By Lynne Olson
Lynne Olson's Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War is a pair of reading glasses for those, like me, who have missed the footnotes and fine print of World War II because of viewing history predominantly through American and British lenses.
About the author:
From her website: Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain’s crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called Olson “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.” Click here to see her titles.
About the title:
Polish pilots flying with the RAF om World War II used the phrase, "Last Hope Island" to refer to Great Britain (xvii).
What Last Hope Island is all about:
Lynne Olson put patches on the holes in my historical quilt. Last Hope Island informs us about the unsung efforts of nations and people throughout World War II. In doing so Olson exposes the fatal flaws that enhanced post-war dominance of the Soviet Union in Europe (cf 437). Last Hope Island is a constant reminder on the necessity of preparation, and the analysis necessary to facilitate that preparation. It is a short chronicling of the amazing contributions of and ill-treatment of the Czech and Polish people before, during, and after the War.
Occupied Countries Finding Refuge in London (Summer of 1940) : Olson notes, "six presented their British hosts with invaluable dowries of men, money, ships, natural resources, and intelligence information," excepting France. De Gaulle brought only himself (65).
1. Norway: King Haakon: Heroic and defiant in the face of adversity. "His unequivocal stand [against Hitler and Germany] ended all talk of capitulation," and "served as a stimulus for national resistance" (15-16).
2. Holland: Queen Wilhelmina: Winston Churchill said, "I fear no man in the world but Queen Wilhelmina" (25) (in Roelfzema, Soldier of Orange, 113).
3. Belgium: King Leopold III of Belgium: When threatened by Hitler, Leopold responded, "When it is a question of sacrifice or dishonor, the Belgian in 1940 will hesitate no more than his father did in 1914" (31). ("Leopold Goes to War," Time, May 20, 1940).
4. France: Charles de Gaulle: "Shy, unsmiling, and aloof, this minor functionary 'lacked all social vices and graces,' an observer remarked. Many people found him impossible to get along with. His glacial attitude, his family joked, was the result of his having fallen into an icebox as a child" (65). Yet de Gaulle was the only French official willing to jump France and the English Channel in order to resist Hitler (66).
5. Czechoslovakia: Germans razed the entire town of Lidice as part of their retaliation for the assassination of the "butcher of Prague," German Reinhard Heydrich, Gestapo and SS chief. "Torture and killing were his daily occupations" (234-242).
6. Poland: General Sikorski: Until 1943, "Poland had contributed more to Britain's survival and the overall war effort than any other declared ally" (228). British historian William Mackenzie noted, "[Sikorski] was unmistakably the 'doyen' of the exiled governments" (331).
Why I appreciate this book:
1. Historical rigor: Last Hope Island includes 75 pages of copious footnotes, detailed bibliography, and helpful index.
2. Uncovering historical neglect: Olson opened my eyes to the heroic contributions of nations often neglected in the re-telling of history. In doing so, she revealed the less glamorous aspects of Allied efforts in World War II, particularly the travesty of treatment of Poland with respect to Post-War Europe. For example:
On the Poles role in breaking Enigma: The break of Enigma had become a British monopoly, and the Polish cryptographers and their crucial contributions were thrust into the shadows. 'It is clear that of the many people who worked on Enigma, very few ever knew about the Polish contribution,' Stripp noted. 'The "need to know" principle extended to many other matters there'" (440).
On Allied lies regarding Dunkirk: Both General Weygand and General Gort made the patently false claim that they had been given no warning of Belgium's impending surrender. Gort charged the Belgians of cowardice. The Belgians had acted with bravery (46).
On Churchill and Dunkirk: It was one of his greatest wartime speeches, but not for the French whom he failed to notify. To them it was a "tragedy and an act of betrayal" (54ff).
On Women in WWII: Women played significant roles in espionage (e.g. Jeannie Rousseau, 309f), working escape routes for soldiers caught behind enemy lines (Mary Lindell, 296ff).
3. Deliberate forgetfulness: Olson shines the light on French willful indifference to owning their complicity in collaboration with the Germans in Jewish abuse. See the 1969 French documentary, The Sorry and the Pity, initially banned in France (only one theater showed it). Not until July 1995 did the French take responsibility: "The criminal madness of the occupier was supported by the French people and the French State," declared French president Jacques Chirac in a public address. "It is undeniable that this was a collective fault" (448).
Recommendation:
Read the book! It is outstanding for its scholarship, historical revelations, insight, and character-driven narrative. I have Last Hope Island in hardback and Audible. This book is so good I often lost sight of where I was on my morning walks as I was so absorbed in the narrative. I gleaned far more than I am able to chronicle below.
Leadership Lessons From Last Hope Island:
1. On Leadership Resolve: King Haakon's (pronounced HO-kin) "defiant rejection of of Germany's demands served as a stimulus for national resistance" (16). The public stance a leader takes matters!
2. On Communication: The leader's touchstone word: Churchill's was victory. "You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory. Victory at all costs; victor in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be." Lynne Olson notes: "The single word, as far-fetched as its achievement seemed to be in those dark early days, would remain his touchstone for the war's duration" (20). (OMW)
3. On preparation: Both Britain and the U.S. suffered due to previous wartime ill-preparedness. At the outset of WWII, Britain's army was one-fifth the size of France's (see pages 39, 42). Olson notes, "General Alan Brooke, who commanded two of the British divisions, morosely wrote in this diary that his troops were unfit for combat and that the Chamberlain government had probably sent them to France only as a public relations gesture, to show that some action, however minimal, was being taken" (39). Leaders must ask: What is our state of readiness? What presuppositions are driving this? "The failure of 1940 was above all a failure of military planning" (56). Sir Alexander Cadogan: "As far as I can see, we are, after years of leisurely preparation, completely unprepared" (59).
