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00:00September the 1st, 1939, Germany attacks Poland. Adolf Hitler ignores Britain and France,
00:27which had promised to fight for Poland.
00:57Sunday, September the 3rd. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts.
01:04This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note,
01:11stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock, that they were preparing to
01:17withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us.
01:24I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that, consequently,
01:31this country is at war with Germany.
01:33I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that, consequently,
01:39this country is at war with Germany.
01:54Jim O'Connor, the German National Ministry of Britain on camera.
03:09To many good Germans, the city's capture symbolized the end of the humiliating treaty of Versailles.
03:14Hitler swept forward to congratulate his victorious troops.
03:39He said they'd rescued his people from Polish barbarism.
03:43The Germans thrust into Poland from the west and north.
04:00In two weeks, the Polish army had virtually ceased to exist.
04:05Warsaw was one of the few places to hold out.
04:08The Russians, by agreement with Germany, seized parts of Poland they claimed as theirs by right.
04:14The two conquerors met at Brest-Litovsk.
04:16It was the scene of the Russian surrender to Germany in 1918.
04:25The official German greeting in Russian said German soldiers had always respected Russian soldiers.
04:33The clash of Nazi and communists was, for the moment, conveniently forgotten.
04:39The final bombardment of Warsaw began on September the 23rd.
04:44In nearly three weeks, Warsaw Radio had defiantly played the Polish national anthem.
05:13September the 27th, the anthem stopped.
05:33Warsaw was reduced to rubble.
05:52Warsaw was reduced to rubble.
05:53The capital's commander surrendered.
06:23Poland, swallowed by Germany,
06:53Germany and Russia disappeared into a new dark age.
06:56Arrests, deportations, executions began.
07:07Britain's war started with a false alarm.
07:10September the third.
07:12I remember when the outbreak of war came,
07:16we were in the cabinet room at the moment
07:20and the ultimatum expired.
07:23Lord Butler was then a junior minister.
07:26And we were just beginning to congratulate the Prime Minister on his broadcast
07:33when we heard a terrible wailing,
07:35which of course was the first air raid siren.
07:42Chamberlain took it very seriously.
07:45And his wife then appeared with an enormous basket full of things for the night
07:51and thermos flasks and things to read and so on.
07:56And so we all went and sheltered.
07:59I went and sheltered after some delay in the Foreign Office.
08:04The whole of the Horse Guards Parade was completely empty of people
08:08and there was nobody in sight anywhere.
08:10When I got there, there was no furniture, so I had to sit on the floor.
08:14And an air raid warden said that there would be no gas.
08:19But of course, there wasn't really any war for some time,
08:24quite apart from being no gas.
08:26So, no war that day.
08:42Or for many months.
08:44People settled down to enjoy the unexpected reprieve.
08:47It was perfect weather for a late holiday or invading Poland.
08:52where I came from.
08:54The
08:57Asi.
08:58Asi.
09:06churches.
09:07Maynes.
09:16Maynes.
09:49People had braced themselves for a grimmer war. Hospitals were cleared to take air raid casualties. The experts predicted over a million injured in two months.
10:19Children and their mothers evacuated from the cities, a million and a half of them. For some a nightmare, for others an adventure.
10:31We assembled in a playground rather like this. The kids were there and the parents. Children had the gas mask over their shoulder and labels tied to them.
10:44The women had to decide whether to keep their school children with them or whether to allow them to go out.
10:54Now, one would think that this was an easy decision. Why not keep your children with you, which is the natural thing to do.
11:00But against this was the terrible thought that there was going to be gas, that there was going to be terrible bombing and death and the children would be maimed.
11:12Everyone was crying, the parents and children. And as we moved off, especially, people burst into tears.
11:24My mother, I think, was more unhappy about the wrench of us going rather than the war itself.
11:29My sister was crying. I personally wasn't. I was rather excited at the prospect of leaving this part of London.
11:37We thought we'd travelled to the other side of the world, but in fact, we came to Denham, here, only 20 miles from London.
11:49I promised my mother that I wouldn't be separated from my sister, so we went to the village hall with all the other kids.
11:57And because we wouldn't be separated, we were the last ones to find a billet.
12:01It was like being auctioned off at the time.
12:04But when we finally got a house to take us in, it was fantastic.
12:09It was a new world that opened out to us.
12:12I mean, we had toothbrushes and sheets on the bed and hot water.
12:19Imagine hot water. We just couldn't get over it.
12:22And we didn't know what Ida Downs were for.
