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Winston S. Churchill: The History of the Second World War, Volume 3 - The Grand Alliance
The Blitz continued to rain down on the shell and morale of the nation’s defences. In the cold grey waters of the North Atlantic, wolfpacks of enemy U boats hunted down with ruthless efficiency the supply lines that could keep Britain in the war. Through the year, the enemy produced many of their grandest victories, but Britain was able to stabilise its position in the Middle East although setbacks at the hands of the newly arrived Rommel, the Desert Fox, were encountered in North Africa. But 1941 was to prove strategically decisive; with Hitler’s campaign in the Balkans, vital time was lost to the Wehrmacht for an attack on its former ally Russia. When the 150 divisions hurled themselves forward in June many knew that the long Russian winter would grind the enemy to a standstill before they could reach the safety of their objective cities.
In December the third member of 'The Grand Alliance' stepped from the background with the infamous attack of Pearl Harbour. Now Churchill knew in his heart that ultimate victory surely lay with Britain, the United States, and Russia, but the continuing pain, sacrifice, and toll of blood and machine were still to be borne. The overview is read by Winston S Churchill, MP, and the volume narrated by Michael Jayston.
In December the third member of 'The Grand Alliance' stepped from the background with the infamous attack of Pearl Harbour. Now Churchill knew in his heart that ultimate victory surely lay with Britain, the United States, and Russia, but the continuing pain, sacrifice, and toll of blood and machine were still to be borne. The overview is read by Winston S Churchill, MP, and the volume narrated by Michael Jayston.
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Published September 14, 2011
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About the author
Winston Churchill
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This is not the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. This is the American novelist, Winston Churchill.
Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894 and became an editor of the Army and Navy Journal. He resigned from the navy to pursue a writing career. While he would be most successful as a novelist, he was also a published poet and essayist.
His first novel was The Celebrity (1898). (Mr. Keegan's Elopement was published in 1896 within a magazine. In 1903 it was republished as an illustrated hardback book.) Churchill's next novel—Richard Carvel (1899)—was a phenomenon, selling as many as two million copies in a nation of only 76 million, and made Churchill rich. His next two novels, The Crisis (1901) and The Crossing (1904), were also very successful.
Churchill's early novels were historical but his later works were set in contemporary America. He often sought to include his political ideas into his novels. Churchill wrote in the naturalist style of literature, and some have called him the most influential of the American naturalists.
In 1899, Churchill moved to Cornish, New Hampshire. He became involved in politics and was elected to the state legislature in 1903 and 1905. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1906. In 1912, he was nominated as the Progressive candidate for governor but did not win the election. He did not again seek office. In 1917, he toured the battlefields of World War I and wrote about what he saw, his first non-fiction work.
Sometime after this move, he took up watercolors, and also became known for his landscapes. Some of his works are in the collections of Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, Vermont, Hood Museum of Art (part of Hopkins Center for the Arts Dartmouth College) in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire.
In 1919, Churchill decided to stop writing and withdrew from public life. As a result of this he was gradually forgotten by the public. In 1940, The Uncharted Way, his first book in 20 years, was published. The book examined Churchill's thoughts on religion. He did not seek to publicize the book and it received little attention. Shortly before his death he said, "It is very difficult now for me to think of myself as a writer of novels, as all that seems to belong to another life."
Churchill died in Winter Park, Florida in 1947. He is the great-grandfather of Albany, New York, journalist Chris Churchill.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston...]
Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894 and became an editor of the Army and Navy Journal. He resigned from the navy to pursue a writing career. While he would be most successful as a novelist, he was also a published poet and essayist.
His first novel was The Celebrity (1898). (Mr. Keegan's Elopement was published in 1896 within a magazine. In 1903 it was republished as an illustrated hardback book.) Churchill's next novel—Richard Carvel (1899)—was a phenomenon, selling as many as two million copies in a nation of only 76 million, and made Churchill rich. His next two novels, The Crisis (1901) and The Crossing (1904), were also very successful.
