in 1944, after he had been at war for five years.  It's interesting that walking away from his job in 1938 helped him greatly later on; if he had stayed on the inside, he may never have been able to have the same impact that he did later on.  I suppose Ramsey had his own 'wilderness years'.

Dunkirk and then Overlord were 'masterpieces of improvisation and planning', and it is unfortunate that Bertram Ramsey received honours from the United States, France and Russia (an embarrassment at the time), but none from Britain.

Southwick House

We went from the Marriott via bus up to the hills behind Portsmouth and overlooking Portsmouth Harbour to Southwick House where Eisenhower had his headquarters for D-Day.  It was here that Ike and his fellow planners, including Ramsey, of course, put together the countless details of the Normandy invasions and where, chancing that small break in the weather, Ike's "Go" order was given.

The map room has a huge map on the far wall, the time and order still written on the blackboard.  The adjacent room is a tribute to Bertram Ramsey and has his portrait, photos and other information.  An historic spot.  I also met Churchill's granddaughter, Celia Sandys there.

We had lunch back at the Marriott.  I enjoyed meeting and talking with a nice guy named Paul, down from Birmingham for the weekend.  Proud father of twin 9 year old girls.  He works as a welder and is a boxer; he's boxed at the amateur level and is working on turning pro.  His grandfather used to guard Churchill at Chequers.

D-Day

I'll write now about our afternoon talk, from an American veteran of Omaha Beach.  It was an honour to hear from him, and from the other D-Day veterans who spoke to us over the course of the conference.  I doubt we'll ever be able to understand what they experienced and endured.  We, of course, owe them a great debt of honour.  My Dad's Uncle Joe landed in Normandy in July, would fight his way through into Holland, and die on the battlefield seven months later.  People are out there today fighting for human freedom, fighting against those who would gladly see it cast from the Earth forever, and I know I can't begin to imagine what they are experiencing and enduring.  But to imagine these men who were about to launch themselves across the Channel in plywood gliders or be tossed about on small landing crafts and rush the guns of the well-entrenched enemy ~ it's beyond me.  What if there was no D-Day?  Or what if these men had not acted as bravely as they had?  What if Hitler was able to force them back and stave off the invasion?  Would another attempt ever be made?  Would Hitler have been able to reinforce and stabilize his Eastern front?  In the end, a stalemate.  Hitler secure in Europe, but with advanced and ever-advancing rocketry and long-range bomb delivery capability and an atomic bomb by the 1950s.  Our world as we know it came down to those men on that day.  Thank God for them.

Major General J. Milner Roberts

American J. Milner Roberts landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day.  Now 86, Roberts says that he was there at 'bloody Omaha' - he was there, and, at 86, he's glad to be anywhere.  He was a Commander in the Glider Infantry and served as aide-de-camp to General Leonard Gerow, 29th Infantry, 5th Corps.  He said he went from driving his $800 Studebaker Club Convertible to a plywood and canvas CG4A glider that could carry 15 men or a jeep.

In 1944, he was a Captain and landed at Omaha Beach a few hours after the first landing to find the beach covered with bodies.  His LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry) had run aground and the men were forced out into deeper water.  Those who inflated their life belts didn't fare well - many were drowned as they became top-heavy.  Roberts didn't inflate his and made it ashore.  On D-Day +1 he was back at Omaha, and came across his best friend's body.  He passed by a tank that was on fire and there was terrible screaming coming from inside; sights and sounds he has never forgotten.

He used his shirt tail to field strip his weapon, and crawled around through bushes trying to avoid snipers.  Up on a bluff, he looked back to the Channel and could see the hundreds of ships that were still taking part in the invasion ~ "a sight few have seen or ever will see."

