The Clock With Four Hands

This is the story of the underground nerve center from which the war was conducted in London. One hundred and fifty feet below Whitehall covering six acres of ground were the hidden chambers for meetings of the War Cabinet and staff officials. They also housed the secret documents and war maps on which most of the important decisions were made. Here also was the secret room where Winston Churchill had a direct line to the White House and on the wall was "the clock with four hands" showing the time in Washington as well as in London. This book also tells in part the story of General Leslie Hollis who was for six years Secretary of the Joint Planning Committee of the Chiefs of Staff and who sat in on all the important meetings of the War Cabinet and attended all the international conferences during the entire war. These underground chambers known as "the Hole in the Ground" were to be Hollis' home during that period and although there were many significant meetings held in different parts of London and for that matter different parts of the world, "the Hole" and "the clock with four hands" became symbolical of the secret organization by which the war was conducted and important decisions reached. In this book we are given a fresh view not only of the great war leaders such as Roosevelt, Churchill, Eisenhower and Alanbrooke but many other major figures including Lord Beaverbrook and General Lord Ismay who played key roles in all that was happening. --from inside jacket flap.