May 5, 2013

Finest Hour 151, Summer 2011

Page 4

Despatch Box


Casablanca Letters: It Was Weygand!

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I was intrigued by whether Rick’s “Letters of Transit” in Casablanca (FH 150: 49) cite Darlan, not de Gaulle, as the French authority in the European version. We have a DVD sold in France with English and French subtitles. My wife easily found the passage with Peter Lorre speaking about the signature on the Letters of Transit with his exaggerated German accent. We heard neither “de Gaulle,” nor did we hear “Darlan,” although the English subtitles read “de Gaulle.” I thought it sounded more like “Weygand,” not realising this would lead us to the correct track. My wife then found the answer on the Internet Movie Database (http:// imdb.to/mJvlBS):

“Incorrectly regarded as goofs: It is widely believed that Ugarte [Lorre] clearly says that the Letters of Transit are ‘signed by General de Gaulle.’ This would have rendered them useless in Casablanca, as de Gaulle was the leader of the Free French forces which were actively fighting against the Nazi-backed Vichy regime that controlled Casablanca. De Gaulle’s name is shown on the English and Spanish DVD/BluRay subtitles. However, Peter Lorre actually names General Weygand (Vichy Minister of Defence, whatever that means in an occupied country). The French subtitles have it correct.”
Antoine Capet, Rouen, France

Senator Byrd

In Winchester, Virginia, I visited Senator Harry Byrd, who spoke at our 1991 conference in Richmond. He is in fine form and enjoys Finest Hour. We talked at length about Churchill’s two visits to Richmond; his stories of the 1929 visit are as funny as ever. He expressed the view that Churchill was “saved” for the great task that befell him in 1940.

Sen. Byrd expressed appreciation for Celia Sandys’s visit to Winchester several years ago. We also talked of his famous uncle, Admiral Richard Byrd, whose Boston home at 9 Brimmer Street I had visited a week before.

Other than Lady Soames, I cannot think of anyone with an “older” memory of Sir Winston than Harry Byrd. It goes back eighty-two years.
Richard H. Knight, Jr., Nashville, Tenn.

Von Manstein

In FH 150 I read “How Guilty Were the German Field Marshals?” As a schoolmaster who helps sixth formers with their coursework, I admire your attempt to steer people away from Wikipedia. It’s fine for checking basic things like birth dates, but not for much more. Any of my pupils who rely on it as their sole source for information will get very short shrift from me (and poor marks for research).

I like to point students towards specific books. For Manstein there is an outstanding new biography, Manstein: Hitler’s Greatest General, by Mungo Melvin, a serving British general (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), now in paperback. Two chapters cover his postwar life, particularly his trial. This would be ideal for any A-Level (or equivalent) student. Incidentally, it has the best maps of any military history book I’ve read in years.

Other sources are von Manstein’s memoirs, Lost Victories (Methuen, 1958, abridged from the German original); Erich von Manstein by Robert Forczyk (Osprey, 2010); the Manstein essay by Field Marshal Lord Carver in Hitler’s Generals (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989); Liddell Hart: A Study of His Military Thought, by Brian Bond (Cassell, 1977, useful for LH’s contribution to the trial); Alchemist of War: The Life of Basil Liddell Hart, by Alex Danchev (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998); and Liddell Hart’s The Other Side of the Hill (Cassell, 1948). I am sure a similar list for Kesselring could be constructed.
Robin Brodhurst, Reading, Berks.

Fond Memories

Thank you for the review of Heather White-Smith’s My Years with the Churchills. Barbara Langworth’s comments are entirely fair. The stories it contains are domestic ones, as they occurred, and were written into her diary. However, contrary to the review, pages 21-22 do indeed discuss WSC’s 1953 stroke and how it was kept quiet.

Heather, Grace Hamblin and Jo Sturdee (later Lady Onslow) used to lunch together regularly. The last time Grace went to Chartwell was when we took her to hear Roy Jenkins at the launch of his biography. We often saw Jo, as she lived near Heather’s daughter in Oxfordshire. We miss both of them. The saddest thing was that when the three were together so many tales were regaled, only to be forgotten and lost to posterity. I just so wish I had taken a tape recorder on those occasions!

You might also be interested to know that Heather has given several talks, based on her book, for which she was helped with her presentation skills by Robert Hardy.
Henry White-Smith, Sunningdale, Berks.

Editor’s response: Thank you for the gracious comments, under the circumstances! We were wrong about the 1953 stroke; see Errata, page 7. Those interested in Mrs. White-Smith’s talks should email [email protected].

Dr. Who

Although not especially a Dr. Who fan, I have seen the Cabinet War Rooms episode and “The Making of Dr. Who.” So I found the Dr. Who exam answer (FH 150: 8) a refreshing amusement. This web page describes “River Song” and near the end, Churchill’s role in getting the Van Gogh painting, and the “Pandora Opening”: http://bit.ly/hxyt02.
Grace Filby, Reigate, Surrey

Dr. Who has always had a special love for Britain and the Monarchy. In the David Tennant series, Churchill calls him on a phone in the Tardis and he flits back to World War II to help. He’s rumored to have had an affair with the Virgin Queen Elizabeth, revealed when he meets Elizabeth X (a guntoting gal who saves his bacon). But I believe the Van Gogh painting Churchill gives Dr. Who is in a later series which ended in December 2010, and is only seen as part of a flashback. This is cool to read!
Charlotte Thibault, Concord, N.H

Disloyal Toasts

At the March Charleston meeting it came to my attention that several present refused a request to give the Loyal Toast to the President of the United States, and one even admitted it. The context of that rejection was clearly intense personal dislike (stronger words were used) for the incumbent.

Rude behavior is not limited to the present. I understand that in 1986 a prominent member was heard to toast “The Presidency,” while in 1998 there were shouts of “No!” and a few years later “Bush lied!” Perhaps 1986 was forgivable: the toast is to an Office of State. But not so the other instances.

I leave it to readers’ imaginations to speculate how Churchill would have characterized such behavior. He had no truck with petty personal politics. Loyalty to the office—monarch, prime minister, president, whatever—was a hallmark of his character and style. Lacking his way with words, I will simply say that, if these stories are true, I am ashamed of the persons involved, and of their disgraceful and fundamentally unpatriotic action.
Warren F. Kimball, John Island, S.C.

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