19 December 1941. North Atlantic
The storm that HMS Duke of York had weathered over the previous few days had lessened, and so the Prime Minister Winston Churchill was able to sit down with his advisors to prepare for the upcoming conference with President Roosevelt. The British Chiefs of Staff, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, The First Sea Lord; Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff; Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff, with their staffs had been going through everything that Britain needed and wanted from the United States of America now that it was a co-belligerent. Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States on 11 December had been the final piece of the jigsaw, now the USA was at war against both Germany and Japan, and all their friends.
Sir Dudley Pound’s main concern, as the First Sea Lord was the Battle of the Atlantic. While the Japanese threat in the Pacific was terrible, it was the Atlantic Ocean that really mattered. Japan was a bit like Italy, its navy was impressive, trained of course by the Royal Navy, and its army was reasonable. But its economy wasn’t large enough to cause real problems. It seemed their attack on Pearl Harbour, the Philippines and Malaya were all just to open up the path to the Dutch East Indies’ oil, as seen in Borneo. The loss of HMS Barham was regrettable, but not a disaster. The rest of Force Z, which would soon be reinforced from the Mediterranean and another two carriers would be a good basis for a combined British, American, Dutch and Australian force to confront that southward advance.
Pound’s worry was that the Americans wouldn’t cooperate with the need to organise a convoy system all along the Eastern Seaboard. If the German U-Boats got among the tankers coming up from Texas, it could be very dangerous. The attack on Pearl Harbour was a disaster, and it would immediately focus the mind of the USN to concentrate on the Pacific, but Pound needed them to keep enough strength in the Atlantic. Now that he had responsibility for the PQ convoy route to northern Russia, his ability to provide enough escorts across the Atlantic was even more desperate. If, as muted by the Prime Minister that the old R Class Battleships were to go to Ceylon, that would put even more pressure on escorting the high value convoys. Getting some kind of escort carriers to provide air cover in the mid-Atlantic gap was something else he had set his heart on.
The Fleet Air Arm was very happy with the Martlets they were getting from Grumman, and now that the folding wing variety were becoming available, he wanted the three carriers working in Force Z to have these as their main fighter aircraft. Pound had also spoken to ACM Portal about increasing the effectiveness of Coastal Command with long range aircraft and more Catalinas.
Field Marshall Dill knew that his tenure as CIGS was coming to an end, he was going to be staying in Washington to head the British Joint Staff Mission. He knew that the American Army was at an early stage of development, and that the tanks and guns that were being produced didn’t meet their own domestic needs, never mind that of the British and Soviets. Dill had been trying to talk the Prime Minister out of his fixation with helping the Soviets at the cost of British forces. The tanks that the Americans were supplying to Australia and to India had taken pressure off the build-up of British Armoured Divisions but promising 500 tanks per month to the Soviets was just impossible to achieve, unless the Americans could supply about 300 of them, and not at the expense of the Empire’s own needs.
The danger was that the success in North Africa could be undone by moving the focus from the Mediterranean and Middle East to some kind of Second Front long before the Americans, or indeed the British would be ready. Currently he had the support of the First Sea Lord in putting off Churchill’s notions of invading mainland Europe. They barely had enough landing ships to support a Brigade sized force, it would be summer before the Navy could support landing a Division across a beach. Dill also had approved Wavell’s plan to use the amphibious assets he had to clear some Italian islands, in the hope of eventually opening the Mediterranean up for cargo ships to pass through safely. Dill knew that Wavell’s plans would be the basis for learning some of the skills needed for an invasion of Europe. Dill didn’t want to dilute Wavell’s command to stop that from happening, which was the danger of giving everything to Auchinleck, where the supply situation was even worse. Dill needed the American Army to grow and develop so that when the invasion came there would be enough Divisions to be able to take on the Germans with a reasonable chance of success.
Getting the Americans bloodied against the Germans was also going to have to be looked at. Dill knew that General Marshall would be less than happy with his men going to the Mediterranean, but Dill knew that invading somewhere like Sicily would be a good place to start. If Auchinleck wanted all the support needed for Malaya, Burma and to help the Dutch, having the Suez Canal route open would make life a lot easier.
With regards the Soviets, Dill had already fought Churchill over sending British troops to either the northern or southern fronts. Building up 10th Army in Persia was all very well, but 8th Army was needed where it was, not swanning off to Southern Russia. Dill was open to 10th Army taking over responsibility for the defence of Baku, to keep the oil flowing. If the Germans did get over the Caucasus Mountains, then the threat wouldn’t stop at Baku.
Air Chief Marshall Charles Portal had two priorities from the RAF’s point of view. The build-up of heavy bomber squadrons wasn’t progressing as fast as he wanted. The largest number of bomber aircraft he had been able to throw against the Germans at any given point was about 250. Rhubarb and Circus daylight operations over France and the Low Countries were disappointing in results and costly in terms of pilots and aircraft. The Prime Minister’s commitment to supplying aircraft to Russia meant that he only had about 100 more fighter aircraft defending British skies than at the height of the Battle of Britain.
