My thoughts on “The Daughters of Yalta” by Catherine Grace Katz.

The Daughters of Yalta – The Churchills, Roosevelts and Harrimans: A story of love and war (William Collins, 2020) was written by American historian Catherine Grace Katz.  It tells of the part played behind the scenes at the Allied Powers conference at Yalta in February 1945 by Sarah Churchill, Kathleen Harriman and Anna Roosevelt Boettiger.  Their letters and observations describing the atmosphere in the Crimea and the character and mood of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, and their military chiefs, make absorbing and illuminating reading.

Katz also chronicles the fascinating and eventful lives the three women led both before and after the ten days they spent in Yalta as aides to their fathers.  Although Averell Harriman did not attend the plenary sessions, he and his daughter played key roles in setting up the conference and were there throughout.

My favourite quote from the book was that of Roosevelt’s chief of staff Admiral William Leahy concerning the Polish agreement Roosevelt and Churchill had negotiated with Stalin: “Mr. President, this is so elastic that the Russians can stretch it all the way from Yalta to Washington without technically breaking it.”

Stalin got, or would shortly get, everything he wanted.  Everything being control of Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe which was something Churchill opposed, but, not having Roosevelt’s backing, did not have the power to prevent.  The fact that Britain went to war in the cause of Polish freedom did not interest Roosevelt who seems to have been obsessed with setting up the United Nations, and receiving Stalin’s backing for it, above all else.

The book also notes the role played during the war by Sarah Churchill and her sister-in-law Pamela in promoting Anglo-American relations.  Churchill’s habit of welcoming US diplomats into his family home resulted in their affairs with, respectively, the American ambassador to Britain, John Gilbert Winant, and American ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman. The two women doubtless did as much to foster the “special relationship” as Churchill, Eden or anyone else in the British Government of the day!

My thoughts on " Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2" by Graham Hoyland.

Just read Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2 (William Collins, 2020) by Graham Hoyland.  An absorbing read about the engine, the aircraft it powered, those who designed it, built it, and flew it.

It also tells the story of the aero-engine from the time of the Wright brothers to the arrival of Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engine.  Hoyland compares the Merlin with contemporary British, American and German engines.  He also discusses the pros and cons of air-cooled and water-cooled engines.

As well as the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and Lancaster the book mentions the highly significant move to install a Merlin in the North American P51 Mustang.  The Mustang was transformed from a competent low and medium level single seat fighter into perhaps the finest long-range air superiority fighter of WW2 by replacing its American Allison engine with a Merlin.

Having won air superiority in the Battle of Britain powering the Spitfire and Hurricane, the Merlin enabled the Mustang to do the same over Germany and North West Europe in 1944.  As Hoyland writes: “When Goering saw Mustangs over Berlin he was reported to have said that at last the game was up”.

There was also a de-tuned land based version of the Merlin called the Meteor which was eventually fitted to thousands of British tanks.

The book is well worth reading!

The South Somerset village Church of St. John and All Saints at Kingstone, and its memorials and epitaphs.

Kingstone’s village church of St. John and All Saints sits surrounded by farm buildings and cottages atop Kingstone Hill around a mile south-east of Ilminster in South Somerset.  It has a central tower where the bell-ringers stand among the worshippers, and a 13^th century font standing in front of the blocked western doorway.

The village Church of St. John and All Saints, Kingstone, South Somerset viewed from the south.

On the north wall of the nave is a plaque commemorating 2^nd Lieutenant John Arnold Munden of the 6^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry.  He was killed in action at Delville Wood, during the Battle of The Somme, on 28^th August 1916.

Most of the 6^th Battalion SLI withdrew from the front-line on 19^th August to rest and recuperate at Fricourt, but one company was in Delville Wood between the 26^th and 30^th of August.  It appears that Lt. Munden was serving with that company and was killed on the 27^th or 28^th, according to Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.  He was not immediately identified and subsequently buried as an “Unknown British Officer” at Longueval, (Delville Wood).

 In January 1929 his body was exhumed, identified and re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Serre Road, north-east of Albert.  John Arnold Munden was the 28 year old youngest son of Doctor Charles Munden and Lucy Jane Munden of Ilminster.

The fine stained glass window in the east of the church is in memory of the wives of a local man.  The dedication reads:

“To the glory of God & in memory of Anne Elizabeth who died March 1899 and of Florence Honor who died June 1922. the beloved wives of John Daniel Rutter of Allowenshay. 1924.”

The stained glass east window of St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset.

Just inside the western wall of the churchyard is a gravestone with an epitaph to Edward (Bob) Gummer who died in 1984 aged 85 having been “THE LAST TENANT OF KINGSTONE FARM 1938-1978”.