12:25In the morning, we went blackberry picking.
12:27Then we heard the sirens.
12:31So we rushed back to our billet.
12:34The woman there reassured us and said not to worry.
12:38And we sat down to lunch, and it was the first fully laid out table I'd ever seen in my life.
12:43And war, war was declared, I think, that same lunchtime.
12:50She said not to worry, and pass us the whole solely source.
12:53But I think a number of children suffered really deeply being away from their families.
12:59They suffered a sense of rejection.
13:01They exhibited their senses of rejection and sorrow and suffering very often by strange behaviour problems,
13:12by bedwetting, perhaps not eating.
13:16Thirty-one arrived with two junior nurses, I think.
13:20They were pretty dirty.
13:23And two of them got impetigo.
13:27I had young children at the time.
13:29And I put them into a large room.
13:32And you had no idea, I had no idea, that such thing had existed in England.
13:35They relieved themselves all over the carpet.
13:38And the place was a shamble.
13:43Stop!
13:45Ah!
13:47Ah!
13:48Ah!
13:49Ah!
13:50Ah!
13:51Ah!
13:51Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:52Ah!
13:53Ah!
13:53A quick rush to volunteer for the forces.
13:56You waited your turn to be called up, for processing in the military sausage machine.
14:01Or rather, leisure lane.
14:10You rushed to get married.
14:12In August and September, the highest number of weddings ever recorded.
14:16White's the only way.
14:20White for the blackout, too.
14:22to make sure car drivers can see you in the dark at first the blackout was a bit of a joke
14:34then road casualties shot up and the blackout wasn't funny anymore
14:39there weren't any air raids but thousands of people were killed or injured in accidents in
14:43the blackout depressing too without it you could almost forget there was a war on every night
14:54every home had to be blacked out the air raid warden looking for chinks of light became more
15:00hated than hitler the government closed cinemas and other entertainments at the beginning of the war
15:09but a fortnight later they were allowed to open again
15:39in spite of total war there were nearly a million and a half unemployed
15:55sir john simon the chancellor of the exchequer introduced an emergency budget in three hours
16:02time all budget secrets will be revealed i am confident that whatever may be the burdens
16:14which have to be carried by the british taxpayer my fellow countrymen will bear them with the same
16:23resolution and courage as our fighting men will show when they discharge their grimmer task
16:35on the field of battle
16:37the blackout budget income tax up to seven and six a sixty percent tax on excess profits
16:54in retrospect mild enough but a conservative mp chips channon thought it demolished the edifice of capitalism
17:02another tory leo amory wanted a tougher war why not bomb germany the air minister kingsley wood said no german munition works were private property
17:15and the germans would retaliate well the opening phase of the war was one of the most extraordinary periods through which i've ever lived
17:23because it was a sort of period of euphoria on the part of the people of this country for a long time
17:29there were quite a lot of unemployed while the germans were manufacturing arms at full stretch particularly
17:37in the skoda works in czechoslovakia which they had by that time occupied now all this time the germans were
17:46a beehive of activity we were doing absolutely nothing we'd gone to war for the defense of poland
17:54in the event we did nothing to help poland at all we never lifted a finger for the first three months
18:02of the war the greatest number of casualties were in the blackout and we confined our war effort to
18:11dropping leaflets on the german people telling them that it was a bad idea to go to war and that it was a
18:18pity that they'd done it and perhaps we might make peace a phony war when a german plane crashed in
18:27scotland in november people came from miles around to see it
18:30and the luftwafers dead were buried with full military honors
18:51three british divisions went off to france at the beginning of the war more followed nearly two
18:57hundred thousand men said the war minister proudly the french had mobilized six million men they
19:04grumbled that the british weren't taking the war seriously
19:07wish me luck as you wave me good-bye cheerio here i go on my way
19:27i go on my way
19:35i go on my way
19:37i go on my way
19:39i go on my way
19:43in france training for a war that ended in 1918 the newsreel reporter tried hard to make it sound
20:04impressive the expeditionary force instead of being thrown into the line for immediate operations
20:09has been able to perfect its training in conditions similar to those at home
20:13this bayernet drill in gas masks is our reply to transparent nazi propaganda which seems to
20:18indicate that germany is preparing to employ poison gas
20:23infantry battalions exercise with their auxiliary weapons
20:26awaiting the moment for their use in actual water the mortar platoon goes into action with a
20:31rapidity only acquired by constant practice steel helmets assume a fashionable appearance with the
20:37addition of camouflage french and british generals too prepared for their part in the battle to come
