Transgressions: May, 1940

May 4, 1940, Saturday

Lunch with Lord Cecil and Jack, who were very much in form.

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Jack:? “The Cabinet have formed a Leakage of Information Committee.”

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Lord Cecil:? “Words and wit fail me.”

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?“We are planning the conquest of Iceland for next week.? Only fair, given that the Germans have the rest of Scandinavia.”

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“Not a winning bargain:? four nations for a chunk of steam-heated rock.”

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Jack says that the French are achieving air superiority over the Germans, matching their production airplane for airplane and purchasing a quarter again of that total from the U.S.? And the Soviets are “frantically” building up their forces with thousands of new tanks and tens of thousands of artillery pieces as well as an Air Force as big as those of the Germans, French and British combined.

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“Which means, I take it, that a Franco-Soviet alliance, um, would be invincible, the current Nazi-Soviet alliance nearly so, and the current British-French alliance not nearly so.”? Lord Cecil.?

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“On the other hand, the French General Staff and the four hundred families won’t allow a Franco-Soviet alliance and the Nazi-Soviet alliance is a strange creature indeed, leaving our alliance with the French as the long-term best wager.”? Jack.

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“If we are able to reach the long-term.”? Lord Cecil.

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May 6, 1940, Monday

Jacks says that during Cabinet Churchill accused Halifax of high treason for suggesting peace talks as a way of delaying a German invasion.? “An example of how excitable and unsound Winston can be, especially given the way he has botched the Norwegian operation.”

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May 7, 1940, Tuesday

To-day there are trees in full bloom under cloudless skies.

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After lunch I went with Fiona to the House for the debate on Norway.? Fiona says that “a Scottish colleague” tells her that Lord Hankey, who has to open a similar debate in the Lords, complained that “he would be addressing most of the members of the Fifth Column.”? Just before four Chamberlain began the debate by announcing that British forces had withdrawn from southern Norway.? The Opposition benches were in an uproar.? Chamberlain excused the defeat by saying that it would have been impossible to predict the German tactics.? Labour MPs—and not only those from Labour—shouted:? “They missed the bus!”? The Speaker had to call for order. Chamberlain announced that Churchill was to take the additional role of Chairman of the Military Co-ordinating Committee of the Cabinet and stated that it would be better to “occupy ourselves with increasing our war effort rather than disputing about the form of Government”.

Attlee responded as Leader of the Opposition, paying tribute to the courage of British fighting forces before going on to remind the House of some of Chamberlain's (and Churchill's) previous confident assertions about the likely victory of the British in the invasion of Norway.? He was followed by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes, who said that he dressed in uniform because he wanted to speak for his friends among the fighting sea-going navy, who were very unhappy.? He said that the leadership of the war effort was the problem.? Leo Amery delivered a fierce attack on the government, after which he turned to the government front bench and quoted from Cromwell at them:? “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go”.? A very nicely executed knife thrust.

We walked back to Walbeck Street admiring the barrage balloons above London, which, when the moon is full, are like sliver shad back home.

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May 8, 1940, Wednesday

At the start of the second day’s debate, Herbert Morrison declared that the Labour Opposition wished to call for a vote of censure on the Government.? Chamberlain said he welcomed the chance for a division, and that he called upon his “friends” to support him. ?The phrase gave Lloyd George the opportunity of reply that “It is not a question of who are the Prime Minister's friends.”? Chamberlain has appealed for sacrifice.? “Nothing which can contribute more to victory in this war than that he should sacrifice the seals of office.”? The Government won 281:200 on Labour’s motion; a defeat, I should think, given the Government’s 200 seat majority.

Afterwards Jack and Lord Cecil and I dined at Bucks, where both the food and drink were delicious. ?Lord Cecil said:? “Chamberlain will have to resign, unless Labour can be brought into a new National government.”

Jack:? “That will mean the end of England.? They will demand, oh, the confiscation of all the great houses.”

Cecil:? “As will the Germans.”

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Back at Welbeck Street, Fiona said that her friend believes that Churchill is to be PM.? She says that Guy Burgess has gone to talk with Churchill this evening, discussing information about Air Force’s true strength and German plans, and urging him to seize the chance for the Premiership.

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May 9, 1940, Thursday

Another lovely day.? The tulips are almost at their best.