Among his duties were to prepare the pup tent for General Gerow.  As he spoke French, Roberts was sent on recon duty for the next few weeks.  The French villagers and Parisians were overjoyed and the champagne that they had kept from the Nazis now flowed freely.  Roberts told of one American soldier who was not wearing his helmet and was hit in the head with a champagne bottle ... and later received a Purple Heart.  8-)

Roberts was a recipient of the French Legion of Honor, and fought at the Battle of the Bulge and the Zeigfried Line, and later prepared for the invasion of Japan.

Geoff Barkway, DFM

Geoff Barkway received the Distinguished Flying Medal for his service on D-Day.  Most at the conference would agree that he should also receive the Distinguished Speaking Medal as he was a real highlight of the proceedings, a man full of ease and good humour describing amazing events.

Geoff Barkway led a small group of men who were the First Ashore on D-Day.  While the first assault craft landed around 6am, and paratroops landed in Normandy a few hours earlier, 3 gliders carrying infantry were sent deeper into Normandy to secure an important bridge that the Nazis could utilize in a counterattack.  Geoff Barkway flew one of those gliders.  First ashore on D-Day ~ quite a thing.  For Barkway, his landing was in a field a few hundred yards from the German held 'Pegasus Bridge'.  It's no surprise that he won the Distinguished Flying Medal.

An apprentice railway engineer, Barkway was appointed to the Railways Branch of the Royal Engineers early in the Second World War.  He volunteered for glider training in 1942.

In April 1940, German airborne forces arriving via gliders took a Belgian fort.  Churchill's resulting edict was that "we will have airborne armies" and the British looked for volunteers; Barkway joined in August 1942 and went through 6 weeks of training that attempted to turn them into tough fighting men.

There were various kinds/sizes of glider - the Tiger Moths, the Manchester, the Hotspur and the Horsa.  The Horsa had an 88' wingspan and was 69' in length, could carry 29 troops or a jeep to a maximum payload of 6,000 lbs.  Another kind, a Hamil car, could carry a light tank.

Barkway described some of the technology.  There was a 'blind flying instrument', also known in the trade as the 'angle of dangle', for flying in cloudy weather or when you lost sight of the towing plane.  It apparently didn't work so well ~ a telephone cable attached to the tow rope; the angle of the rope showed you your relation to the towing plane.  But, the line would get stretched and snap, punching holes in the fuselage of the glider.

During training one day, they received a visit from the King and Queen Mum and the princesses.  Loading one of the gliders, one guy had jammed his hand between the payload and the doorframe of the glider, uttering some colourful language.  The Queen Mum commented, "Well, I suppose they do get frustrated."

In April 1944, they were told that they would be increasing their training altitudes from 2,000 feet to 6,000 feet, and that they would begin training to land in a small field at night.  "This is the first we'd heard of this."  They practiced landing near Bailey Bridge carrying a playload of 6,000 lbs of cargo ~ but they found that this could shift forward violently upon landing, driving into the back of the pilots and was "not conducive to feeling alright."

One day during training, Barkway and his co-pilot got lost in the clouds and, when they got clear, saw that they were approaching a village.  They put the glider down in the village green, and their aircraft came to a stop right in front of the local pub.  So, they went inside and were having a few when they noticed an RAF officer entering the establishment.  Barkway and his friend were worried, but the officer told them, keep it quiet boys, or we're in for it, and bought them a pint.

And then came D-Day.  A few minutes after midnight, the gliders set off for the respective bridge.  Pegasus Bridge was near the River Orn and a canal at Caen.  In the middle of the night, Barkway directed his glider to a small field adjacent to the small bridge -- we were showed photos, it was indeed a small area.  There were a few casualties upon landing ~ the gliders tend to break up ~ but the landing was a success and the bridge was taken.  Barkway himself suffered a concussion at the landing, and was subsequently shot as he staggered about the plane; there was the possibility that it was friendly fire - with his concussion he would not have remembered to use the password.  He was invalided out of the Army in 1945, and had long career with London Transport and as an 'underground' consultant for transit systems in New York and Singapore.

Barkway asked if we'd mind if he added a few more stories ... Yes, please!

