Yangtze Showdown Read online

  14. Message to Donaldson, 30 June 1949.

  15. Message to Amethyst, 2 July 1949.

  Chapter 16

  1. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  2. Imperial War Museum interview, 6 March 2000.

  3. Diary of Coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 10 July 1949.

  4. Article by Kerans in The Naval Review, February 1950.

  5. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  6. Telegram, 6 July 1949.

  7. Report titled ‘Appreciation of the situation arising from the enforced presence of HMS Amethyst in the Yangtze River’, 5 July 1949. The report may have been compiled by Commander Peter Dickens, Admiral Brind’s staff officer operations.

  8. Imperial War Museum interview, 23 May 1990.

  9. Diary of Coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 11 July 1949.

  10. Report by Madden to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station, 7 July 1949.

  11. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  Chapter 17

  1. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  2. Memoirs of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, unpublished.

  3. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  4. Message sent to Amethyst but circulated throughout fleet, dated 14 July 1949.

  5. Diary of coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 17 July 1949.

  6. It is not clear when Brind sent his message but Madden replied on 16 July 1949.

  7. Memoirs of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, unpublished. A full explanation of how the code worked is contained in an appendix to the memoirs.

  Chapter 18

  1. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949. Memoirs of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, unpublished.

  2. Diary of Coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 26 July 1949.

  3. Telegram from Stevenson to Brind, 26 July 1949.

  4. Telegram from Stevenson to the Foreign Office, 28 July 1949.

  5. Message received by Brind on 30 July 1949.

  6. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  7. Diary of coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 30 July 1949.

  Chapter 19

  1. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  2. Imperial War Museum interview, 21 September 1990.

  3. Diary of Coxswain Leslie Frank, entry for 30 July 1949.

  4. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949. Material from the report originally closed until 2025. Article by Kerans in The Naval Review, February 1950.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Material originally closed until 2025 from HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  7. Memoirs of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, unpublished.

  8. Message from Brind to Admiralty, 29 July 1949.

  9. Memoirs of Rear Admiral Sir David Scott, unpublished.

  10. Imperial War Museum interview, 8 August 2000, Navy News, September 2009.

  11. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  12. Imperial War Museum interview, 21 September 1990.

  13. Messages from Fraser and Brind, 30 July 1949. Imperial War Museum interview with Hett, 23 May 1990.

  14. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949. Article by Kerans in The Naval Review, February 1950.

  15. Imperial War Museum interview with Hett, 23 May 1990.

  Chapter 20

  1. The Life and Times of HMS Concord, published by the HMS Concord Association in January 2012.

  2. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 5, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  3. Brind asked the Commodore Hong Kong to distribute the press release.

  4. Imperial War Museum interview with Daily Express reporter Frank Goldsworthy, 4 April 1990.

  5. Hett’s comment on navigating – information supplied to the author by Hett and Michael Pocock of MaritimeQuest. Articles in the Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Daily Mirror, all 1 August 1949.

  6. Daily Express, 3 August 1949.

  7. Imperial War Museum interview, 4 April 1990.

  8. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 5, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  9. Imperial War Museum interview, 8 August 2000.

  10. Imperial War Museum interview, 6 June 2001.

  11. Letter to the Under Secretary, 15 July 1949.

  12. Letter from D R Spendlove, news editor, Press Association, 2 August 1949.

  13. Reply to Brind’s letter dated 2 September 1949.

  14. Transcript of radio broadcast sent from Singapore to the Foreign Office on 8 August 1949.

  15. Telegram to Stevenson, 10 August 1949.

  16. Statement by General Yuan and comment by New China News Agency, both 31 July 1949.

  17. Telegram from the consul to the Foreign Office, 4 August 1949.

  18. Telegram from the Shanghai consul to the Foreign Office, 6 August 1949.

  19. The Times, 6 August 1949.

  20. Telegram to the Foreign Office, 6 August 1949.

  21. Telegram to the Foreign Office, 2 August 1949.

  Chapter 21

  1. Message dated 31 July 1949.

  2. Eric Grove, Vanguard to Trident, Chapter 4.

  3. Minutes by Coates and Tomlinson, 9 August 1949, and telegram from MacDonald, 7 August 1949.

  4. Press release from the HMS Concord Association, 10 February 2009, and article by Anthony Lonsdale in Warship World magazine, November/December 2010.