Churchill's early novels were historical but his later works were set in contemporary America. He often sought to include his political ideas into his novels. Churchill wrote in the naturalist style of literature, and some have called him the most influential of the American naturalists.
In 1899, Churchill moved to Cornish, New Hampshire. He became involved in politics and was elected to the state legislature in 1903 and 1905. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1906. In 1912, he was nominated as the Progressive candidate for governor but did not win the election. He did not again seek office. In 1917, he toured the battlefields of World War I and wrote about what he saw, his first non-fiction work.
Sometime after this move, he took up watercolors, and also became known for his landscapes. Some of his works are in the collections of Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, Vermont, Hood Museum of Art (part of Hopkins Center for the Arts Dartmouth College) in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire.
In 1919, Churchill decided to stop writing and withdrew from public life. As a result of this he was gradually forgotten by the public. In 1940, The Uncharted Way, his first book in 20 years, was published. The book examined Churchill's thoughts on religion. He did not seek to publicize the book and it received little attention. Shortly before his death he said, "It is very difficult now for me to think of myself as a writer of novels, as all that seems to belong to another life."
Churchill died in Winter Park, Florida in 1947. He is the great-grandfather of Albany, New York, journalist Chris Churchill.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston...]
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July 8, 2024
THE THIRD VOLUME (OF SIX) OF CHURCHILL’S FASCINATING HISTORY OF THE WAR
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and then again from 1951 to 1955. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his historical works. In 1963, he was made an honorary citizen of the United States (one of only eight people so honored). [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 777-page paperback edition.]
He wrote in the Preface to this 1950 book, “We are again dealing with war on the giant scale, and the battle on the Russian front involved as many divisions on both sides as were engaged in the Battle for France. At every point along a far longer front the great masses engaged, with slaughter incomparable to anything which occurred elsewhere during the war… The Russian epic of 1941 and 1942 deserves a detailed and dispassionate study and record in the English language… Nor should this impulse be chilled by the fact that the Soviet Government have already claimed all the honor for themselves. Hitler’s invasion of Russian brought to an end the period of almost exactly a year during which Great Britain and her empire stood alone, undismayed, and continually growing in strength. Six months later the United States, violently assaulted by Japan, became our ally for all purposes… The effective combination of the whole English-speaking world in the waging of war and the creation of the Grand Alliance form the conclusion to this part of my account.”
He says of Rudolf Hess’s failed “mission” to Britain, “I am glad not to be responsible for the way in which Hess has been and is being treated. Whatever may be the moral guilt of a German who stood near to Hitler, Hess had, in my view, atoned for this by his completely devoted and frantic deed of lunatic benevolence. He came to us of his own free will, and, though without authority, had something of the quality of an envoy. He was a medical and not a criminal case, and should be so regarded.” (Bk. 1, Ch. 3. Pg. 47)
He states, “Hitler… always dreaded the consequences of war with the United States, and insisted that German forces should avoid provocative action against her.” (Ch. 8, pg. 123)
He concluded his June 25, 1941 address to the House of Commons with the statement, “Let us not forget that the enemy has difficulties of his own; that some of these difficulties are obvious; that there may be others which are more apparent to him than to us; and that all the great struggles of history have been won by superior will-power wresting victory in the teeth of odds or upon the narrowest of margins.” (Ch. 8, pg. 130)
He paid tribute to German Marshal Erwin Rommel in the House of Commons in January 1942: “‘We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general.’ He then added, “He also deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy of 1944 to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this he paid the forfeit of his life… I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged.” (Ch. 11, pg. 168)
In the midst of recounting the Middle East conflict, he observes, “There is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has its exceptions.” (Ch. 18, pg. 281)