In one case, the French family that operated the Inn at the bridge was hiding in the basement.  After the area was secured, they were still hesitant to come up -- the mother wanted to, but the father felt that it could be a German trap to sniff out Allied-collaborators.  They listened carefully to the goings on as the British soldiers explored the property and grounds.  Despite hearing English, the father was still afraid.  Then one of the soldiers tripped over a case of wine and fell, letting out a long string of expletive deleteds.  This was all the father needed ~ 'only British soldiers would use that kind of language'.

The other story happened later in the day.  Prior to D-Day, they had seen aerial photos of the area, and were disturbed to see newly dug holes in the ground.  They suspected that the Germans would be putting up anti-glider poles, basically telephone pole type defences against gliders landing in the area, you'd hit them well off the ground, crashing your landing attempt.  This was 2 days prior to D-Day, but they were told "you're going anyway".  Later on June 6th, after the area was secured and they had set up their defensive perimeter, they saw a group of men carrying poles came marching along the road.  The British asked them what they were doing.  They replied, we're here to put up these glider poles.  The British advised them that they were too late.  "But we'll be shot if we don't" came the rely.  The British then told them, go ahead and put them up then.

Leigh-Mallory called Barkway's efforts the finest bit of precision flying in the whole of the Second World War.

Thank you for coming, thank you for staying, Barkway concluded.  Ha, I'm sorry he had to leave; again, it was an honour and a joy to hear from this war hero.

Reception at D-Day Museum, Portsmouth

On the evening of Friday, September 24, 2004, the Churchill conference moved to the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth.  Interesting place.

Check out, if you will, the Overlord Embroidery which is laid out on the wall in a circular room at the museum.

The 60th Anniversary of D-Day pages are worth reviewing.  HMCS Charlottetown participated this past June.

Incidentally, here is the airborne page with a picture of Pegasus Bridge.  The museum also features a scale model of Pegasus Bridge and the gliders in the adjacent field.

All events embedded in the Past were once in the Future

Saturday morning at the conference got downright academic, with talks from Professors David Stafford and David Reynolds.  Their talks related to, among other things, the planning for D-Day.  As we look back, since it was successful, we see an invasion of Normandy as the only way it could have gone; we realize though, when we think of this simple idea, that what is embedded in the past was once in the future ~ in the future for those who had to make the decisions regarding what to do and plan for the myriad of unseen circumstances that will face you in warfare.

"Setting Europe Ablaze"

David Stafford is Project Director of the Centre for Second World War Studies at the University of Edinburgh.  His talk, "Setting Europe Ablaze", was on the subject of Churchill and the Special Operations Executive, or SOE.  Stafford commented that Ramsey has gone underrated for his excellent planning work, but felt that, had he lived and wrote his memoirs, his voice would have been drowned out by more by the less modest ... mostly generals. [This was the first of more than a few - not just from Stafford - slightly derogatory though tongue-in-cheek jabs at Montgomery.  More on this later.]  D-day, said Stafford, was the payback for Dunkirk, and Ramsey was supremely involved in the planning of both endeavours.  As for Dunkirk, of course, Churchill said that wars are not won by evacuations.

Churchill had seen first hand the limits of imperial power against a guerilla force.  In South Africa, he developed a great respect for his Boer opponents.  In the Northwest frontier of India and in Cuba, Churchill saw further examples.  In Cuba in 1895, he witnessed that guerillas can neither be caught nor defeated.  He learned of the successes of guerilla tactics in Northern Ireland, China and in Spain (where irregulars played an important role in Wellington's campaign).  He worried about the French "defensive habit of mind", and that they would not go in for "ungentlemanly warfare".

So, Churchill decided to create the Special Operations Executive.  In light of the absence of the French Army and a subjected people in much of Europe, the SOE was to be a strategic plank in dark times, 'the corpus of the liberating offensive'.  They also became known as 'the Baker Street Irregulars'.