20:57the british dug in on the belgian frontier in december it was decided that when fighting began
21:03they'd leave their defenses in advance into belgian anything helped to keep their minds off the war
21:14now imagine me in the marginal line sitting on the mine in the marginal line now it's turned out nice
21:21again the army life is fine french girls make a fuss over me i'm not french as you can see but i know what
21:30what do you think about the meme when they say we wait they're on the marginal line
21:36now imagine me in the marginal line sitting on the mine in the marginal line now it's turned out
21:41it's turned out nice again the army life is fine at night myself to sleep i sing to my old tin hut i cling i have to use it now for everything
21:53winston's back the navy was told on september the third chamberlain was reluctant to recall
22:10his most bitter political opponent with a reputation for military adventure
22:15but churchill was popular with the public he had warned them war was coming now with surprising energy
22:26for a 64 year old he proved a willing leader
22:29the raf dropped leaflets the army dug trenches but churchill's navy was britain's strongest arm
22:51and the first lord of the admiralty was often in the news
22:54the news that a german battleship was sinking british merchantman gave the chance to take the offensive
23:24war
23:30churchill concentrated much of the navy's strength on finding one of the hunting groups patrolled off the
23:36river plate in south america three cruisers exeter ajax and achilles at dawn on december the 13th they
23:44sighted a heavier german ship it was the pocket battleship admiral graf spade although outgunned
23:50the cruisers engaged her the battle of the river plate began within about five minutes of the alarm being
24:01sounded uh graspy and exeter were shooting at each other and the ajax and achilles were both shooting
24:10at the grass b concentrating the gunfire the exeter was quite soon hit and received early damage her
24:22foremost guns only fired a few rounds each before they were out of action
24:26and she continued as long as she possibly could with her after turret but the ship herself was badly damaged her speed was reduced
24:37the six-inch gun cruisers the six-inch gun cruisers before long turned directly towards the
24:46graph speed as the clothes arranged still faster and the uh captain of the grass b did not
24:53uh follow up the exeter entirely but indeed before very long started heading towards montevideo
25:04but we could not see any spectacular damage inflicted on him and indeed his speed seemed to be unimpaired
25:13and his heavy guns were still firing regularly and with pretty good accuracy
25:23in montevideo the graf spade took on fuel and put ashore the cruise of the merchant ship she'd sunk
25:28her captain langsdorf asked the uruguayans for permission to stay but was told he must clear the port in 72 hours
25:49so he buried his dead and believing that much heavier british ships were waiting for him outside
25:55he prepared to carry out his final orders from berlin
26:03as soon as he started pulling his anchor up we got news of it from our people ashore
26:11and uh we sent off our aircraft and uh in due course we got the signal from the aircraft which
26:20was a very welcome one graf spade has blown herself up
26:30two days later langsdorf shot himself
26:39churchill made the most of a victory won by bluff rather than gunpower two of the cruisers were brought home
26:50their crews marched through the city of london to guild hall and the first lord of the admiralty
26:56basked in their glory the brilliant sea fight which you executed those who are here executed
27:08takes its place in our naval annals and i may add that in a dark cold winter it warmed the cockles of the british heart
27:32of the united states
27:43helsinki november the 30th 1939. finland has refused to hand over bases and territory demanded by her
27:51neighbor russia russia russians attack
28:03so
28:09so
28:15so
28:19The massive Russian army crossed the frontier, apparently set for the kind of easy victory
28:27the Germans had had in Poland.
28:31But the Finns, few in number, fought back.
28:43Camouflaged, Finnish ski troops knew how to use their own conditions, moving round the
28:52Russian flanks, cutting their supply lines.
28:59The Russian advance ground to a halt, confirming the German belief that the Russian army, purged
29:05by Stalin, of many of its regular officers, couldn't fight.
29:21Whole Russian divisions were destroyed.
29:24Those who weren't taken prisoner, died in the snow.
29:27For the Russians, a humiliating if temporary failure.
29:31For the Russians, a very good friend, particularly the Indian army, or the German army,
29:41in Germany, it was a great fact that aalienic tribes had the same position as a foreign army,
29:48sent by a war war would have accented by the war.
29:52The Russian army was recognized by the British army and the Japanese army,
29:59In Britain, it was snowing too.
30:12The censorship tried to hush it up, but people couldn't help noticing it.
30:16To the trials of the blackout, what I did the worst winter for 45 years,
30:20a cold shortage, burst pipes, and food rationing.
30:26The RAF was grounded.
