In this, Part Four of my Winston Churchill biography, I look at Churchill's life during the war years of 1939-45. This includes Churchill becoming Prime Minister, the long lonely months when Britain and her commonwealth stood alone after the defeat of France, the Battle of Britain, the Russians entering the war, Pearl Harbour, D-Day and Victory in Europe.
War
In March 1939 Hitler marched into the rest of Czechoslovakia and began to threaten Poland. Britain promised to support Poland if she was invaded. On the 1st September Germany invaded Poland calling Britain's bluff. This time it was war! Churchill was immediately posted back to the Admiralty and into the War Cabinet. Characteristically Churchill wanted to immediately attack the German Siegfried line and to blockade the Swedish port of Narvik - thus stopping German importation of iron ore. The rest of the war cabinet dragged their heels somewhat. By March 1940 the Narvik project received the go ahead...but too late: the German's had already occupied the port. The blame fell on Chamberlain. The pressure built for Chamberlain to resign - and when he did, Lord Halifax stood aside and Churchill stepped into the breach.
Prime Minister
10th May 1940 and at the age of 65 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister. The situation looked perilous. By 16th May the German's had outflanked the French Maginot line. By late May the British Expeditionary Force began being evacuated from Dunkirk. On 10th June Mussolini threw Italy behind Germany and declared war on Britain and France. By 17th June France had surrendered. In July Churchill gave the order to attack the French war ships in Oran when they refused terms. This act of defiance impressed the Americans that the Brits meant business - and this was to prove to be crucial. Two weeks after Oran the USA agreed to the manufacture of 14,000 aircraft plus other vital materiel for Britain. By August Roosevelt agreed to the release of 50 destroyers to aid Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic. In return the US received the use of various British naval bases around the globe.
The Battle of Britain
With the Battle of France over the Battle of Britain began. Through mid-August to mid-September 1940 the German Luftwaffe relentlessly attacked strategically vital ports, airfields and factories in preparation for a Nazi invasion of Britain. The brave young pilots of the Royal Air Force took to the skies above their homeland to intercept the German bombers and fighters. At times stretched to their limits, nevertheless the RAF remained in command of the skies. Churchill gave his "The Few" speech on the 20th August at the very height of the battle. This victory, coupled with the Royal Navy's efforts kept Britain safe as an Autumn or Winter invasion would be impractical for the Nazis. With the invasion off, the Germans directed their aircraft upon London and other densely populated cities. At the height of The Blitz up to 200 bombers attacked London alone each night. These raids continued through the winter into 1941 with as many as 6,000 civilians killed a month.
The Battle of the Atlantic
Churchill always realised that Britain's survival depended on the lifeline of supplies his nation received from the rest of the British Empire, Commonwealth and the US. This lifeline was under severe threat from German U-boats (submarines). In early 1941, 500,000 tons of allied shipping was lost in a three month period. The cat-and-mouse battle, between British warships and the skilled German U-boat commanders would last until mid-1943. Great credit for Britain's ultimate success in The Battle of the Atlantic must also be given to the code-breakers at Bletchley Park who were able to decipher Nazi naval messages - without this information even more ships would have been lost and the war itself may have been lost.
No Longer Alone
Though the invasion of the British Isles was on hold, German successes elsewhere continued to mount up: Rommel was dominant in North Africa and Greece had also fallen to the Nazis despite exceptionally brave defense from predominantly Australian and New Zealand forces. Then Hitler made a huge error. The Germans broke their non-aggression treaty with Russia and on the 22 June 1941 German forces invaded Russia. Within 24 hours, Churchill (who was a lifelong hater of communism) pledged his and Britain's support to the Russian people and nation. At this stage of the war, Churchill had little he could actually provide Russia but he immediately despatched what aid he could to his new ally, including 200 aircraft and detailed military intelligence.
Pearl Harbour
Churchill had met President Roosevelt in August of 1941 and although this meeting proved useful in securing further aid for Britain, Churchill left the President feeling disapointed that the US was no more likely to come to war in support of her ally than before. With Russia on side and with US supplies it now seemed unlikely that Britain would lose the war - what was less clear was: How could Britain win the war? The war looked set to drag on and on with all participants experiencing great loss of life and financial ruin - and potentially Stalin surviving to hold the balance of power in sick and exhausted Europe. Everything changed on 7th December 1941. Japanese aircraft attacked the US naval base Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. They destroyed 4 American battleships and left 2,000 Americans dead. With one attack, the Japanese achieved naval supremacy in the Far East and at the same time their forces invaded Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese also sunk 2 British battleships off the Malayan coast. On the 11th December both Germany and Italy declared war on the USA - dragging Roosevelt at long last into the European theatre of war as well as the Far East.