Apparently at Clem Atlee's urging, Churchill chose Hugh Dalton, then Minister of Economic Warfare, on July 16, 1940 instructed Dalton to set up what would eventually be the Special Operations Executive, telling Dalton, "And now, set Europe ablaze."  The war cabinet chartered the SOE "to co-ordinate all action by way of subversion and sabotage against the enemy overseas" and its operations would not be reported to Parliament.

Stafford spoke of the SOE's role in destroying the Germans' Norsk heavy water operations in Norway, of the 'heroes of Telemark'.  Here's a very recent Times article on their sad fate.  Here's an interesting slideshow on 'the real heroes of Telemark', i.e. the Norwegian resistance.  The German scientists were on the wrong track at the time, but the Allies did not know this, only that there was a huge increase in heavy water production.  The SOE helped disrupt that production, and the transfer of heavy water back to Germany once the Germans realized that the Norwegian sites would continue to be subject to bombing.  The Nazis inflicted torture and death upon the captured SOE men.

"White Rabbit" was the SOE codename for Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas.  He would later be captured and brutally tortured by the Nazis, sent to Buchenwald only to escape back to France, and would be an important witness at the Nuremburg Trials.  He begged to meet with Churchill for five minutes.  Churchill agreed and was so fascinated by Yeo-Thomas' accounts that the meeting lasted for over an hour.  Yeo-Thomas pleaded for more weapons and equipment for SOE operatives in France, and Churchill agreed, ordering a hundred drops of supplies and munitions.

Women were also used by SOE, particularly as couriers, as it was felt that the Nazis were less likely to suspect women.  Many gave their lives.

Stafford respectfully disagrees with historian John Keegan who, according to Stafford, says that the SOE was a waste and didn't really accomplish anything.  Says Stafford, the SOE involvement helpled to focus minds prior to D-day.  Contrary to (some) opinion, the SOE did not provoke the uprising in Warsaw; they had long turned away from this strategy.  The SOE and the Secret Intelligence Service really used opposite tactics; the SIS did not want things blowing up, they wanted to go unnoticed all the time.  Not so for the SOE.  Taken from Churchill, the SOE's motto was "Action This Day" -- says Stafford, "it's no wonder they made enemies in torpid bureaucracies."

"Churchill and the Second Front"

David Reynolds is a Professor of International History at Cambridge.  In hindsight, says Reynolds, it's obvious to us that the road to Berlin ran through Normandy; that it was an inevitability, the only way.  But was it?  It was certainly not always so apparent to those responsible for planning the liberation of Europe.

By 1942/43, Churchill believed that an invasion was required - that bombing alone would not bring about a German surrender.  On his way to Washington after Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Churchill drew up plans for "the campaign of 1943".  These plans entailed "several landings" at "suitable points" strong enough to encourage local populations to rise up.  (Obviously, we're back to the SOE and Churchill's belief that local populations might play a significant guerilla role in the conflict.)  Reynolds has a new book coming out called "In Command of History" -- not likely to be a revisionist work, Reynolds examines the writing of Churchill's war memoirs.  He points out here in his talk that Churchill's "campaign of 1943" plans contained something that Churchill chose to omit from his war memoirs -- that the plans "were not to be shown to our American friends at this time".

Marshall saw the Mediterranean as a 'suction pump' for men, arms and materiel that could be going toward an invasion of Europe.  Again, we're talking about hindsight here, as no one expected Hitler to change his plans and make an all-out attempt to retake Tunis.  The war in North Africa slogged through the winter and now we're in May 1943.  Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, would come in July 1943 and the Allies started their way up into Italy.

Again, here, Montgomery is mentioned:  "the unmentionable 'M', reticent, discreet, diffident".

September 1943, the Italian surrender.  Everyone expected Hitler would retreat to the Alps, but he turned around and ordered Kesselring to hold Rome.  This further slowed the Allied advance.  Reynolds made the point that Churchill's view of Italy as "the soft underbelly of Europe" related more to political than military concerns.

