The Second World War

By Winston Churchill

https://archive.org/details/secondworldwar0000chur_y7z2

Book 3 - Grand Alliance

• 198 Thus we see as this world drama marches on how all these three coldly

calculating empires made at this moment mistakes disastrous alike, to their ambitions and their safety. Hitler was resolved on the war with Russia, which played a decisive part in his ruin. Stalin remained, to Russia’s bitter cost, in ignorance or underestimation of the blow about to fall on him. Japan certainly missed the best chance—for what it was ever worth—of realising her dreams.

• 89 If the British Empire fell, as

then seemed to Mussolini certain, Egypt, British Somaliland, and British East Africa, added to the existing possessions of Italy, would form indeed an immense area of the earth’s surface under Italian sovereignty, the like of which had not been seen since the days of the Caesars. Here was what the ill-starred Ciano had called “the chance of five thousand years.” It was this gleaming vision which was now to be abruptly extinguished.

Book 6 - Triumph and Tragedy

• “If you had gone down like France,” he said,

“we might be fighting the Germans on the American coast at the present time.

• The moral

principles of modern civilisation seem to prescribe that the leaders of a nation defeated in war shall be put to death by the victors. This will certainly stir them to fight to the bitter end in any future war, and no matter how many lives are needlessly sacrificed, it costs them no more. It is the masses of the people who have so little to say about the starting or ending of wars who pay the additional cost. Julius Caesar followed the opposite principle, and his conquests were due almost as much to his clemency as to his prowess.

• A few years later it was Britain and Western Europe who

were urged in many quarters to play the “moderating rôle” between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. Such are the antics of fortune.

• During all this time the

Lublin Administration, under Bierut, sustained by the might of the Russian armies, had given them a complete control of Poland, enforced by the usual deportations and liquidations. They had denied us all the access for our observers which they had promised. All the Polish parties, except their own Communist puppets, were in a hopeless minority in the new recognised Polish Provisional Government. We were as far as ever from any real and fair attempt to obtain the will of the Polish nation by free

• principles for which Britain and the United States have

suffered and triumphed are not mere matters of the balance of power. They in fact involve the salvation of the world

• The Soviet

Government have a different philosophy, namely, Communism, and use to the full the methods of police government, which they are applying in every State which has fallen a victim to their liberating arms.

• 684 I objected to the implicit idea that

the new disputes now opening with the Soviets lay between Britain and Russia. The United States was as fully concerned and committed as ourselves.

• Mr. President, in

these next two months the gravest matters in the world will be decided.

• The United States, it was argued, must be careful not to let

herself be drawn into any antagonism with Soviet Russia. This, it was thought, would stimulate British ambition and would make a new gulf in Europe. The right policy should, on the other hand, be for the United States to stand between Britain and Russia as a friendly mediator

• I had seen it all before. I remembered that other joy-day

nearly thirty years before, when I had driven with my wife from the Ministry of Munitions through similar multitudes convulsed with enthusiasm to Downing Street to congratulate the Prime Minister. Then, as at this time, I understood the world situation as a whole. But then at least there was no mighty army that we need fear.

• The main bond of common danger

which had united the Great Allies had vanished overnight. The Soviet menace, to my eyes, had already replaced the Nazi foe.

• 672 Mr. Truman was indignant. He wrote to de Gaulle, pointing

out that the messages contained the almost unbelievable threat that French troops bearing American arms would fight American and Allied soldiers, whose efforts and sacrifices had so recently and successfully helped to liberate France.

• The French delegate, General

Beynet, went to Paris for instructions, and his proposals were awaited with anxiety and excitement throughout Syria. Delay occurred; no proposals arrived; and then news spread that French reinforcements were on their way.

• Although the stability of Italy and her relations with

Russia might be at stake, the present issue was not a question of taking sides in a dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia or becoming involved in Balkan politics, but of deciding whether Britain and America were going to allow their Allies to engage in uncontrolled land-grabbing or tactics which were all too reminiscent of Hitler and Japan.