  5. Ministry memorandum, 16 August 1949.

  6. Message to the Foreign Office, 23 August 1949.

  7. Press release from the HMS Concord Association, 10 February 2009.

  8. Material from HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Kerans, 30 November 1949, originally closed until 2025.

  9. Maritime Quest website, 22 October 2010.

  10. Letter dated 29 November 2010.

  11. Letter to Devine, 18 November 2007.

  12. Military Medals Review, Sir John Holmes, July 2012.

  13. Letter from Peter Lee-Hale, chairman of the HMS Concord Association, to Sir John Holmes, 5 June 2012, letter from Holmes to Lee-Hale, 16 January 2013, author’s conversations with Lee-Hale and Derek Hodgson, May/June 2013.

  14. Message from Brind to the Admiralty, 17 August 1950, and telegrams from Hutchison to the Foreign Office, 18 and 21 August 1950.

  Note: many naval signals relating to Amethyst were in Admiralty files originally closed until 2025. ADM 116/5697, ADM 116/5708.

  Chapter 22

  1. Statement made by Lieutenant Weston, 8 October 1949, letter sent by Weston from the University Hospital, Nanking, to his parents, 5 May 1949, letter sent by Weston from the British embassy, Nanking, to his mother, 26 June 1949.

  2. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  3. Statement made by Weston, 8 October 1949.

  4. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 3, Kerans, 30 November 1949.

  5. Statement made by Weston, 8 October 1949.

  6. Private papers of Peter Howard-Williams, 1991.

  7. South China Morning Post, 31 July 1949.

  8. Weston detailed his escape from Shanghai in an appendix to HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Kerans, 30 November 1949. The appendix was originally closed until 2025.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Letter from Naval Intelligence Division, 3 September 1949.

  Chapter 23
/>   1. Letter from the Colonial Office to Grantham, 30 September 1949.

  2. Cabinet minutes, 26 May 1949.

  3. Message from Chifley to Attlee, 15 June 1949.

  4. Report by the Joint Intelligence Committee, 14 July 1949, and originally closed until 2030.

  5. Report by the Joint Intelligence Committee, 10 August 1949. Cabinet documents, 9 November 1949, in files originally closed until 2030 and now heavily redacted. CO 537/4998, CO 537/4999, CO 537/5000.

  6. Report by Urquhart, 1 July 1949.

  7. South China Morning Post, 1 September 1949.

  8. South China Morning Post, 14 August 1949.

  9. Sunday Pictorial and News of the World, 16 October 1949.

  10. News of the World, 16 October 1949.

  11. William Louis, Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization, Chapter 12.

  Chapter 24

  1. South China Morning Post, 5 August 1949.

  2. Letter undated but received 3 August 1949.

  3. Letter from Commodore Hans Henriksen, naval attaché, Norwegian embassy, London, to Sir John Lang, Secretary of the Admiralty, 2 August 1949.

  4. Letter from Chifley, 3 August 1949.

  5. Letter from Williams, 14 August 1949.

  6. Report on Tapp covering period 15 January 1948 to 8 August 1949.

  7. Report on Tapp covering period 18 August 1949 to 15 March 1950.

  8. Report on Tapp covering period 1 December 1950 to 23 October 1952.

  9. Report on Tapp covering period 7 January 1958 to 15 November 1958, Rear Admiral Wilfred Harrington.

  10. William Stenhouse Hamilton, Notes from Old Nanking 1947–1949, Chapter 28.

  11. Letter to the Naval Secretary, 24 August 1949.

  12. Memo from the head of M Branch, 30 August 1949.

  13. Evening Standard, 25 August 1949.

  14. News Chronicle, 26 August 1949.

  15. Bowhill’s letter 1 September 1949, Fraser’s reply 5 September 1949.

  Chapter 25

  1. Daily Express, 1 November 1949, Singapore Free Press, 16 November 1949.

  2. Far Eastern Department minutes, 25 and 26 October 1949, Radio Times, 14 October 1949.

  3. Message from the head of M Branch, 29 October 1949.

  4. The Daily Telegraph, The Times, 2 November 1949.

  5. Daily Express, 2 November 1949.

  6. The Daily Telegraph, The Times, 17 November 1949.

  7. Papers of Gerard Devany, 1994.

  8. The Times, 18 November 1949.

  9. First Sea Lord’s minutes, 9 November 1949.

  10. Patrick Roberts, Famous Felines, http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/.

  11. Imperial War Museum interview, 21 September 1990.

  12. The Sunday Times, 18 September 1949.

  13. Letter from the Chief of Naval Information to the secretary to the First Sea Lord, 21 November 1949.

  14. Letter from the First Sea Lord, 22 November 1949.

  15. Letter from the Chief of Naval Information to the Fifth Sea Lord, 3 August 1949, and letter from the Chief of Naval Information to the private secretary of the First Lord, 23 August 1949.