How did Overlord look in 1943?  Not promising.  A 'star study', General Morgan was given the task of drawing up plans for an invasion of Europe after being told 'you have X number of troops and X number of tanks, etc'.  Churchill was not impressed with the plan (no fault to Morgan), fearing another Dunkirk.  Eisenhower and Montgomery were brought in, the Morgan plan was torn up, and plans for Overlord proceded.  At the time, Churchill was encouraged by the new momentum and confidence.

As a strategist and historian, Churchill was not always enthusiastic about success.  Despite information from 'Ultra', Hitler did not retreat from North Africa and Italy; and he did resist retreat in Russia - it was obvious that Hitler would be averse to retreating in northwestern Europe.  Still, by the spring of 1944, "I am hardening on this operation."

Again, all events embedded in the past were once in the future.

"Ten Days to D-day"

Again, David Stafford spoke to us, this time on the important and anxious ten days leading up to D-day.  With hindsight in mind, Stafford noted that we should look to the memos and letters that were written at the time, and not the memoirs that were written later.

Sunday, May 28, 1944.  Chequers.  Churchill received the secret box containing 20 Ultra decrypts.  They noted that, looking at Allied bombing patterns (part of the Allied deception plan), the Allied invasion was likely to be north of the Seine in the Pas de Calais region.

Stafford mentioned Churchill's son Randolph who "almost warrants a conference himself".  Age 33, an MP, Randolph saw action at Bengazi and Salerno, and lived the guerilla life with Tito's partisans.  On May 25th, there had been a German paratroop attack supported by Stuka bombers; Randolph was captured only to escape.  On the 28th, Churchill learned of this and wrote to his son, "We are having a lovely day where we live from time to time..." (probably a high level security measure for the day).

From Portsmouth, Veronica Owen wrote to her twin brother Hugh.  "Even during the Wilderness Years, we were brought up to admire Winston Spencer Churchill."  Those who were to go across the Channel on D-day were in sealed camps.  Glen Dicken of the Regina Rifles wrote of seeing the bombers flying overhead, a "beautiful sight" as they were "softening the enemy".

Then came a scare.  On May 31, an Ultra decrypt told of Hoshima, the Japanese ambassador to Berlin, advising Tokyo of an "Allied bridgehead in Normandy".  But Hitler was convinced that talk of a Normandy landing was a ruse to turn German attention away from the true landing point - the Pas de Calais to the north.

The BBC was broadcasting supposedly secret messages to the French resistance.  A certain line from a particular French poem would mean that an invasion would come within a month, another line meant that an invasion was imminent, etc.  A German officer learned of the BBC plan, but was apparently not able to communicate it to the proper higher-ups.

Another scare.  "Neptune" was the codename for the naval operation on D-day.  A Telegraph crossword on June 1 contained 'neptune' as a clue.  This warranted an immediate MI5 inquiry and it turned out that four more clues in recent weeks were words directly related to the Overlord operation.  Indeed worrisome!  It turned out, however, that the crossword was developed by a simple schoolmaster who took help from his pupils in coming up with the words and clues.  His pupils had recently come into contact with many American servicemen, some of whom came from places with funny names like Utah and Omaha.

Then there is all the worry that Churchill caused when he announced that he would cross the Channel on D-day.  Ramsey protested to Ike.  The King got involved, saying that if Churchill went, then he'd go to.  Not wanting to put the King at risk, Churchill reluctantly agreed to wait a few days.  Churchill, always wanting to be where the action was, then went down to Portsmouth.  Ike blew a fuse, saying that Churchill would "be a great bore" and, more importantly, "attract attention".  Said Ike, why didn't Churchill go smoke his cigar with the Lord Mayor at Dover.  But then he accepted fate and thought that it would be better to be able to keep an eye on Churchill.

The Germans never saw through the deceptions, the weather cleared momentarily, and Overlord was a success.

