October 25, 2004
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Did Churchill Really Consider Seeking Terms of Coexistence with Germany?
New documents just unearthed say he may have
A book to be published next month cites new documents its author says he found while doing research for the book. In it, Churchill is said to have considered in top-secret documents the costs and benefits of negotiating with the Germans – something he publicly swore he would not do, says a recent story out of the UK.
“Churchill was at pains to say in his memoirs that he was never going to negotiate with
At one point, according to the story, Churchill offers a dark but personally-candid response to General Hastings Ismay’s seeming optimism during a conversation in the early part of the war – a response that certainly reveals a more mortal side of this Free World hero, but not one difficult to identify with -
Ismay: We will win the Battle of Britain.
Churchill: You and I will be dead in three months’ time.
The book clearly shows the decisive impact the United States and the USSR made on the war with Germany and that had either not joined the fight, Britain might well have faced a not too appealing set of options. Her only hope: a German coupe and an honorable negotiation with the new German leaders.
Reynolds also pokes fun at Churchill’s later muffling of his alternate D-Day plans once he wrote his memoirs after the war. At the time though, Churchill did cede that the American plan might be better, and as history points out, did not debate extensively on the matter. But the report also points out this was at worst, one of the leader’s very few wartime ”mistakes” as British allied effort.
The report published in yesterday’s Independent of London states the author of the book also says Churchill was more trusting of Soviet Dictator Stalin, than later recounted. No quotes were given, but perhaps Sir Churchill decided to take at least one of Stalin’s philosophies to heart: keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.
Professor Reynolds’ book, “In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing in the Second World War“, published by Penguin, will be available in the UK on November 4. No word in the story when the book is expected to become available in the US.
Related:
Moscow Times: Churchill a War Criminal
Pro-socialist Russian press still chooses to side with Hitler, believe Goebbels
Other stories:
Germany Gets Tough on Visa Rules – IOL
S C I E N C E: Comet Smashed into Germany in 200 BC – Spacedaily.com
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