30:29Troops were called in to keep the trains running.
30:44For the Navy, another victory.
30:46Taking refuge in a Norwegian fjord,
30:49the Graf Spee's supply ship Altmark was cornered by British destroyers.
30:54Ignoring Norwegian neutrality, they boarded her,
30:57and after a fight released 300 British prisoners.
31:03For Hitler, the seizure of the Altmark was a setback.
31:07He hastened his plans to invade Norway.
31:09For Churchill, another popular triumph.
31:24He, too, had his eyes on Norway.
31:26Churchill's colleagues had been discussing for months his plan for British action in Norway.
31:42But some, like the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, were difficult to persuade.
31:46Churchill now added a plan to help Finland as part of the Norwegian operation.
31:58He proposed to stop Germany's important supply of iron ore,
32:02which came from Sweden to the Norwegian port of Narvik.
32:05Then it was shipped to Germany through neutral Norwegian waters.
32:13Churchill wanted to mine the waters,
32:15and he added enticingly that if Narvik were captured,
32:19it could be used as a base for helping Finland against communist Russia.
32:23Churchill knew that his plan might mean retaliation by Hitler in Norway,
32:30and helping Finland could mean war with Russia.
32:37Chamberlain was concerned about innocent Norwegian lives,
32:40and the effect on American opinion.
32:42Eventually, he was persuaded.
32:44I think that deep down, he still hoped that perhaps the major clash of armies could be avoided.
32:52He thought that Germany was on the verge of starvation,
32:57or if not on the verge of starvation,
32:59it anyhow would be brought to the verge of starvation by economic warfare.
33:04He thought also that deep down the German people didn't support Hitler,
33:08that this was a clique,
33:09and that if we did our propaganda properly,
33:12there would perhaps be a revolt of the generals or somebody else against Hitler,
33:18and that therefore dropping propaganda leaflets
33:21by bomber command of the RAF rather than bombs
33:25was a good way of conducting the war,
33:28anything to stop the real major outbreak.
33:32And that is why I think to some extent
33:34the campaigns in Norway
33:36were something acceptable to Chamberlain
33:42because it kept the war distant.
33:44It kept the idea of a real big clash,
33:49a repetition of Passchendaele or the Somme far away.
33:54It meant that war would be localized
33:56and perhaps some miracle would happen.
33:59Perhaps Hitler would die or be assassinated,
34:01and the whole thing would end with a minimum of bloodshed.
34:06Finland today,
34:10amidst her snows and her frozen lakes,
34:17is fighting against
34:19the forces of unscrupulous violence,
34:23just as we are ourselves.
34:26Does a need cause
34:32for our sympathy
34:33and our aid?
34:43Some British aid did go to Finland,
34:45but little and late.
34:47The Russians at last brought all their weight to bear
34:49and overwhelmed the Finnish defenses.
34:51The day the British steeled themselves
34:59to force a landing in Norway,
35:02Finland surrendered.
35:04So Britain was saved
35:05from war against Russia and Germany
35:07at the same time.
35:10The armistice terms
35:12gave Russia most of what she wanted.
35:14Hundreds of thousands of Finns
35:21had to evacuate their home.
35:32The French Prime Minister Daladier
35:34had staked everything on helping Finland.
35:38He was replaced by Paul Reynaud.
35:42Reynaud went on pressing
35:43for Churchill's operation
35:44to cut off the German iron ore.
35:47An Allied meeting in London
35:48decided to mine Norwegian waters.
35:51Churchill had got his way.
35:57British and French troops
35:59stood ready to invade Norway.
36:04The mines were laid
36:05on April the 8th.
36:06A few days earlier,
36:20no thought of Norway in his mind,
36:22Chamberlain had proclaimed
36:23that Hitler had missed the bus.
36:26And General Ironside
36:27dared the Germans
36:29to do their worst.
36:30Hitler's invasion force
36:37sailed on April the 6th.
36:38man 4th.
36:424th ready for
36:56war against Russia.
36:57Be one.
36:58The Luftwaffe took over most of the Norwegian airfields.
37:28The German march into Oslo was led by a band.
37:44Norway had no standing army, only half-trained militia.
37:48The Norwegians were anti-militarist by tradition,
37:51and they had seen German newsreels of the Blitzkrieg on Poland.
37:56No one wanted Oslo to go the way of Warsaw.
37:59There was little resistance.
38:03The Allied operation in Norway was a muddle from the start.
38:19Troops were embarked, disembarked, embarked again, without vital equipment.
