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The Keyes Papers - Volume III (Paperback)
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The Keyes Papers - Volume III (Paperback)
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The start of Volume III, 1939-1945, finds Keyes in a frustrating
position. Too young for fleet command in the First World War, he
was now too old for command in the Second World War. Keyes's
temperament did not allow him to suffer in silence. His criticisms
of the Naval Staff, and implicitly of the government reached
another climax with his celebrated speech in the debate in the
House of Commons in May 1940, which helped to bring down the
Chamberlain government. On 17 July 1940 Keyes was appointed
Director of Combined Operations, and he set to work to build up an
organization. Immediately this organization was at odds with both
the Royal Navy and the Army, as they were competing for the same
supplies, equipment and manpower. He was treated with considerable
suspicion, personally, by the 3 Chiefs of Staff, who knew all to
well his close connection to Churchill, and most of his proposals
were ruled out by various planning committees. In March 1941 the
Commandos carried out a raid on the Lofoten Islands, and for much
of the summer Keyes was involved in planning a raid on the Grand
Canary Island or the Azores (Operation Pilgrim). This culminated in
August in Exercise Leapfrog, designed as the dress rehearsal for
the operation. The mistakes committed during this exercise led
directly to Keyes dismissal as DCO and was eventually relived of
his post by Churchill. For the second time in the war Keyes was out
of a job, when he thought he ought to have been running the war. He
continued to write to all his naval friends and spoke out against
the conduct of the war in Parliament. Despite his criticisms of the
direction of the war Churchill offered Keyes a peerage, which he
accepted. He died on 26th December 1945.
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