Near the south wall is the gravestone of a man with the wonderful name of Zechariah Chick who died at Allowenshay, a hamlet less than a mile east of Kingstone, on March 29^th 1886 aged 84.  Also named are his wife Eliza who died on January 9^th 1901 aged 72, and their sons William Albert Chick who died aged 26 in 1880 and Zechariah Chick who died aged 43 in 1905.

 

The gravestone of Zechariah Chick, St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset.

Also in the churchyard at Kingstone is a memorial stone commemorating Squadron Leader Sinclair ‘Tif’ O’Connor Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Cross, Air Force Medal, who served with RAF Bomber Command’s 49 Squadron during Operation Grapple – the testing of hydrogen bombs.

On 11 September 1958, while holding the rank of Flight Lieutenant, he was pilot and captain of the Vickers Valiant jet bomber (XD827) which dropped a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific during Operation Grapple Z.

The memorial stone records Sinclair O’Connor’s birth on 26-5-1922 and death on 21-3-2013.

St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset viewed from the east.

I have previously written, link below, of Lieutenant Arthur Hopkins Tett a Canadian who served in the Boer War and World War One.  His is the only Commonwealth War grave at St. John and All Saints.  He is at rest beneath the branches of a yew.

Views from Somerset: Lieutenant A. H. Tett, a Canadian who served in The Boer War and The Great War. At rest at St. John and All Saints Church in the Somerset village of Kingstone. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)

Blackbury Camp Iron Age hillfort in the neighbouring County of Devonshire.

Blackbury Camp Iron Age hillfort is situated approximately 4 miles north-west of Beer and the coast of Devonshire.  I approached it along narrow lanes meandering up and down through beautiful countryside and eventually spotted the camp’s banks above me amongst the trees lining the road.

The hillfort is now heavily wooded, as is the surrounding area, and so there are no distant scenic views to the coast to enjoy.  However, the area is very peaceful and I enjoyed a pleasant hour walking in the shade among the trees and along the defensive banks. 

A view along the ramparts at Blackbury Camp hillfort in Devonshire.

The hillfort is in the care of English Heritage who have provided very interesting information boards detailing its history and usage.  Blackbury Camp was built during the 4^th century BC and was used by Iron-Age tribes for several hundred years.  It was probably a place of refuge for people and their animals in times of strife rather than a permanent settlement.

The hillfort was protected by a strong single gateway with a wooden walkway over the top.  A triangular barbican with its own entrance was later added beyond the main gate, a feature which added to the camp’s defensive strength.

The Devon Archaeological Exploration Society examined the site in the early 1950s, and discovered, amongst other artefacts, 1,271 beach pebbles.  The banks of the hillfort provided ideal vantage points from which the defenders would sling a lethal hail of such pebbles down upon any attackers.

Looking up at the defensive bank from the outer ditch at Blackbury Camp hillfort in Devonshire.

The information board lists several other hillforts in the area.  I am sure they are well worth visiting – and I intend to do just that!

The Somerset village of Dinder and its Church of St. Michael.

The sleepy Somerset village of Dinder lies tucked away in the southern foothills of the Mendips.  It is but a short drive off the road between Wells and Shepton Mallet, and this summer I took the opportunity to explore it.  Dinder does not appear to have changed much since members of The Women’s Institute described it 35 years ago.

The Somerset Village Book (Countryside Books, 1988) compiled by The Somerset Federation of Women’s Institutes provides this charming chronicle of the village.

“The little village of Dinder, with its 150 inhabitants, lies in the valley between Wells and Shepton Mallet.  It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Denrenn, meaning ‘in a valley deep between high hills’ – an apt description because Doulting Water, or River Sheppey, rushes along one boundary, and the Mendip Hills rise steeply on either side.

It has been an agricultural village, and it is known that clothing was made here in the 18^th century when there was a leather mill.  An old forge provided services in the main street, in a house still bearing that name.  Along this street the river has been partially diverted to form a wide leat of running water in which the village people could dip their buckets, and this makes a picturesque foreground for a row of 16^th century gabled cottages and a former public house which still displays the sign of ‘The Dragon on the Wheel’, being the crest of the local squire.  Two farmhouses and the Victorian school building also overlook the water.”

I parked by the village hall at the western end of the village, and walked down to the Church of St. Michael.  The impressive lych-gate is dedicated to Ellen Somerville while inside the lych-gate is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Arthur Fownes Somerville who died on the 21^st November 1942 at the impressive age of 92.  I would find more memorials to members of the Somerville family both in the churchyard and inside the church.

The lych-gate at St. Michaels Church in the Somerset village of Dinder.

The commemorative plaque to Arthur Fownes Somerville.  Note the family crest of 'The Dragon on the Wheel'.

