Category: Research Topics

Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino Abbey today. (Photo by Radomil, Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Churchill and the Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey, 1944

Churchill and the Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey, 1944

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Cassino Abbey

An Ital­ian jour­nal­ist writes for Churchill ref­er­ences to the attacks on Monte Cassi­no dur­ing the Italy cam­paign in spring 1944, ask­ing about “his silence, lat­er con­tra­dic­to­ry” on the bomb­ing of the town’s ancient monastery. If the impli­ca­tion is that Churchill was uncar­ing over the destruc­tion of ancient shrines and grand build­ings, that would con­tra­dict his revul­sion over the bomb­ing of Dres­den. If it is that this par­tic­u­lar destruc­tion didn’t appear in his state­ments at the time, that is true. War is hell, and to expect him to eulo­gize every dev­as­tat­ing loss is to expect a lot.…

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Men of Valour
“The Germans, by a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armoured tanks, have broken through the French defences.” —WSC, 19 May 1940 (German National Archives, public domain)
The Biblical Churchill (3) “Be Ye Men of Valour”

The Biblical Churchill (3) “Be Ye Men of Valour”

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N.B. “Be Ye Men of Val­our” is from the orig­i­nal Appen­dix IV in my book Churchill By Him­self. It was delet­ed in the lat­er edi­tion, Churchill in His Own Words, to make room for an index of phras­es. Con­clud­ed from Part 2…

From the Book of Maccabees

On 19 May 1940, Churchill made his first broad­cast as Prime Min­is­ter, a speech which lift­ed the hearts even of for­mer critics:

A tremen­dous bat­tle is rag­ing in France and Flan­ders. The Ger­mans, by a remark­able com­bi­na­tion of air bomb­ing and heav­i­ly armoured tanks, have bro­ken through the French defences north of the Mag­inot Line, and strong columns of their armoured vehi­cles are rav­aging the open coun­try, which for the first day or two was with­out defend­ers.…

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Many mansions
The Cairo Conference, November 1943: Chiang kai-Shek, Roosevelt, Churchill. (National Archives, public domain)
The Biblical Churchill (2): “A House of Many Mansions”

The Biblical Churchill (2): “A House of Many Mansions”

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N.B. “A House of Many Man­sions” is from the orig­i­nal Appen­dix IV in my book Churchill By Him­self. It was delet­ed in the lat­er edi­tion, Churchill in His Own Words, to make room for an index of phras­es. Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

“A house of many mansions”

The New Tes­ta­ment Gospel accord­ing to St. John, Chap­ter 14, con­tains an inspir­ing pas­sage that Win­ston Churchill absorbed as a boy:

1. Let not your heart be trou­bled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father’s house are many man­sions; if it were not so, I would have told you.…

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Mein Kampf
A wedding ceremony in Germany in 1936. “Chancellor Hitler has decided that a copy of his book Mein Kampf will be given to every couple on their wedding day.” (Bibliothèque nationale de France, public domain)
When Did Churchill Read “Mein Kampf”?

When Did Churchill Read “Mein Kampf”?

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Q: Mein Kampf

When did Churchill  first read Mein Kampf, and did he have any ear­ly reac­tion to it?” Of Mein Kampf in his war mem­oirs, he wroe:

…there was no book which deserved more care­ful study from the rulers, polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary, of the Allied Pow­ers. All was there—the pro­gramme of Ger­man res­ur­rec­tion, the tech­nique of par­ty pro­pa­gan­da; the plan for com­bat­ing Marx­ism; the con­cept of a Nation­al-Social­ist State; the right­ful posi­tion of Ger­many at the sum­mit of the world. Here was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, ver­bose, shape­less, but preg­nant with its message.[1]…

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camps
Boer prisoners awaiting transportation to prison camps. Boers wore mufti, whether soldiers or not. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
Selective Quotes: Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps

Selective Quotes: Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps

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“Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps”: excerpt­ed from my essay for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the unabridged orig­i­nal, togeth­er with end­notes, and WSC’s com­plete let­ter to The Times, click here.

1. Same old, same old…

An Indi­an col­league writes:

I’ve noticed that the same accu­sa­tions about Churchill repeat­ed fre­quent­ly. Many writ­ers seem to recy­cle them on trust. Take for exam­ple a new anti-Churchill arti­cle which I think needs a thor­ough debunk­ing. In fair­ness to the author, it is not all bad; she con­cedes for instance that Churchill want­ed to use tear gas in Iraq, not poi­son gas.…

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Polish
Churchill inspecting troops of the 1st Rifle Brigade, 1st Polish Corps, with General Władysław Sikorski at Tentsmuir, Scotland, 23 October 1940. General Gustaw Paszkiewicz, CO of the Brigade, is behind General Sikorski. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
The Polish and the Holocaust: What Churchill Knew

The Polish and the Holocaust: What Churchill Knew

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Polish firing squad of one

Mr. Paul Bonow­icz staged a one-man protest against Churchill in South Ruis­lip, Mid­dle­sex. He denounced “the lies in British books about Win­ston Churchill. I am Pol­ish and we know he betrayed Pol­ish peo­ple.” He added: Churchill “knew about the Holo­caust. He knew Jew­ish peo­ple were dying, but he didn’t help. After the war there was a deal between Churchill and Stal­in, and the price was Poland. Part of my coun­try went to the Sovi­ets. It was Churchill who decid­ed which part, not the Poles.” —Uxbridge Gazette.