• “On the continent of Europe we have yet to make sure that

the simple and honourable purposes for which we entered the war are not brushed aside or overlooked in the months following our success, and that the words ‘freedom,’‘democracy,’ and ‘liberation’ are not distorted from their true meaning as we have understood them.

• 650 there is still

a lot to do, and that you must be prepared for further efforts of mind and body and further sacrifices to great causes if you are not to fall back into the rut of inertia, the confusion of aim, and the craven fear of being great.

• But for us in Britain and the British

Empire, who had alone been in the struggle from the first day to the last and staked our existence on the result, there was a meaning beyond what even our most powerful and most valiant Allies could feel. Weary and worn, impoverished but undaunted and now triumphant, we had a moment that was sublime.

• 646. In the hour of overwhelming victory I was only too well

aware of the difficulties and perils that lay ahead, but here at least there could be a brief moment for rejoicing The new revolutionary submarines never played their part in the Second World War. It had been planned to complete 350 of them during 1945, but only a few came into service before the capitulation. This weapon in Soviet hands lies among the hazards of the future.

• The

new revolutionary submarines never played their part in the Second World War. It had been planned to complete 350 of them during 1945, but only a few came into service before the capitulation. This weapon in Soviet hands lies among the hazards of the future.

• Thus in three

successive days 2,500,000 Germans have surrendered to our British commanders.

• surrender to either

British, American, or Swedish troops. When asked what he proposed to do if the Western Allies refused his offer, Himmler replied that he would take command of the Eastern Front and die in battle. Himmler said he hoped that the Western Allies rather than the Russians would be the first to enter Mecklenburg, in order to save the civilian population.

• The Russians had not been long in Vienna before we got a

foretaste of what would happen in a zone of their occupation. They announced that a Provisional Austrian Government had been formed, and they refused to let our missions fly in.

• 610 The

Russian idea of taking these immense food supplies out of the food-producing areas of Germany to feed themselves is very natural, but I contend that the feeding of the German population must be treated as a whole and that the available supplies must be divided pro rata between the occupational zones.

• All these matters can

only be settled before the United States armies in Europe are weakened. If they are not settled before the United States armies withdraw from Europe and the Western World folds up its war machines there are no prospects of a satisfactory solution and very little of preventing a third World War.

• 595 The Russian demands on Germany for

reparations alone will be such as to enable her to prolong the occupation almost indefinitely, at any rate for many years, during which time Poland will sink with many other States into the vast zone of Russian- controlled Europe, not necessarily economically Sovietised, but police-governed.

• 589 terms of imprisonment ranging from four months to ten

years, and three were acquitted. This was in fact the judicial liquidation of the leadership of the Polish Underground which had fought so heroically against Hitler. The rank and file had already died in the ruins of Warsaw.

• bearing of the British, and above all the Londoners, kindled

fires in American bosoms far harder to quench than the conflagrations from which we were suffering.

• Amantium irae

amoris integratio est.

• 552 The Russian armies

will no doubt overrun all Austria and enter Vienna. If they also take Berlin will not their impression that they have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory be unduly imprinted in their minds, and may this not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future?

• 542 The decisive, practical points of strategy and policy wiwhich this narrative seeks to deal were: First, that Soviet Russia had become a mortal danger to the

free world.

• Henceforward Russian imperialism and the

Communist creed saw and set no bounds to their progress and ultimate dominion, and more than two years were to pass before they were confronted again with an equal will- power.

• 540 Neither the

military chiefs nor the State Department received the guidance they required. The former confined themselves to their professional sphere; the latter did not comprehend the issues involved. The indispensable political direction was lacking at the moment when it was most needed. The United States stood on the scene of victory, master of world fortunes, but without a true and coherent design. Britain, though still very powerful, could not act decisively alone. I could at this stage only warn and plead. Thus this climax of apparently measureless success was to me a most unhappy time. I moved amid cheering crowds, or sat at a table adorned with congratulations and blessings from every part of the Grand Alliance, with an aching heart and a mind oppressed by forebodings.