Things get Worse!
The first half of 1942 was terrible for the allies. Singapore, Malaya, Burma, The Phillipines, The East Indies and other islands were all lost to the Japanese. Rommel continued to rout allied forces in North Africa - taking over 30,000 POWs. Churchill worked and travelled intensively - meeting Roosevelt and Stalin during this period. Only the RAF seemed to be able to hit back: controversially striking at often civilian German targets - in an age before "smart bombs" saturation bombing was often the only way to destroy industrial targets. Cologne, Hamburg and Dresden were all hit hard - well over 100,000 German people were killed. Churchill who had approved the raids was nevertheless sickened by the destruction. Britain lost 58,000 aircrew and over 10,000 aircraft in the raids. The cost was horrific.
"The End of the Beginning."
On the 23rd October 1942, the 8th Army lead by General Montgomery (and including my Grandad!) won a significant victory against Rommel's German/Italian forces at El Alamein. this battle is considered to be the allies first really significant victory. On the 8th November a combined Anglo-American invasion of French held North Africa successfully took place. Good news continued as Russian forces be-sieged Stalingrad (which they would eventually recapture in January 1943). Churchill noted in his Lord Mayor's luncheon speech that "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
The Tide Turns in the Allied Favour
During 1943 things truly began to look up for the allies. The Russians were on the offensive - capturing 45,000 POWs at Stalingrad alone. The Germans were driven out of North Africa (nice work Grandad!). The allies invaded Sicily in July (Grandad again) prompting an Italian armistice. Though they had lost their allies, the Germans continued to fight bravely on in mainland Italy after the allied invasion in September. There was a difference of opinion between Roosevelt and Churchill on the importance of the Italian operation. Roosevelt saw Italy as insignificant compared to the planned liberation of France (Operation Overlord) and susequent advance through to Germany. He felt that Italy diverted efforts away from this goal. This lead to materiel being held back from Italy in preparation for Overlord. Allied (and my Grandad's) advance through Italy inevitably slowed - and would become bogged down at the mountains around Monte Cassino. Churchill was not just interested in a swift defeat of Germany (Overlord) he also took the long view and feared communist dominace in a post war Europe - he pressed for a continued mediterranean front during 2 meetings with Roosevelt during 1943 - and got his way. This was probably the last time that Churchill fully got his way - as the might of the USA (militarily and finacially) meant that by now Winston was becoming FDR's junior partner.
D-Day
Operation Overlord got under way on 6th June 1944 (D-Day). Churchill followed his troops up the beaches six days later once the bridgehead had been established. In August Churchill visited the Italian front and watched from a warship as the allies invaded the Cote d'azur of France. These were exhausting times for Winston. Allied victory was by now an inevitability yet German troops gallantly fought on and the new V1 flying bombs continued to rain down on London. By the end of the year - the efforts expended by Churchill (who was 70 on the 30th November and still recovering from pneumonia) were immense. He travelled to meet Roosevelt, Satlin and de Gaulle and landed in Athens on Christmas day in the midst of fighting between government troops and communist forces. Over the following days Churchill personally came under fire again. He returned home on the 29th December.
Victory!
In February 1945 Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt met at Yalta in the Crimea to discuss post-war Europe. Churchill has now been vindicated in his assertions that Roosevelt should have taken a stronger line with Stalin - with Britain now heavily weakened after five and a half years of war, all Churchill could do was plead his corner for what he knew to be right. For many millions of Eastern Europeans it was not enough. By the time Churchill crossed the Rhine with Montgomery's troops in March victory was well and truly in sight. Churchill advocated a swift advance on Berlin with sufficient troops to prevent Russian military supremacy. Roosevelt (mistakenly) took Stalin at face value and sent only secondary forces. Victory in Europe was celebrated on 8th May 1945. For Churchill these celebrations were somewhat overshadowed by what he saw as a communist threat in Eastern Europe. Still the allied nations partied into the night - war in Europe was over.