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Jack:? “Chamberlain asked Attlee and Greenwood to join a coalition Government, but they have said that they were not prepared to serve under him.? Kingsley Wood has told Chamberlain that meant he would have to resign.? The PM is inviting Churchill and Halifax to discuss who should follow him in office.”?

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Lord Cecil:? “Winston is there as a sop to the papers.? I fear that it is Halifax and a separate peace.? We were too late.”

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May 10, 1940, Friday

It is as hot as if Summer had already begun.

Jack:? “The King has sent for Lord Halifax.? Churchill is remaining at Admiralty House.”

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Cecil:? “Poor Holy Fox.? Just as Germany has invaded Holland and Belgium.”?

Jack:? “Not unexpected.? They will not have any easy time of it.? We and our allies have a few more divisions than they; they have more aircraft; we have more tanks.? Wise men say that the aggressor requires overwhelming numerical superiority.”

Cecil:? “If the defenders fight.”

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May 11, 1940, Sunday

Whit Sunday. This afternoon the barrage balloons shone bright and golden in the sun.? The weather was particularly idyllic this evening; London looking beautiful, the parks with their blue vistas of Watteauesque trees and the gardens behind the railings showing massed lilac and blossoming trees.?

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German planes have been seen over Paris.

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May 13, 1940, Monday

The United States Chargé in Iran has informed the Secretary of State that Russia has demanded and been granted the use of seven Iranian landing fields.? He writes that “Moscow seems to be tempted by the chance for easy spoils . . . to secure the larger Soviet objectives of over-throwing capitalism by causing a general social and economic breakdown in as many countries as possible.”?

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The German government has told the Dutch and Belgians that their neutrality had been threatened by the Allies and that therefore the German Army was being sent in to guarantee that neutrality.?

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The Government are completely silent about the extraordinary Hess affair.

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May 14, 1940, Tuesday

More glorious weather.

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The French have won a tank battle at Hannut in Belgium.? That aside, the news from the front is almost completely disastrous:? Belgium is managing to hold out a little, but Holland has fallen in just four days.? The fifth column were only in the nick of time prevented from capturing Queen Wilhelmina, who rushed to a radio station with the warning ‘Do not trust your best friend!’”

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The Germans have invented a new kind of warfare, using massed airplanes as artillery.? They are into France, having broken through—or at least come through—at Sedan.? Just like old times.

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May 15, 1940, Wednesday

An appeal last night for home defence—against parachutists.? Rab Butler Foreign Secretary.

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Low’s cartoon:? Queen Wilhelmina looking quizzically at Halifax’s out-stretched hand:? “My best friend?”

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My report is for the most part an appreciation of the situation in which the President finds himself, with a rather bare outline of the contents of the State Department letters to and fro.? The President is reduced to imploring Mussolini to remain neutral and is operating a kind of rescue service for the royal families of small countries.

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Foreign Minister Ciano now believes that the chances of Italy entering the war are 90 to 10 in favor.

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Kennedy has given an account of a conversation with Churchill, in which the latter anticipates defeat of France and perhaps Great Britain and the British Government (“or however much of it keeps their nerve”) sailing on the Fleet to Canada to continue the war.? In the meantime, Kennedy says that Churchill wants 40 old destroyers and as many aircraft as can be delivered as soon as possible.

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Russia has demanded and been granted the use of seven Iranian landing fields.

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May 17, 1940, Friday

Jack:? “The French have been shattered by the German trick of combined air-tank attacks.”

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Lord Cecil:? “Do you believe that?? My friends tell me that the French troops and guns were hardly used.? Most of their air force is resting in North Africa.? The Germans would have gotten through with wooden rifles and donkeys.”

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May 18, 1940, Saturday

Dined with Livia in her rooms at the Dorchester, where she has a kind of butler’s kitchen.? We cooked our own dinner:? an omelet, peas, asparagus and stewed raspberries, and tried unsuccessfully not to talk about the war.

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Barbed wire and machine-gun posts at the Horse Guards.

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Vansittart wishes Mosley, Admiral Sir Barry Domville and others arrested and imprisoned on the grounds that they would collaborate with the Germans during an invasion.? Sir John Anderson will not approve, doubting the likelihood of an invasion.