He asserts, “War is mainly a catalogue of blunders, but it may be doubted whether any mistake in history has equaled that of which Stalin and the Communist chiefs were guilty of when they cast away all possibilities in the Balkans and supinely awaited… the fearful onslaught which impended upon Russia. We have hitherto rated them as selfish calculators. In this period they were proved simpletons as well… as far as strategy, policy, foresight, competence are arbiters, Stalin and his commissars showed themselves at this moment the most completely outwitted bunglers of the Second World War.” (Ch. 20, pg. 299)
In a June 22, 1941 radio broadcast, he said, “We will never parley, we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him in the air, until, with God’s help, we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated peoples from his yoke. Any man or state who fights against Nazism will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe… That is our policy and that is our declaration.” (Ch. 20, pg. 314-315) Later, he adds, “it is right to make it clear that for more than a year after Russia was involved in the war she presented herself to our minds as a burden and not as a help. None the less we rejoiced to have this mighty nation in the battle with us…” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, pg. 334)
He acknowledges, “Enormous requests were now made by the Home Command [for war material] … No one can understand without reading the papers written at the time how hard was the strain, and how easy it was to make decisions which might be tragically falsified by events. I was like a keeper in the Zoo distributing half-rations among magnificent animals. Luckily they knew I was an old and friendly keeper.” (Ch. 7, pg. 433)
Later, he recalls, “It had seemed impossible that Japan would court destruction by war with Britain and the United States, and probably Russia in the end. A declaration of war by Japan could not be reconciled with reason. I felt sure she would be ruined for a generation by such a plunge, and this proved true. But Governments and peoples do not always make rational decisions… I have not hesitated to record repeatedly my disbelief that Japan would go mad… Madness is however an affliction which in war carries with it the advantage of SURPRISE.” (Ch. 11, pg. 508)
After hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he called Roosevelt, who told him, “They [Japan] have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.” He continues, “We had no idea that any serious losses had been inflicted on the United States Navy. They did not wail or lament that their country was at war. They wasted no words in reproach or sorrow. In fact, one might almost have thought they had been delivered from a long pain.” (Ch. 12, pg. 510)
He observes, “No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy…. I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and to the death So we had won after all!... We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. We might not even have to die as individuals. Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely proper application of overwhelming force… United we cold subdue everybody else in the world… I went to be and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.” (Ch. 12, pg. 511-512)
After he sent Japan a polite and very ceremonial declaration of war, he notes, “Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.” (Ch. 12, pg. 514)
He also states, “The President and I went to church together on Christmas Day, and I found peace in the simple service and enjoyed singing the well-known hymns, and one, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ I had never heard before. Certainly there was much to fortify the faith of all who believe in the moral governance of the universe.” (Ch. 15, pg. 565)
Whether one reads it as history, or literature, this series will be absolute “must reading” for anyone even marginally interested in the Second World War. (At the very least, one should read an abridgement, such as Memoirs of the Second World War.)
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and then again from 1951 to 1955. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his historical works. In 1963, he was made an honorary citizen of the United States (one of only eight people so honored). [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 777-page paperback edition.]
He wrote in the Preface to this 1950 book, “We are again dealing with war on the giant scale, and the battle on the Russian front involved as many divisions on both sides as were engaged in the Battle for France. At every point along a far longer front the great masses engaged, with slaughter incomparable to anything which occurred elsewhere during the war… The Russian epic of 1941 and 1942 deserves a detailed and dispassionate study and record in the English language… Nor should this impulse be chilled by the fact that the Soviet Government have already claimed all the honor for themselves. Hitler’s invasion of Russian brought to an end the period of almost exactly a year during which Great Britain and her empire stood alone, undismayed, and continually growing in strength. Six months later the United States, violently assaulted by Japan, became our ally for all purposes… The effective combination of the whole English-speaking world in the waging of war and the creation of the Grand Alliance form the conclusion to this part of my account.”