  16. Navy News, September 2009.

  Chapter 26

  1. Letter from Maberly Dening, head of the Far Eastern Division, to P Synnott.

  2. Letter from P Synnott to Maberly Dening.

  3. Statement, 7 September 1949.

  4. Statement undated.

  5. Statement undated.

  6. Statement, 12 September 1949.

  7. Statement, 1 September 1949.

  8. Report titled Amethyst Case, undated.

  9. Admiralty memo by Cly Cardo for M Branch.

  10. Letter from Cly Cardo, M Branch, to P Scarlett, Foreign Office, 27 October 1949.

  11. Letter from P Scarlett to Cly Cardo, 9 November 1949.

  12. Briefing document by A Franklin, 20 March 1951.

  13. Qiang Zhai, The Dragon, The Lion, and the Eagle, Chinese-British-American Relations, 1949–1958, Chapter 1.

  Chapter 27

  1. The Daily Telegraph, 23 April 1949, Sunday Pictorial, 24 April 1949.

  2. Sunday Tribune (Far East), date unknown.

  3. Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Mao, The Unknown Story, Chapter 33.

  4. Odd Arne Westad, Decisive Encounters, The Chinese Civil War 1946–1950, Chapter 7.

  5. John Stuart, Fifty Years in China, Chapter 11.

  6. Statement to committees on foreign affairs and foreign relations, US Congress, 20 February 1948.

  7. Estimate by General George Marshall. Odd Arne Westad, Decisive Encounters, The Chinese Civil War 1946–1950, Chapter 5.

  8. Letter dated 2 October 1944.

  9. Letter from Eden to Alexander, 21 March 1945.

  10. Report by M Branch, 19 April 1948.

  11. Message from Bevin to Stevenson, 18 May 1948.

  12. Memorandum by the First Lord of the Admiralty, 12 June 1948.

  13. Bruce Swanson, Eighth Voyage of the Dragon, A History of China’s Quest for Sea Power, Chapter 13. Material based on US Navy intelligence reports.

  14. Report dated 8 May 1948.

  15. Bruce Swanson, Eighth Voyage of the Dragon, A History of China’s Quest for Sea Power, Chapter 15.

  Chapter 28

  1. HMS Amethyst’s final report of the Yangtze Incident, Phase 4, Kerans, 30 November 1949. Material from the report originally closed until 2025.

  2. Message from the naval attaché, Nanking, to the Admiralty and Foreign Office, 23 August 1949. Letter from the British embassy, Peking, to the Foreign Office explaining background, 10 November 1954.

  3. Foreign Office minutes by Burgess, 8 September 1949.

  4. M Branch Admiralty, 28 June 1950.

  5. Foreign Office minute dated 17 July 1950.

  6. British embassy letter dated 10 November 1954.

  7. Minutes of the Far Eastern Department, Foreign Office, various dates in December 1954 and January 1955.

  8. Foreign Office letter to the Admiralty, 18 January 1955.

  9. Letter from M Branch to C E Branch, 21 January 1955.

  10. C E Branch records, February, June, July 1955.

  11. Letter to C E Branch, 31 August 1955.

  Note: most of the documents relating to Sam Leo were in an Admiralty file originally closed until 2031. ADM 1/25885.

  Chapter 29

  1. The Naval Review, February 1950.

  Chapter 30

  1. Nigel Farndale, Last Action Hero of the British Empire.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Obituary of Kerans, The Times, 13 September 1985, death notice in The Times, 16 September 1985.

  5. Anthony Paul, Time magazine, 24 September 2001.

  6. Obituary of Berger, The Daily Telegraph, 23 October 2003.

  7. Information supplied by the Army Legal Services Association, obituary of Weston, The Times, 22 May 1993.

  8. Imperial War Museum interview, 21 September 1990, obituary, The Times, 22 January 2007.

  9. The Times, 10 October 1963.

  10. Obituary of Madden, The Times, 22 September 1964.

  11. Obituary The Daily Telegraph.

  12. Tom Driberg, Guy Burgess, A Portrait with Background, Chapter 5.

  13. Patrick Wright, Passport to Peking, Chapter 16.

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