Portal’s first priority therefore was the desperate need to get more aircraft. While the situation in the Middle East had improved dramatically, AM Tedder knew that 1942 would be a time for even greater efforts. He wanted Spitfires for Malta, more bombers to support the navy and its plans for an island hoping campaign to remove Italy from the picture altogether. In the light of the situation in Malaya and Burma, the decision to send 200 Tomahawks to the Far East rather than Russia, was prophetic. However, it would take time for them to become operational, and the arrival of the Kittyhawks (P40E) couldn’t come soon enough.
The first Airacobras (P39D) that had been delivered to Britain were considered very unsatisfactory. Portal wanted them all sent to Russia. The North American Mustang Mark I (NA-73) looked like a better bet for Army Cooperation squadrons than the Airacobras. Of the American fighters bought so far, the Brewster Buffalo was very poor, the Curtiss Mohawk was obsolete, only the later Curtiss aircraft could be considered first line aircraft. The order for the Lockheed Lightning (P38) had already been cancelled, at least now, with the USAAF taking possession of the Lightning I for their own use, would halt Lockheed’s somewhat bitter attempt to hold the British to their order for 15 million US Dollars.
The Boeing B17 would be a good addition to Bomber Command, but the Americans were taking all the new builds for their own USAAF, especially in the Pacific. The new Consolidated Liberator (LB30A) was also a potentially excellent aircraft to supplement Coastal Command. In addition to adding American bombers to Bomber Command, Portal wanted to see a commitment from the Americans to provide bombers and escort fighters to Britain to hit the German war effort. He also wanted as many medium bombers as he could get his hands on. The Blenheims were suffering badly, and the Martin Maryland and Baltimore were obvious replacements. The B25 and B26 were likely to be even better than the Martins, and Portal wanted early access to these. The Douglas Havoc/Boston (DB7/DB7B) were useful, but probably of more use to the Soviets.
The second priority was to make sure that the British orders, especially those bought and paid for before Lend-Lease would be fulfilled. The American aircraft plants were still being developed and there weren’t enough aircraft being built to satisfy the demand for the USAAF, the British orders, and Lend-Lease to both Britain and the Soviet Union. Portal knew that Churchill wanted to show the Soviets that Britain was sacrificing its own build up to support the Red Army as much as possible. There was no real prospect of a Second Front anytime soon. Portal thought that was all very well but increasing the bomber fleet would cause the Germans problems, and make the Luftwaffe divide its strength between the Eastern and Western Fronts.
The Prime Minister had heard all these points rehearsed again and again. He for one would be glad to be rid of Field Marshall Dill, the man had had the cheek to suggest that his idea of a strong force raiding France was akin to another Gallipoli. There were political as well as military aims in this war. While the Chiefs of Staff would all fight their own corners, Churchill had to woo Roosevelt and placate Stalin. Churchill knew just fine that an invasion of the continent would be impossible before spring or summer of 1943. The thought of trying to get thousands of American soldiers over the Atlantic with the U-boat menace as it currently stood was a nightmare. He agreed with Dill in so far as it would take time before the American army was properly trained and equipped.
Right now, Churchill could see that the Soviets, who were at the throats of the Nazis at the very gates of Moscow, needed to be supported. If Russia could once again to do the current European dictator what they had done to Napoleon, then the German menace would be defeated, once and for all. If that meant delaying the equipping of British Armoured Divisions, then so be it, as long as they were ready by 1943. Churchill was a bit surprised by Wavell’s plan. He’d never been a fan of the man, but what he and O’Connor had achieved in Africa was exceptional. Clearing the lesser Italian islands in 1942, until enough shipping could be made available for an assault on Sicily was just the kind of thing that the public needed to see. Holding up the Japanese in Malaya; being on the offensive in the Mediterranean; winning the Battle of the Atlantic; supporting the Soviets; bombing Germany; these were the things that would keep the sacrifices that were being asked of the British peoples from being resented.
Churchill knew he had to keep the Soviets in the fight. America however was the key. Only with their full economic might being brought to bear would tip the balance wholly in favour of the United Nations. All the Sterling investments in American industry to build planes and tanks and trucks would eventually be recouped. Yes, it would be painful, but with the forces of the British Empire, the might of American production, and the sacrifice of the Soviets, Hitler and Tojo would be consigned to the dustbin of history. Between September 1939 and December 1941, twenty-seven months of war had been endured. It would take at least that long again to win. With an American mother, Winston Churchill was sure that going to Washington and trying to boss them about, as his Chiefs of Staff seemed to think they could, would have the opposite effect.
The Americans were being asked to support a Communist country, something that innately went against the grain. They were also being asked to support an Empire of which they had once been thirteen colonies of and had fought a war against to ‘throw off the shackles.’ If King George VI’s Government was to present itself as if it were King George III’s, then any kind of ‘special relationship’ that Churchill was trying to build with Roosevelt would be torpedoed. While they weren’t coming to Washington as beggars at the table, Churchill wanted to make sure that the Chiefs of Staff didn’t think of the United States of America was to be at the beck and call of the British. Teamwork, cooperation, compromise would all be needed, otherwise the conferences were likely to be as stormy as the North Atlantic they were passing through. The ship could not be allowed to flounder, that was Churchill’s obsession.