Field Marshall Lord Bramhall

We then received a talk from D-day veteran and former British Chief of Defence Staff Field Marshall the Lord Bramhall.  As a young 20 year old lieutenant, Bramhall went ashore in the second wave at Juno Beach, "behind the gallant 3rd Canadian Division".

By 1944, there was no doubt of the invasion.  1943 operations were right to direct Allied operations to the Mediterranean, drawing off German forces from northwestern Europe.  They had also heard rumours of the Pas de Calais deception.  As they were leaving Southampton by boat, someone called to them, "Are you downhearted?"  "No!", they replied.  "Well you bloody well will be!"

They landed at Juno Beach, in six feet of water during an air raid.  The Canadians, he said, had had a really mauling time of it, facing a fierce counterattack from the "fanatical 12 Panzer armoured division".  And he spoke of the ghastly business of the murder of Canadian prisoners of war by the Germans there.

He spoke of the tremendous work of the leaders of the day -- Ramsey, Kirk, Vian, Leigh Mallory, Cunningham.  He spoke of Churchill persuading FDR and Marshall that Europe should be the priority after D-day, that 1944 was in fact the realistic date for the 2nd front (not 1943 or 1942), and the great work of the Allied air forces -- the 8th US Air Force and British Bomber Command -- which quickly gained air superiority, if not supremacy, on the day.

He spoke frankly but fairly about Montgomery.  Unpopular, though well served by Omar Bradley.  We owe Montgomery a great deal -- through his professionalism he broadened and strengthened the assault, increasing the chances of success.  He spoke of cricket, "hitting the Germans for 6" and had leadership of the highest quality.  He spoke of his first meeting with Montgomery -- as he entered the tent, one of Monty's aids warned "He'll ask you, Have we met before?  He doesn't mind if you say No.  He doesn't mind if you say Yes.  But he very much minds if you say "I don't recall"."

The Falais Gap.  He spoke of this as the Hinge of the Normandy plan.  It was the British and Canadian forces who came up against the fanatical and elite German units in the east who were defending the roads to Germany.    The Americans saw 100 tanks at St-Lo, compared with 600 tanks against the British and Canadian armies.  The Americans moved swiftly on their swing movement, with Patton, south of Falais, asking "do you want me to drive these Limeys into the sea?"

Of Ike, the supreme commander, he was "a supreme commander".  No one else could have done what he did.  He did not have the battlefield experience; Monty was "the last word in tactics".

I enjoyed Bramhall's talk because he (a) spoke plainly about Montgomery and (b) identified the Normandy plan in a room with a majority of Americans.  In Spielberg's "Private Ryan", Tom Hanks meets up with Ted Danson a few says into Normandy.  They're waiting for Monty.  He's "overrated".  Overrated?  On what grounds?  Overrated by whom?  No one's saying he's a polite chap without a huge ego.  Huge egos kinda fit the job requirement for successful battlefield generals.  But, I think this was the American view at the time, and perhaps still is today - that the Americans pushed through France while the Brits and Canadians doddled along.  And Monty was part of the problem.  I had lunch with an American couple on Saturday who felt that there was a bit of pandering to the American audience going on when Monty was discussed, so I was happy to hear Bramhall's words.  But, take a look at the map - the British and Canadian beaches were to the east and they were to face the "fanatical" and "elite" German divisions.  The plan was that they would take the brunt, act as the hinge and the American armies would wheel around down through France.  Churchill notes that this was the Allied plan of attack.  In his report on the campaign, Ike noted that if it were for the great sacrifices of the British and Canadian armies, the American advance would not have been possible.  This was the plan and it shouldn't have surprised anyone that it took a few days longer than expected to push their way through.

Celia Sandys

Churchill's grand-daughter, Celia Sandys, spoke to us next regarding 'Churchill & leadership'.  It was a nice fit in the schedule for me, as it seemed to bring the 'Churchill' back into the conference.  She spoke of her grand-father's leadership and we heard excerpts from different Churchill speeches.  She also told an anecdote from when Churchill had go