4. Aggressive determination: Regarding nuclear weapons, "Had the British not taken up fission in earnest in 1940 and 1941 . . . and had they not then pushed the American to act, it is likely that no nuclear weapon would have been ready before the end of the war," the science historian Spencer Weart has noted (80). Leaders look down the road. They take aggressive action on matters of importance. Who is looking down the road?
5. On cultural ease & cultural ignorance as a precursor to disaster: Petain attributed France's defeat to "too few arms, too few allies" and to France's own moral failures, which included a lack of discipline and an unfortunate "spirit of pleasure" (58). Cultural ignorance: see pp. 84ff, Chamberlain, Poles and Czechoslovakia. See also Montgomery's mistake (380). Leaders are cultural anthropologists and architects.
6. On leadership humility: Dilly Knox, Britain's top cryptographer (brilliant and arrogant), initially found it impossible to believe that the Poles cracked Enigma before the British. However, later he sang, "Nous marchons ensemble" ("We are traveling together"). On his return to Britain, he sent Enigma's code cracker, the Polish Marian Rejewski and his colleagues a thank-you note in Polish: "Serdeznie dziejuje za wspolprace i cierpliw osc (My sincere thanks for your cooperation and patience." Accompanying the note were three silk scarves depicting a horse winning The Derby--Knox's graceful acknowledgement that the Poles had come first in the Enigma race" (162). On the other hand, Olson notes that "Reich officials refused to acknowledge that their vaunted machine could possibly have yielded its secrets...." (165). Leaders watch themselves and their organizations for "Hubris born of success." More on arrogance: British Generals refusal to listen to the Dutch (382).
7. The essential role of "Seconds": Olson cites Frenchman Jean Moulin as "the greatest figure in France's wartime resistance" (22). He played second to and legitimized Charles de Gaulle's place as national leader by uniting "the wide array of fragmented movements and welding them into a cohesive, relatively disciplined body" (220ff). Years ago, one second leader I interviewed captured that spirit when he said, "My fingerprints are on everything, my name is on nothing . . . and that's okay." Some of the best leadership is second-chair leadership. Leaders are unafraid to play second fiddle when necessary.
8. The danger of fixed eyes: "My excuse is that my eyes were fixed entirely on the Rhine, and everything else seemed of subsidiary importance" (376). The words of one of Montgomery's generals when recounting the military blunder at Arnhem. The British should have ousted the Germans in a couple of days. It took them months and resulted in many casualties.
Quotes worth quoting:
1. The New Yorker's Mollie Panter-Downs on Britain defiance at the outset of WWII: "It would be difficult for an impartial observer to decide today whether the British are the bravest or merely the most stupid people in the world" (60). (Mollie Panter-Downes, London War Notes: 1939-1945 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971), 70.)
2. Axel Aubert, the director of Norsk Hydro, on lending (not selling) heavy water to France: "I know that if the [German] experiments succeed and if later France has the misfortune of losing the war, I will be shot for what I am doing today. But it's a matter of pride for me to run that risk" (73). (Per F. Dahl. Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy (Bristol, UK: Institute of physics Publishing, 1999), 107.
To Read:
1. Fiedler, Arkady. Squadron 303: The Polish Fighter Squadron with the RAF. New York: Roy, 1943.
2. Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. New York: Penguine, 2005.
3. Kersaudy, Francois. Churchill and de Gaulle. New York: Antheneum, 1982.
4. Neave, Aireuy. Little Cyclone: The Girl Who started the Comet Line. London" Biteback Publishing, 2013. Forty years after the War, Airey Neave would emerge as top aid to Margaret Thatcher. His encounter with Frenchwomen who played pivotal and dangerous roles escape networks shaped him significantly. p. 289
5. Ryan, Cornelius. A Bridge Too Far. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
6. Sevareid, Eric. Not So Wild a Dream New York: Atheneum, 1976. "A man whose army and country have suffered defeat is not a complete man afterwards; no matter how healthy his body ..."
7. Tombs, Robert, and Isabelle Toombs. That Sweet Enemy: Britain and France: The History of a Love-Hate Relationship. New York: Vintage, 2008.
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On My Walk :
1. What fear does to leaders: FDR and Churchill had deliberately and specifically barred the Polish government in Allied discussions about post-war Europe "for fear of offending Stalin" (437).
2. This is loyalty: The captured polish cryptographers who refused to purchase their freedom by revealing their secrets. Two died for it (437). (27/26:01 - 27/28:24)
3. The Danger of Deliberate Forgetfulness: See Why I appreciate ... " #3 above.
4. The Power of anonymity: Jean Moulin and the breaking of Enigma (222, cf. 440).
5. "Heroism beyond anything I can tell you." The work of those on the Comet line (294).
6. Do What You Can Before You Can't: Peenemunde raids (pp. 310ff).
7. Your Contribution Matters! What the European intelligence agents never learned, but should have (313).
8. This is leadership! De Gaulle, despite his deep disdain for FDR and Churchill, delivered an important national address praising England's role in the liberation of France (339). And on de Gaulle's actions when parading with WSC through liberated France: "It was only his due" (372).
