Holland - The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941: The War in the West, Volume 1

The Rise of Germany

19391941

Also by James Holland

Non-fiction

FORTRESS MALTA

TOGETHER WE STAND

HEROES

ITALYS SORROW

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

DAM BUSTERS

AN ENGLISHMAN AT WAR

Fiction

THE BURNING BLUE

A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS

THE ODIN MISSION

DARKEST HOUR

BLOOD OF HONOUR

HELLFIRE

DEVILS PACT

The Rise of Germany

19391941

The War in the West

Volume One

James Holland

Atlantic Monthly Press

New York

Copyright 2015 by James Holland

Jacket design by mjcdesign

Jacket artwork: WWII Poster: The Flag of Victory

Author photograph by WiLKY Photography

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First Published in Great Britain in 2015 by Bantam Press,

an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Published simultaneously in Canada

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-8021-2397-8

eISBN 978-0-8021-9090-1

Atlantic Monthly Press

an imprint of Grove Atlantic

154 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

Distributed by Publishers Group West

groveatlantic.com

For Rachel

Contents

List of Maps

LIST OF PRINCIPAL
CHARACTERS FEATURED

(Ranks at September 1941)

General Sir Harold Alexander British
Commander of 1st Division in France, last man to leave Dunkirk, later commander, Southern Division, then British Forces in Burma, before becoming C-in-C Middle East in August 1942. Appointed commander, 18th Army Group, in February 1943.

Sergeant Cyril Bam Bamberger British
An NCO fighter pilot in 610 and 41 Squadrons during the Battle of Britain, he was later commissioned and flew with 261 Squadron on Malta and then 93 Squadron in Tunisia.

Capitaine Daniel Barlone French
Reserve officer commanding 92/20th Horse Transport Company in 2nd North African Division.

Capitaine Andr Beaufre French
Staff officer at General Headquarters.

Jean-Mathieu Boris French
Officer in the Free French Army.

Pfc Henry Dee Bowles American
Served in 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in North Africa.

Pfc Tom Bowles American
Served in 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in North Africa.

Air Commodore Sydney Bufton British
Commander, 10 and 76 Squadrons, RAF Bomber Command, then became Station Commander at RAF Pocklington before being made Deputy Director of Bomber Operations at the Air Ministry.

Gino Cappozzo Italian
Gunner in 17th Battery, 3rd Alpine Artillery Regiment.

Capitaine Ren de Chambrun French
Reserve officer in 162e Rgiment dInfanterie de Forteresse, Reynauds personal emissary to the United States.

Count Galeazzo Ciano Italian
Italian Foreign Secretary and son-in-law of Mussolini.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Clark American
G3 Staff Officer at General Headquarters, US Army.

Jock Colville British
One of the secretaries to the Prime Minister, first Neville Chamberlain and then Winston Churchill.

Gwladys Cox British
Civilian living in London.

William Cremonini Italian
Soldier in the Giovani Fascisti division.

Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham British
Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet until 1942, then posted to Washington.

Pilot Officer Roald Dahl British
Hurricane pilot with 80 Squadron in Greece.

Gnral Charles de Gaulle French
Army officer then leader of the Free French.

Admiral Karl Dnitz German
Commander of the Kriegsmarines U-boat fleet.

Margarete Dos German
Teenage girl living in Berlin at the beginning of the war, and a member of the Bund Deutscher Mdel, the girls wing of the Nazi Youth Movement.

Captain Norman Field British
Officer in the Royal Fusiliers in France and Belgium, then an officer in the Auxiliary Units in the UK, before joining the airborne forces.

Andre Griotteray French
French civilian and member of the Resistance.

Ted Hardy Australian
Sapper in 2/3rd Field Company, 9th Australian Division, serving in North Africa and the Middle East.

Major Hajo Herrmann German
Flew Heinkel 111s in Poland and Norway with KG4 before becoming a Staffel commander and switching to Ju88s. He later served in the Mediterranean before transferring to Norway to command III/KG30. In July 1942, he joined the Luftwaffe General Staff.

Harry Hopkins American
President Roosevelts closest friend and advisor, and unofficial emissary to Winston Churchill.

Henry Kaiser American
Construction tycoon and director of Todd California Shipbuilding Corporation.

Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring German
Commanded Luftflotte I in Poland, then Luftflotte II in France and during the Battle of Britain. Later transferred to the Mediterranean.

Major Siegfried Knappe German
An artillery officer, he took part in the invasion of France and then served on the Eastern Front.

Heinz Knocke German
Trainee fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe.

Bill Knudsen American
Chairman of General Motors and then Chairman of the Office of Production Management, and later, in 1942, Director of Production at the Office of the Under-Secretary of War.

Private Joseph Lofty Kynoch British
Served in 2/5th Leicestershire Regiment in Norway.

Oberst Helmut Lent German
A Luftwaffe nightfighter ace, who served in Norway then in Holland with NJGI and later NJGII.

Corinne Luchaire French
French film star and daughter of Vichyist Jean Luchaire, and married to a Frenchman serving with the Luftwaffe.

Hauptmann Hans von Luck German
Served with Rommel during the invasion of France and then throughout most of the North African campaign. He later commanded a panzer battalion in 21. Panzerdivision in Normandy and north-west Europe.

Oliver Lyttelton British
Appointed Controller of Non-Ferrous Metals at the outbreak of war, became President of the Board of Trade in 1940, was elected MP for Aldershot and later joined the War Cabinet as Minister of State, Middle East. He returned to the UK in 1942 as Minister of Production.