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May 19, 1940, Sunday

It has been cloudless for at least three weeks now:? ideal weather for air-raids.? The Germans continue to advance into France.? The government of the Republic is in complete disarray.? There seems to be a slow-motion coup underway.? Pétain has been brought in as Vice President of the Council.

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General Ironside, who had been Commander of British forces in Murmansk during Churchill’s efforts to overthrow the Bolsheviks, has told Anthony Eden that this is the end of the British Empire.? He says he does not believe that Britain can hold out alone for more than a few months.

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“Certainly not with General Ironside in a position to influence matters.”? Lord Cecil.

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Herschel Johnson has approved a raid on Tyler Kent for tomorrow.

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“The interesting question,” said Lord Cecil, “Is whether Ambassador Kennedy had known about Kent’s activities.”

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“Or ordered them.”? Nadine.

May 20, 1940, Monday

Another glorious day.

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Kent has been arrested.? Apparently, he was recruited by the White Russian underground when he was in Moscow on his first posting.? They passed him on to Nazi intelligence, who have kept him well-fed (“and well-fucked”—Fiona) here in London.? In addition to the couple of thousand secret documents filling his flat, the police found the membership book of the Right Club, which, in a spirit of irony, no doubt, they called “the Red Book.”? It lists such as A. K. Chesterton, Lord Redesdale, the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Westminster, and many other Conservative M.P.s, journalists, former colonial officials and such like.? His friend Wolkoff has also been arrested.

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May 21, 1940, Tuesday

Nadine:? “I hear that General Ironside and people like that are starting to talk about this being the End of the British Empire.? None too soon—actually rather late—it should have ended twenty-five years ago, but was saved by the War.? It is a nice problem to attempt to decide whether the Empire has been worse for its subjects overseas or for the English themselves.? Lord Curzon and his friends fancied themselves Roman proconsuls.? There is something in that.? The Roman government—the Senate and its traditions—was the instrument by means of which a few families were able to monopolize the violence of the state in order to enrich themselves and impoverish their neighbors.? So it has been here these four or five centuries:? the rich stealing the bread of the poor in England, then in Ireland and Scotland; gradually growing in strength and self-righteousness until, falling on Bengal in a moment when that country was unable to resist, they became truly Roman, like those clever parasites of the insect kingdom that turn the very bodies of their prey into machines for meeting the needs of the parasite, not the host.”

“You are saying that those you entertained at Waddesdon were worms of some kind?”

“Well, it isn’t the worm’s fault, is it, if they are made that way?? Actually, I suppose I am being harsher than that.? It is often noted that Jews are much given to harsh judgments of others.? Many of our guests, as you have been kind enough to remind me, seemed civilized enough in company, but one did not see them with their bankers and bailiffs.”

“Weren’t some of their bankers rather . . .”

“Rothschilds?? Cassels?? Yes, some were.? More weren’t.? I am not talking about innocence; I’m talking about something I know much better:? guilt.”

“Do you really believe that the poor in, say, Bengal, will be better off left to the mercy of their own local landowners?”

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“Certainly.? How could they be worse off?? I am told that we are only months from a great famine there, a famine in a land where rice grows in the middle of the pavements, a famine that will be the flower of our good government.? We are good at famines.? Ask the Irish.”

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May 22, 1940, Wednesday

It is pouring with rain for the first time for months.

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Stalin, perhaps still fearing a British offensive, has put the Soviet Union on a war footing, commanding a seven-day week and increased armaments production.

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The Guards have been put into Boulogne.

Nadine:? “There is an ’All is lost’ sort of attitude in evidence in many quarters.”

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There is a rumour that Marshall Gamelin has shot himself, another that the breakthrough on the Meuse was due to the fact that the French troops were colonials who ran.? “They would say so, wouldn’t they?”?

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“Who?”

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“Our generals, who are hoping to do something similar in, say, Kent.”

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May 23, 1940, Thursday

Parliament has approved the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, which gives the government unlimited power “for requiring persons to place themselves, their services and their property at the disposal of His Majesty.”? In other words, a dictatorship.

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Concert of Schumann songs by Richard Tauber and a Beethoven piano concert by Joseph Weingarten.

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Later, Alice.? We were both rather bored.

