Churchill Defiant: Fighting On 1945–1955

Оглавление

Barbara Leaming. Churchill Defiant: Fighting On 1945–1955

BARBARA LEAMING. Churchill Defiant. Fighting On. 1941–1955

CONTENTS

I You Will, but I Shall Not Berlin, July 1945

II Face Facts and Retire London, 1945

III Sans Soucis et Sans Regrets Lake Como, September 1945

IV Old Man in a Hurry London, October 1945

V The Wet Hen St James’s Palace, 1946

VI Winnie, Winnie, Go Away Miami Beach, Florida, 1946

VII Imperious Caesar Southampton, England, 1946

VIII Plots and Plotters Hyde Park Gate, 1947

IX Before It Is Too Late Westminster Abbey, November 1947

X The Dagger Is Pointed La Capponcina, Cap d’Ail, France, August 1949

XI Another Glass of Your Excellent Champagne Venice, 1951

XII White with the Bones of Englishmen London, October 1951

XIII Naked Among Mine Enemies New York, January 1952

XIV I Live Here, Don’t I? London, 1952

XV If Nothing Can Be Arranged Jamaica, January 1953

XVI The Abdication of Diocletian Buckingham Palace, 1953

XVII I Have a Right to Be Heard! Bermuda, December 1953

XVIII An Obstinate Pig Aboard the Queen Elizabeth, July 1954

XIX The ‘R’ Word Westminster Hall, November 1954

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SOCURCE NOTES. I: You Will, but I Shall Not

II: Face Facts and Retire

III: Sans Soucis et Sans Regrets

V: The Wet Hen

VI: Winnie, Winnie, Go Away

VII: Imperious Caesar

VIII: Plots and Plotters

IX: Before It Is Too Late

X: The Dagger Is Pointed

XI: Another Glass of Your Excellent Champagne

XII: White with the Bones of Englishmen

XIII: Naked Among Mine Enemies

XIV: I Live Here, Don’t I?

XV: If Nothing Can Be Arranged

XVI: The Abdication of Diocletian

XVII: I Have a Right to Be Heard!

XVIII: An Obstinate Pig

XIX:. The ‘R’ Word

INDEX

Copyright

About the Publisher

Отрывок из книги

A flashlight revealed the stairs to the concrete underground air-raid shelter. Pools of stagnant water made the steps slippery. For an old man, uneasy on his feet, the descent was treacherous. Late in the afternoon on 16 July 1945, Britain’s seventy-year-old wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, picked his way with a gold-headed walking stick to the dark, dank bunker where Adolf Hitler had put a bullet into his right temple two and a half months before.

Word had spread quickly that Churchill was in Berlin. By the time his convoy reached the Reich Chancellery, the small British party had swelled to a jostling mob as war correspondents and numerous Russian officers and officials pressed forward to join Churchill’s entourage. Anxious to witness the final scene of one of history’s greatest dramas, they followed the Prime Minister, who wore a lightweight military uniform and visored cap, into the sacked remains of the Chancellery and, later, out to the garden where the entrance to the bunker was located.

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Clearly amused, Stalin interjected, ‘If you are in such an obedient mood today, Mr Prime Minister, I should like to know whether you will share with us the German fleet.’ When the meeting concluded, Stalin invited the others to the banquet room, the length of which was filled by a table loaded with caviar, cold meat, turkeys, partridges, and salads, as well as vodkas and wines ‘of all hues’. Truman stayed less than ten minutes. Churchill, though he had previously complained of indigestion, happily ate and drank with Stalin. Pointing out that they had much to talk about privately, Stalin asked Churchill to have dinner with him the following evening. It promised to be a late night. In contrast to Truman, who preferred to go to bed early, Churchill and Stalin were both night owls. On the present occasion, Stalin remarked to Churchill that he had grown so accustomed to working late during the war that even though the necessity had passed, he could never get to sleep before 4 a.m.

By the time Churchill dined with Stalin on Wednesday, 18 July, he had had a chance to talk to Truman, who assured him that he had not informed the Soviet leader about the bomb. Churchill had concluded overnight that, once they were certain of the test results, it would actually be a very good idea were Stalin to be made aware that the Western allies had a singular new weapon. What continued to worry him, however, was the possibility that Truman would agree to share technical information with Moscow. Truman said he would not, but Churchill remained uneasy. Western possession of the bomb would be of little use in the negotiations if Stalin could count on being able to build one as well.

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