The approach to Dinder’s Church of St. Michael is beautifully described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968).  He writes:

“We walk up the path to the church with its fine north wall across our view, crowned with a parapet from which friendly gargoyles look down at the top of slender buttresses.  Very dainty is the arcading in the battlements, and charming is the tower with its stair turret to the bells”.

The north wall of the Church of St. Michael in the Somerset village of Dinder.

To the left of the path is the family plot of the Somerville family which includes the grave of James Fownes Somerville, Admiral of the Fleet and Squire of Dinder, of whom I have written previously:

Views from Somerset: Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)

 

On the north wall of the nave is a brass plaque commemorating William Charles Croom a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 6^th London Regiment who was killed in action at Messines Ridge on 17th June 1917 when aged 20.  He is also remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

Another plaque on the north wall is “in ever grateful memory of the brave men of Dinder who fell in The Great War”.  It lists 6 names.  As well as Lt. William Croom it commemorates the following men:

Private Uriah James Clarke of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars died on 23^rd March 1918.  He is also remembered on the Poziers Memorial north east of Albert.

Private Gilbert Drew of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry who died on the 1^st July 1917 aged 19.  He is at rest in a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard.

Private Francis Allen Keevil of “C” Company, 7^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on the 7^th August 1917.  He is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.  Aged 38, he was the son of Jabez Allen Keevil and Francis Augusta Keevil of Rose Cottage, Dinder.

Private William Robert McCullagh of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on 29^th March 1918.  He is remembered on the Arras Memorial.

The last name listed on the plaque is that of George Palmer.  There are 24 “George Palmers” recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as having died in World War One.  Sadly, I cannot find among them anyone connected to Dinder or the County of Somerset.

Another brass plaque on the north wall of the nave is in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Fownes Somerville DSO who served with The Rifle Brigade during the First World War and died aged 65 on the 19^th March 1946, and his son Lieutenant Mark Fownes Somerville DSC who was killed in action on 8^th May 1941 while serving aboard HMS ARK ROYAL.

Mark Somerville was a Fleet Air Arm observer in the Fulmar-equipped 808 Squadron flying from the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL.  He flew with the squadron’s commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert Claude Tillard DSC.

The Fairey Fulmar was a two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and armed with eight .303 machine guns mounted in the wings.  It was widely used by the Fleet Air Arm in the Mediterranean during the early years of World War Two.  The Fulmar was more than a match for any German and Italian bombers or reconnaissance aircraft it might encounter.  However, it struggled to cope with the enemy single seat fighters it came up against.  Tillard and Somerville destroyed six Italian aircraft while flying the Fulmar, a feat for which they were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

On 6^th May 1941 ARK ROYAL left Gibraltar together with the battlecruiser HMS RENOWN, the light cruiser HMS SHEFFIELD and nine destroyers – the famous Force H – to escort a convoy of five ships with vital reinforcements for British forces in Egypt.  Force H’s mission was to take the convoy as far as Malta where ships of Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet would escort it eastward to the port of Alexandria.

The convoy was first attacked by Italian aircraft on the 8^th May.  808 Squadron attempted to intercept a number of torpedo-bombers, but the Fulmars were themselves attacked by Italian fighters.  One Fulmar was shot down, that of Lieutenant Commander Tillard and Lieutenant Somerville. Rupert Tillard’s body came ashore on the Tunisian Coast, and he was subsequently buried in the Commonwealth War Grave cemetery at Enfidaville.  Mark Somerville’s body was never found and he is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-Solent as well as in St. Michael’s Church.

The deaths of the two airmen were not in vain as Force H delivered the convoy, without loss, into the protection of the Mediterranean Fleet.  One merchant ship was later sunk by a mine, but 238 tanks and 40 Hurricane fighters arrived safely in Alexandria on 12^th May.  Interestingly, Force H was commanded by Lt. Somerville’s uncle, Admiral Sir James Somerville.

By a remarkable twist of fate another Lieutenant Mark Somerville was killed while serving in the Royal Navy 183 years earlier. A plaque on the north wall of the tower of St. Michael’s begins:

“Sacred to the Memory of Mark Somerville Esq Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship The Rochester who unfortunately lost his Life in doing his Duty and exerting himself to save the Lives of his Gallant Countrymen when attacked by the Enemy in St. Cas Bay.  September 11^th 1758 in the 23 Year of his Age”

The plaque must refer to The Battle of St. Cast Bay which took place during The Seven Years War with France.  The war saw Britain launch a series of amphibious assaults against French ports and possessions around the world.  In 1758 a number of these assaults took place on the northern coast of France in order to destroy ports, divert French troops from Germany and stop the activities of French privateers.  The last of these attacks was against Cherbourg when the Royal Navy landed a force of around 10,000 troops and supporting arms.  The attack was initially a great success as the Port of Cherbourg, its docks and ships therein were destroyed and a large amount of war material also destroyed or seized. 