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May 24, 1940, Friday

?The lunch news reported the first bombs dropped on English soil, in Yorkshire, Suffolk and Essex.

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Watt was very cheerful.? “We succeeded at something that had been very difficult.”

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“That is not very clear.”

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“Well, the matter in question is now the equivalent of en clair.”

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“Right.? You’ve broken a code.”

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“A cipher, actually. Or, to be more precise, a method for producing them.? But I’ve already said too much.? Suffice to say, that things are going rather well in the shop.”

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May 25, 1940, Saturday

Lord Cecil:? “The Germans have taken Boulogne; Calais is said to be heavily besieged; Guderian in continuing his advance on Dunkirk.”

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Halifax has informed the War Cabinet that “at the invitation of a third party a meeting had taken place between Sir Robert Vansittart and a member of the staff of the Italian Embassy” to explore Mussolini’s terms for “a European settlement.”?

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Dorchester evening.

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May 26, 1940, Sunday

Rain for the first time in many days.

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Jack:? “At the Prayers service at Westminster Abbey, the king and queen carried gas masks.?? Someone shouted:? “Long live the Netherlands!”? Queen Wilhelmina, who had accompanied them, dropped a curtsey.”?

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Jack and Lord Cecil playing cards, for rather high stakes, which is quite unusual:? “Just as well to spend money, as Treasury notes will soon be worth nothing.”? Jack.

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Cecil:? “I had a pair of strange visitors today—journalists by the look of them, but in the uniforms of officers of GHQ Home Forces.? They said that the car of the C-in-C was often to be seen parked outside the house of Captain Ramsay.? They seemed to think this of some significance.”

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Jack:? “I suppose Ironside can leave his car wherever he pleases.”

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Cecil:? “I suppose he will soon be able to do so.”

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Jack:? “Ramsay is not wrong about Communism meaning the end of the country.? Local government is now in socialist hands and the result has been overspending of public money and the spread of corruption.? As to the Germans, if we can obtain terms that do not amount to the destruction of our independence, we would be foolish if we did not accept them.”?

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Cecil:? “Any terms the Germans are likely to grant would inevitably mean the reduction of Britain to some kind of minor partner or even a satellite of Germany.? We are not quite at that point.?? It may yet be possible to bring some of the Forces out of Dunkirk.”?

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Jack:? “The United States have given us practically no help in the war and now their attitude is that they want to keep everything which would help us for themselves.? The President seems to be taking the view that it would be very nice of him to pick up bits of the British Empire if this country is overrun.? Halifax says our aim can no longer be to crush Germany, but rather to preserve our own integrity and independence.”

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Plays opening next week include The Tempest with John Gielgud and sets by Oliver Messel, Ghosts by Ibsen.

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May 27, 1940, Monday

Everyone listens to the 1 o’clock news from the radios that have appeared in the offices.

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May 28, 1940, Tuesday

?A wet dull day.

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The Belgians have capitulated.? The BEF have pulled back to Dunkirk.

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Rab Butler has given a frank speech on the radio about the peril of the BEF.

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War measures:? The workweek in the Manchester mills is to be extended to 55 1/2 hours, beginning at 6 a.m.? All road signposts throughout the country are to be removed.

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May 29, 1940, Wednesday

There was a severe thunderstorm in the night.

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The newspapers have suddenly announced that the situation of the BEF in France “is grave,” blaming it on the defection of the Belgian king.? They say that there is little possibility of withdrawing the British Army from the Continent.

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May 31, 1940, Friday

I saw a lorry this morning, packed with signposts that had been uprooted so as to confuse invaders.

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I am rather pleased with my latest report.? I think I finally may have achieved the right tone, viz.:

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“United States Diplomatic Views of the Present Situation:

“The tremendous drama of the past fortnight has been reflected in the diplomatic correspondence of the United States as its various representatives reported their observations and conversations.? These were at first accounts of the fighting in the Low Countries and the north of France and the various requests for materiel assistance by Belgium and France, but as French resistance weakened, the American diplomatic representatives began to record the death agonies of the chief European democracy.? The Government of the United States has involved itself in the situation chiefly through the President’s attempts to persuade Mussolini to refrain from entering the war and through the organization of means to evacuate citizens of the United States from the United Kingdom and Europe.