• 515 what, it

will legitimately be asked, are the prospects of success of the new World Organisation? And is it not indeed evident that, in the circumstances, we shall be building the whole structure of future world peace on founda- tions of sand?

• Peace with Germany and Japan on our terms will

not bring much rest to you and me (if I am still responsible). As I observed last time, when the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin. There will be a torn, ragged, and hungry world to help to its feet; and what will Uncle Joe or his successor say to the way we should both like to do it?

• Our friendship is

the rock on which I build for the future of the world,

• Russia's modern bullsit and the cold war started with the sellout in Yalta.
• and also wanted to stop us seeing theFar more than

Poland was involved. This was the test case between us and the Russians of the meaning of such terms as democracy, sovereignty, independence, representative Government, and free and unfettered elections. MJ note - the only thing that could correct this would have been war against Russia. This is why a new security apparatus that prevents such corruption - is now necessary in 2023. For example, to prevent the corruption of China through its Taiwan acquisition.

liquidations and deportations and all the manoeuvres of setting up a totalitarian régime before elections were held and even before a new Government was installed. If we did not get things right the world would soon see that Mr. Roosevelt and I had underwritten a fraudulent prospectus when we put our signatures to the Crimea settlement.

• Note - it appears that Churchill and Roosevelt did not sell out Poland in Yalta, but Stalin just bullshitted them. Molotov also had withdrawn his offer to let us

send observers to Poland

• . I had based myself in Parliament on

the belief that the Yalta Declaration would be carried out in

the letter and the spirit. Once it was seen that we had been deceived and that the well-known Communist technique was being applied behind closed doors in Poland, either directly by the Russians or through their Lublin puppets, a very grave situation in British public opinion would be reached.

• I

therefore suggested to Mr. Roosevelt that Stalin should be asked to ensure that the new Government did not immediately start a purge of all anti-Communists on the ground that they had been encouraged to do so by the Yalta Declaration.

• Besides this, I was very conscious of the much more

important issue of Poland, and I did not want to do anything about Rumania which might harm the prospect of a Polish settlement.

• 500 I was deeply disturbed by this news, which was to prove a

pattern of things to come. The Russians had established the rule of a Communist minority by force and misrepresentation. But if I pressed him too much

he might say, “I did not interfere with your action in Greece; why do you not give me the same latitude in Rumania?” This would lead to comparisons between his aims and ours. Neither side would convince the other. Having regard to my personal relations with Stalin, I was sure it would be a mistake to embark on such an argument.

• 499 violation by the Russians both of the spirit and letter of our

agreements took place in Rumania. We were all committed by the Declaration on Liberated Europe, so recently signed, to see that both free elections and democratic Governments were established in the countries occupied by Allied armies. On February 27 Vyshinsky, who had appeared in Bucharest without warning on the previous day, demanded an audience of King Michael and insisted that he should dismiss the all-party Government which had been formed after the royal coup d’état of August 1944 and had led to the expulsion of the Germans from Rumania. The young monarch, backed by his Foreign Minister, Visoianu, resisted these demands until the following day. Vyshinsky called again, and, brushing aside the King’s request at least to be allowed to consult the leaders of the political parties, banged his fist on the table, shouted for an immediate acquiescence, and walked out of the room, slamming the door. At the same time Soviet tanks and troops deployed in the streets of the capital, and on March 2 a Soviet-nominated Administration took office.

• What would have

happened if we had quarrelled with Russia while the Germans still had three or four hundred divisions on the fighting front? Our hopeful assumptions were soon to be falsified.

• We are now entering a world of imponderables, and

at every stage occasions for self-questioning arise. It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a tim e

• 473 I felt bound to proclaim my confidence in Soviet good faith

in the hope of procuring it.

• 469 During the meal

we signed the final documents and official communiqués. All now depended upon the spirit in which they were carried out.