Churchill did know about the Holo­caust, and alone among allied lead­ers, he tried to do some­thing about it.…

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Intrepid
The statue of William Stephenson in First World War military aviator uniform near Memorial Boulevard in Winnipeg Manitoba. (Photo by David Nyjof, Creative Commons)
How Genuine was William Stephenson (Cable Address Intrepid)?

How Genuine was William Stephenson (Cable Address Intrepid)?

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Q: A man called Intrepid?

I just read William Stevenson’s A Man Called Intre­pid. One of the cen­ter­pieces recounts the “secret war,” includ­ing espi­onage and covert action, was Ultra/Enigma and Bletch­ley Park’s activities.

Above all, the book states, Churchill meant to keep the Ultra secret. It claims Churchill knew the Nazis’ plan to car­pet-bomb Coven­try in Novem­ber 1940—and did noth­ing. He says Churchill feared giv­ing away the fact the the British were read­ing Ger­man codes.  Have you read this account?  I think you found that claim to be false. Was Stephen­son the British super-spy his biog­ra­ph­er insists he was?…

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Shigemitsu
Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government, on board USS Missouri. 2 September 1945. Lieutentant General Richard K. Sutherland, U.S. Army, stands opposite. Foreign Ministry representative Toshikazu Kase is assisting Mr. Shigemitsu. Interestingly, the U.S. uniform of the day was working khaki, contrasting with the formal dress of the Japanese. (U.S. Army Signal Corps, National Archives, public doman)
Mamoru Shigemitsu: “When you have to kill a man…”

Mamoru Shigemitsu: “When you have to kill a man…”

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Q: Ambassador Shigemitsu

Churchill was crit­i­cized for his extreme­ly respect­ful let­ter to the Japan­ese Ambas­sador to Britain in Decem­ber 1941, when inform­ing him that their coun­tries were at war. Churchill’s response to crit­ics was, “After all, when you have to kill a man it costs noth­ing to be polite.” Was Shigemit­su acual­ly killed?  —W.H., New York

A: No, he lived on

Churchill was writ­ing in the abstract, so did not actu­al­ly pro­pose to slay the Ambas­sador. Mamoru Shigemit­su  was Japan­ese ambas­sador to the Sovi­et Union 1936–38 and to Britain 1938–41. Fol­low­ing Japan’s attacks of Decem­ber 1941 he received unham­pered pas­sage home.…

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resistance
German resistance to Hitler did operate early on. Georg Elser’s 7 November 1939 bomb in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller killed seven, and would certainly have killed Hitler, but after an unexpected short speech he left early. Elser was executed in 1945. (German Federal archives, public doman)
German Resistance: “Driven by the Restlessness of their Conscience”

German Resistance: “Driven by the Restlessness of their Conscience”

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Questions on the Weiss Rose resistance

A Ger­man par­lia­men­tary jour­nal quotes Churchill on the Ger­man resis­tance to Hitler: “These men and women fought with­out help from with­in or with­out, dri­ven only by the rest­less­ness of their con­science.  As long as they lived they were invis­i­ble and unrec­og­niz­able to us. In their death, the resis­tance became vis­i­ble. Their deeds and sac­ri­fices are the foun­da­tion of the recon­struc­tion.” (Hans-Adolf Jacob­sen, Ger­mans Against Hitler, 3rd ed., Berto-Ver­lag, Bonn, 1960; Bar­ry Sul­li­van, Thresh­olds of Peace, 1979).  I can­not find the orig­i­nal doc­u­ment and some­what doubt its authen­tic­i­ty. …

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Danzig
Danzig in 1939. Yellow areas are Poland. (Map by Ziegelbrenner, Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Albrecht Forster and Churchill’s Danzig Moment, 1939

Albrecht Forster and Churchill’s Danzig Moment, 1939

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An article argues that WSC supported appeasement and approved of Fascism. While this is a well-written critique, it tends to magnify specifics to justify generalities. It does not establish Churchill’s attachment to Fascism and Appeasement (although he approved of some forms of the latter). It does instruct us on the kinds of fascists Churchill dealt with in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

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