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“From the fifteenth of the month, the United States Ambassador in France, Mr. Bullitt, sent a highly emotional series of messages to the Secretary of State in which he played the part of an advocate for the French Government.? He began by simultaneously conveying urgent French requests for expedited delivery of airplanes and destroyers and the information that the French Army was on the verge of destruction as the Germans mysteriously passed through the French lines at Sedan.? After the Germans broke through the Belgian lines the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, told the Ambassador that he was “sorry for the democracies,” which sentiment implied a conviction that as far as France is concerned the war had been lost. The French Foreign Minister told Bullitt that he expected the German Army to get through to the Channel, to then turn toward Paris and that France and England would be defeated in less than two months.? This would be followed, he predicted, by German efforts to set up alliances in South America as a step toward invading the United States.

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“Shortly thereafter Bullitt reported that the German tank attacks at Reims had been thrown back by the personal heroism of General Huntziger and that Huntziger’s army was counterattacking.? He called it another battle of the Marne.? (Information from other sources has it that the disaster at Sedan was in fact attributable to General Huntziger and that the Ambassador’s account of the activity at Reims was also inaccurate.)

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“Nonetheless, Ambassador Bullitt continued to support the French request for destroyers for use in the Mediterranean (where it was rumoured that Italy was about to seize the Balearic Islands from Spain), and more airplanes from Great Britain.? He also reported that a coup was being prepared in Madrid to bring Spain into the war on the side of Italy. Secretary of State Hull responded to Bullitt that there were no destroyers to be had—and if there were it would take six weeks for them to reach France—but that airplane deliveries were being expedited.? He also suggested that the French government might wish to purchase private aircraft in the United States.?

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“There were seemingly two conversations taking place between Paris and Washington:? one in which events were moving with great rapidity toward a French collapse, military and moral, and another as if the previous slow pace of the war continued, with ample opportunity for routine armaments purchasing arrangements.? The requests for aircraft conveyed by the Ambassador were particularly puzzling, as large numbers of French aircraft were moved south when the Germans invaded Holland, some being sent as far as North Africa, where they joined what was already a large strategic reserve.? It would seem that the French military wished to send British and American aircraft into the battle, preserving their own.

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“In the midst of reporting the astonishingly rapid advance of the German columns, Bullitt wrote a “personal” cable to the President, in which he stated that he had reliable information to the effect that the Belgian railway strike was organized by Communists “on orders from Moscow” and that the failure of French tanks to attack was similarly because their drivers were Communists on orders not to do so.? He also reported that he had been told that a regiment of Chasseurs, composed of Communists from Paris, had seized the town of Compiegne. Ambassador Bullitt advised the President to “nail” every Communist or Communist sympathizer in the United States Army, Navy and Air Force. With the retreat of the French Government to Bordeaux a few days later, he asked, also in a personal cable, that the President send a cruiser to Bordeaux bringing large quantities of small arms, as the French Government expected a Communist uprising and “butcheries” in the city of Paris. The ship carrying the small arms would also be needed in order to carry on its return trip the entire French and Belgian gold reserves of 550 and 100 tons respectively, according to Ambassador Bullitt.

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“It appears from sources known to be particularly reliable that the reports concerning Communist influence in the Belgian railway strike, French tank defeats, the predictions of a new Commune, as well as those concerning the heroism of General Huntziger, were supplied by the latter and other Royalist elements with whom the Ambassador was in contact. (There have been no other reports of the Communist occupation of Compiegne.)

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“There was much discussion over the past two weeks about arrangements for evacuations of United States citizens from Europe.? Established in Bordeaux toward the end of the month, Bullitt began to concern himself with the situation of the 200 Americans he found there and the possibilities for their evacuation.? The Secretary of State immediately informed him that efforts were being made to assist with the evacuation, which message was followed by the information that the S. S. Washington would arrive in Bordeaux on June 4.? Bullitt then requested permission to permit embarkation of aliens who have fulfilled all visa requirements, after all American citizens are accommodated, which request was refused.