• 439 in 1939 although so ill-armed. It had nearly cost us our life,

not only as an Empire but as a nation. Great Britain had no material interest of any kind in Poland. Honour was the sole reason why we had drawn the sword to help Poland against Hitler’s brutal onslaught, and we could never accept any settlement which did not leave her free, independent, and sovereign.

• 433 If the British and French had sent a mission to

Moscow in 1939 containing men who really wanted an agreement with Russia the Soviet Government would not have signed the pact with Ribbentrop.

• 420 I answered that if you

wanted a horse to pull your wagon you had to give him some hay.

• 416 These awe-inspiring tides of feeling dominate

most people’s minds, and independent figures tend to become not only lonely but futile. There is therefore wisdom in reserving one’s decisions as long as possible

and until all the facts and forces that will be potent at the moment are revealed .

• Yalta - what the vast emotions of an outraged and

quivering world will be either immediately after the struggle is over or when the inevitable cold fit follows the hot. *400 -;Stalin sez -The position is that as early as December 27 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. informed the Poles in reply to an inquiry on the subject that it proposed to recognise the Provisional Government of Poland as soon as the latter was formed.*395: what measures and what organisation could the three great Allies provide for the future peace and good governance of the world?

• 390 Thus ended the six weeks’ struggle for Athens, and, as it

ultimately proved, for the freedom of Greece from Communist subjugation*357 unity becomes ever more important, as danger recedes and faction arises

• 354 "I do not accept a party as necessarily

representing democracy because it becomes more violent as it becomes less numerous."

• 350 EAM-ELAS revolt in Athens
• 300 Setting up French gummit, boundary of France to be decided at negotiating table
• An episode of profound and far-reaching gravity is

created by the Russian refusal to permit American aircraft to bring succour to the heroic insurgents in Warsaw, aggravated by their own complete neglect to provide supplies by air when only a few score of miles away

• 143 he air authorities out here assured me that the

Americans wished help sent from England to Warsaw, and that the operation was quite practicable, providing of course the Russians gave their consent. - regarding airlift help to Warsaw Uprising - and landing RAF in Russia.

• 73 Even our Mosquitoes, each

of which was probably no dearer than a rocket, dropped on the average 125 tons of bombs per aircraft within one mile of the target during their life, whereas the rocket dropped one ton only, and that with an average error of fifteen mile

• P49 They wanted to call the harbour “Port Churchill.” But this forvarious reasons I forbade.

Notes

• 220 - I thus acquired the chief power of the state which I wielded for 5 years and 3 months of world war, at the end of which time all of our enemies have surrendered unconditionally or were about to do so... I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give direction over the whole scene.
• 193 Sweden was neutral and provided iron ore to the German war machine holy s*** what compliance traders bastards. Materialism wins again. There's no such thing as neutrality when you are fueling the enemy wtf
• 192 German war plans for the invasion of Belgium were captured but Belgium did nothing about it and was in denial and they could not be blamed based on all the appeasement of the day
• The human mind except in the condition of extraordinary genius can not surmount the force of the conclusions of the experience in which it was reared
• 188 it is a joke in the United Kingdom that the war office is always preparing for the last war
• 170 - Right after Poland was invaded there was a slight pause. France suggested to Britain that they don't bomb Germany because Germany would retaliate on France by destroying its war factories which were unprotected
• 165 - Churchill slept for at least 1 hour as early in the afternoon as possible and then he would work till 2:00 or so a.m. and wake up at 8:00 or 9 thus he said he had 1.5 days per day
• P161- speak for England Mr prime Minister
• P160 - war was preceded by a barrage of sabotage and murder. Churchill carried a gun
• 158 - Hitler pretended to. Negotiate with Pola d right to the day he invaded, so that England would not join and fight to help Poland, logistical move.
• 103 - england will bring the whole world against you, like last time - Churchill warned Ribbentrop
• 119 - this was the last I saw Herr Ribbentrop before he was hanged