He says of Rudolf Hess’s failed “mission” to Britain, “I am glad not to be responsible for the way in which Hess has been and is being treated. Whatever may be the moral guilt of a German who stood near to Hitler, Hess had, in my view, atoned for this by his completely devoted and frantic deed of lunatic benevolence. He came to us of his own free will, and, though without authority, had something of the quality of an envoy. He was a medical and not a criminal case, and should be so regarded.” (Bk. 1, Ch. 3. Pg. 47)
He states, “Hitler… always dreaded the consequences of war with the United States, and insisted that German forces should avoid provocative action against her.” (Ch. 8, pg. 123)
He concluded his June 25, 1941 address to the House of Commons with the statement, “Let us not forget that the enemy has difficulties of his own; that some of these difficulties are obvious; that there may be others which are more apparent to him than to us; and that all the great struggles of history have been won by superior will-power wresting victory in the teeth of odds or upon the narrowest of margins.” (Ch. 8, pg. 130)
He paid tribute to German Marshal Erwin Rommel in the House of Commons in January 1942: “‘We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general.’ He then added, “He also deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy of 1944 to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this he paid the forfeit of his life… I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged.” (Ch. 11, pg. 168)
In the midst of recounting the Middle East conflict, he observes, “There is always much to be said for not attempting more than you can do and for making a certainty of what you try. But this principle, like others in life and war, has its exceptions.” (Ch. 18, pg. 281)
He asserts, “War is mainly a catalogue of blunders, but it may be doubted whether any mistake in history has equaled that of which Stalin and the Communist chiefs were guilty of when they cast away all possibilities in the Balkans and supinely awaited… the fearful onslaught which impended upon Russia. We have hitherto rated them as selfish calculators. In this period they were proved simpletons as well… as far as strategy, policy, foresight, competence are arbiters, Stalin and his commissars showed themselves at this moment the most completely outwitted bunglers of the Second World War.” (Ch. 20, pg. 299)
In a June 22, 1941 radio broadcast, he said, “We will never parley, we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fight him in the air, until, with God’s help, we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated peoples from his yoke. Any man or state who fights against Nazism will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe… That is our policy and that is our declaration.” (Ch. 20, pg. 314-315) Later, he adds, “it is right to make it clear that for more than a year after Russia was involved in the war she presented herself to our minds as a burden and not as a help. None the less we rejoiced to have this mighty nation in the battle with us…” (Bk. 2, Ch. 1, pg. 334)
He acknowledges, “Enormous requests were now made by the Home Command [for war material] … No one can understand without reading the papers written at the time how hard was the strain, and how easy it was to make decisions which might be tragically falsified by events. I was like a keeper in the Zoo distributing half-rations among magnificent animals. Luckily they knew I was an old and friendly keeper.” (Ch. 7, pg. 433)
Later, he recalls, “It had seemed impossible that Japan would court destruction by war with Britain and the United States, and probably Russia in the end. A declaration of war by Japan could not be reconciled with reason. I felt sure she would be ruined for a generation by such a plunge, and this proved true. But Governments and peoples do not always make rational decisions… I have not hesitated to record repeatedly my disbelief that Japan would go mad… Madness is however an affliction which in war carries with it the advantage of SURPRISE.” (Ch. 11, pg. 508)
After hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he called Roosevelt, who told him, “They [Japan] have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.” He continues, “We had no idea that any serious losses had been inflicted on the United States Navy. They did not wail or lament that their country was at war. They wasted no words in reproach or sorrow. In fact, one might almost have thought they had been delivered from a long pain.” (Ch. 12, pg. 510)
He observes, “No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy…. I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and to the death So we had won after all!... We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. We might not even have to die as individuals. Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely proper application of overwhelming force… United we cold subdue everybody else in the world… I went to be and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.” (Ch. 12, pg. 511-512)
After he sent Japan a polite and very ceremonial declaration of war, he notes, “Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.” (Ch. 12, pg. 514)
He also states, “The President and I went to church together on Christmas Day, and I found peace in the simple service and enjoyed singing the well-known hymns, and one, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ I had never heard before. Certainly there was much to fortify the faith of all who believe in the moral governance of the universe.” (Ch. 15, pg. 565)
Whether one reads it as history, or literature, this series will be absolute “must reading” for anyone even marginally interested in the Second World War. (At the very least, one should read an abridgement, such as Memoirs of the Second World War.)
August 24, 2024
Review of the war, the strain of resources with so many war theaters. Russia is attack. US and Britain become closely allied through Churchill and Roosevelt.
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