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“The S. S. Washington is one of three ships now evacuating United States citizens from Europe.? Secretary Hull has instructed the Consul General in Genoa to place “every single American who can be crowded on the ship” onto the S.S. Manhattan in that port.? American citizens in the United Kingdom are being advised to go to Eire, from which they would be evacuated by the steamship “President Roosevelt.”?? Kennedy has told Hull that there were many people who would like to leave on the S.S. Roosevelt, but cannot afford to do so and asked if there is any way that they might be helped.? He also said that the ship was nearly fully booked.? Hull has allotted $20,000 to Ambassador Kennedy for loans to citizens unable to afford passage on the S.S. President Roosevelt.?

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“Another group of trans-Atlantic transport communications of late has had to do with the Dutch royal family. The President offered to send a cruiser to an Irish port for the Queen of the Netherlands if the need arose, by which he meant that he anticipated the German conquest of Great Britain.? He asked for a week advance warning of her transportation needs.? Kennedy then wrote to the President, conveying the Queen’s thanks and the Netherlands Foreign Minister’s report that as there is a great possibility of “trouble” in Ireland, the Dutch have two warships ready to take their Queen and government to Canada, but that they cannot leave until the British Government does so and that in the Dutch view the British are simply refusing to take the likely imminent conquest of the country seriously.? Although the Queen has decided for the moment to remain in London, the Dutch did request that an American ship meet a Dutch ship carrying the Princess Juliana and take her to Canada, where she might function as head of the Dutch government if necessary. The President replied that a transfer from a Dutch to an American ship in mid-Atlantic would be too dangerous and advised that the Dutch ship convey the Princess the entire way across the Atlantic.

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“This shipping news is illuminated by many references to the possibility of the British Government itself crossing the Atlantic.? Lothian has assured Welles that if France were to surrender to the Germans and the latter were then to invade England successfully, the present British Government would not surrender, but would move the Fleet to Canada, the British West Indies or possibly South Africa and continue to fight from there.? He told Welles that a German victory is quite possible and that in that event matters would depend on the continuing control of the Pacific by the American fleet and the Atlantic by the British fleet, the latter presumably based in Canada. He said that even if the House of Commons voted to surrender, the Government would not do so, nor would the senior officers of the Fleet.

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“These reports of British Government plans to continue the war from Canada if need be are part of a group of reports variously predicting near and more distant events.? The United States Chargé in Spain has reported that he believes that the Spanish Government wishes to remain neutral, but is coming under pressure from Italy, which it believes will enter the war on the side of Germany “at any moment.”? Kennedy has described a meeting with Halifax, whom, he says, thought the situation desperate, that the fall of Paris is likely and that there then would be mutual indiscriminate bombing between the British and French.? Kennedy commented that “everybody” is mystified at the French collapse and that he personally disagrees with Halifax’s appraisal that the British would be able to resist a German attack.? A few days ago Kennedy reported that “the situation here now is that it could not be worse.”? He expects the BEF to be wiped out or to surrender.? He believes that the Germans will now offer peace terms, which will split the Cabinet—Churchill and Attlee wishing to fight to the death, the others to settle.

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“Kirk (the Chargé in Germany) has rather dramatically traveled to Rome in order to cable Hull advising an immediate declaration of war by the United States, as, in his view, a German victory “would lead to a world in which there would be no place for the United States”.? He requested permission to travel to Washington to make this case in person and Hull has agreed.

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“The United States Chargé in the Soviet Union reports rumors of an impending Soviet move against Rumania. German authorities have assured the Rumanians of their support against Russian pressure.? The United States Minister in Latvia suspects that the Soviet Union may be about to make its move in the Baltic states.

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“A Tass dispatch has appeared, welcoming the proposed mission to Moscow of Sir Stafford Cripps.

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“Throughout the period under review, communications have passed between Washington and Rome, with, for example, the President appealing to Mussolini, offering to negotiate concessions on Italy’s behalf with France and Great Britain.? Mussolini has rejected the President’s various appeals and Foreign Minister Ciano has said that Italy will soon enter the war. The President responded with a message to Mussolini, stating that if Italy entered the war the United States would increase its rearmament program and support of the Allied Powers.

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“Finally, there has been the usual endless stream of telegrams to and from Japan and China, reporting attacks by the former on the latter and appeals for help from the latter to the United States.:

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Off it goes.

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The newspapers and the BBC are filled with stories of the surrender of great numbers of the B.E.F. at Dunkirk, where they have been surrounded and are without air support.

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