The British force moved on to attack Saint Malo, but found it too well defended and so moved west to St. Cast Bay where it would be embarked from the beaches.

Meanwhile, the French had gathered 9,000 soldiers and militiamen and marched in pursuit.  The bulk of the British force had been taken off the beaches when the French arrived.  Despite covering fire from the British ships in the bay the French overwhelmed the British rear-guard of 1,500 men.

HMS ROCHESTER was a 4^th rate ship of just over 1,000 tons and armed with 50 guns.  Reading between the lines of the plaque it could be assumed that Lieutenant Somerville was killed while attempting to embark men from the beach using ROCHESTER’S ship’s boats.

On the south wall of the nave is a plaque commemorating Pilot Officer Thomas Middlebrook Horsefall, RAFVR, whose aircraft crashed in the village on July 3^rd 1942.   Thomas Horsefall was flying an American Curtiss P40 Tomahawk single engine fighter from No. 41 Operational Training Unit, part of the School of Army Cooperation, based at Oatlands Hill, a satellite station of RAF Old Sarum in Wiltshire.  The P40 was not used by RAF Fighter Command or the USAAF in Northern Europe as its performance did not match that of the latest German fighters, but it was used extensively by British and American front-line squadrons in other theatres of war.

St. Michaels Church also contains some fine stained glass windows, and a highly and beautifully decorated stone pulpit dated 1621. 

Stained glass window in St. Michael's Church, Dinder, Somerset in memory of Emily Somerville "who entered into rest on New Year's Day 1900 aged 81.

The pulpit in the Church of St. Michael, Dinder, Somerset.

I walked back to the main street and took some more photos of this picturesque and peaceful Mendip village – so peaceful, in fact, that I never saw or met a soul during my visit!

The main street in the Somerset village of Dinder.

 

August cloudscapes over South Somerset.

 

And below on the last evening of the month.

The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.

I recently passed through the Devonshire town of Ottery St. Mary and stopped to take a few photos of its Parish Church.  The Church, which Simon Jenkins in his England’s Thousand Best Churches (Allen Lane, 1999) describes as being a miniature Exeter Cathedral, sits on a hill dominating the town.

The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire.

The inside of the church, just as impressive as the outside, had a large display celebrating the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge who was born either in the vicar’s house or the schoolmaster’s, for his father was both.  John Coleridge was, according to Arthur Mee in his The King’s England, Devon (Hodder and Stoughton, 1938) “an absent minded vicar who married twice and had 13 children” – the 13^th was Samuel the poet.

As is usually the case when I visit a church I came across an interesting commemorative plaque.  On the north wall of the nave is one dedicated to Clement George Whitby, the son of Charles and Beatrice Whitby, who was 25 years old when killed at the Battle of Maiwand on 27^th July 1880.

The battle took place during The Second Afghan War of 1878-1880.  The Collins Encyclopaedia of Military History, R.E. Dupuy and T.N. Dupuy (Harper Collins, 1993.) informs us that:

“Ayub Khan, brother of Yakub, had seized control of Herat early in the war.  Now claiming the throne, he marched on Kandahar with 25,000 men.  Lt. Gen. James Primrose, commanding at Kandahar, sent an Anglo-Indian Brigade, 2,500 strong, under Brig. Gen. G.R.S. Burroughs to Maiwand, about 50 miles northwest, to oppose the Afghan advance.

Burroughs attacked the Afghan position, but the British artillery expended all its ammunition and a flanking movement by Ayub then shattered the Indian troops, who fled.  The one British infantry battalion present was surrounded and practically annihilated; about half the remainder of the command escaped.”

Clement Whitby was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 17^th Foot.  He was attached to the 1^st Bombay Native Infantry, and commanded the baggage guard at Maiwand.  After fighting off two attacks he joined the survivors retreating to Kandahar.  When within sight of the walls he was shot and killed.

Just a few steps below the church is a prominent, but austere, column commemorating Queen Victoria’s 60 years as monarch.  The monument was restored by the town council to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth ll. 

Ottery St. Mary's monument to Queen Victoria.

The plaque on Ottery St. Mary's monument to Queen Victoria's 60 years as monarch.

I had been able park right outside the church gates, otherwise it would have meant a steep walk up the hill from the town’s car park – something my none-too-fit lungs would be reluctant to attempt!  The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary is well worth a second visit, which I will certainly make if I am lucky enough to find the same parking space free again.