38:25A contingent of French troops sailed with the British, plentifully equipped.
38:32Unlike the British, they were trained for winter conditions.
38:47But they hadn't got straps for their skis.
39:01Even the expedition's objectives were confused.
39:04Trondheim in central Norway was to be captured by a pincer attack from Andelsnes and Namsos.
39:10So some troops were diverted south.
39:13But Churchill's mind was still fixed on Narvik.
39:16And it was there the first battle took place.
39:19The council car was discovered.
39:29Dильно.
39:31Diego.
39:32King Syndrome.
39:34Yeah.
39:35Standing on Down Dave.
39:38Tom McMahon.
39:39Cue.
39:40今年.
39:41Horn lady.
39:42Tung.
39:43Lucas.
39:44The navy bombarded Narvik and German destroyers already there took a battering, but the advantage
39:54was lost.
39:56The British army commander didn't make a direct assault on the town.
40:05British Territorials did land at Namsos and Anvilsnes.
40:10They had no skis, no proper maps of Norway, and no heavy guns.
40:19There was little they could do when they ran into the well-equipped Germans.
40:30Captain Martin Lindsay was with the British force at Namsos.
40:33There really was no hope at all for this operation because it was entirely improvised at short
40:39notice in a great hurry, and the force had no aircraft supporting it and no artillery.
40:46But even more important, all the ground was covered with snow, and the only way to operate
40:52was with ski troops, and we hadn't got ski troops.
40:57And therefore the troops were confined to the road, and whenever the Germans got onto the
41:01hills on the flank, they had no alternative but to retire.
41:10The British had come to protect the Norwegians, but they couldn't stop the Luftwaffe from blitzing
41:15the little Norwegian towns.
41:18German control of the Norwegian airfields was the key to the battle.
41:38The Germans advanced, capturing hundreds of British prisoners.
41:47Some of these were flown to Berlin and paraded before Hitler.
41:54Others were put in front of German newsreel cameras.
41:56It seems to be in a pretty good mood here, although you don't find Germans as bad as you expected
42:02then, do you?
42:03No, certainly not.
42:04Oh, no.
42:05I was captured at Fauburg by the Germans.
42:08From there I came to Littlehammer, and we had a supper, consisted of brown bread, gorgonzola,
42:18wine, which the Germans gave to us, cigarettes, and a hot meal each day.
42:27And we were getting on fairly decent, and I hope the war will soon be over, and we'll
42:31all be going back home.
42:36Most of them did go home, ingloriously, abandoning Andalsnes and Numsos still burning.
42:41Chased by the Luftwaffe, the Norwegian campaign rammed home the lesson that sea power, without
42:59air power, could no longer win battles.
43:29Their only battle honour, the part they played in bringing down a government.
43:34For now the machinery of democracy began to work.
43:41As the troops disembarked, an angry parliament was assembling to debate the disaster.
43:48Feeling cut across party lines, Captain Lindsay, a Tory, went to the leader of the Labour opposition.
43:53Well, I was the first person from this force to reach London, and I went straight to see
44:01Mr. Aitley on the morning of the first day of the debate, and I gave him a memorandum
44:06about the appalling improvisation and deficiencies in Norway, because I was quite convinced that
44:12we should lose the war if we went on like that, which he gave to Herbert Morrison to
44:18help him open for the opposition that afternoon.
44:21The Norway debate was the only decisive debate I had ever attended during my thirty-four years
44:27as a member of the House of Commons, because it was the only division which definitely brought
44:33about the fall of a government.
44:35For nearly a year before that debate there had been a piling up of bitterness and anguish
44:41in the breasts of people who wanted Britain to go all out and win the war against Hitler.
44:48And so you can imagine that the debate was a very fierce one, not only the Labour opposition,
44:56but also Conservatives.
44:58They felt that the whole conduct of the war could not be carried on under a man whom they
45:06had already assailed at the time of Munich, and whom they realised he was not really by nature
45:12a war leader.
45:13Gradually the temperature began to rise, and when Herbert Morrison for the Labour Party
45:19announced that they were going to divide at the end of the debate against the government,
45:24there was an action group of which Clement Davis was chairman, the Liberal leader, and I was
45:33secretary, which was an all-party committee committed to pressing for more decisive action during
45:41the war and a more vigorous posture and a more vigorous prosecution of the war.
45:47And we decided to hold a meeting after Morrison's announcement, and we asked Leo Amory to preside
45:53over it, and it was an enormously attended meeting.
45:57There were a great many Conservative members of Parliament there, and I felt something was
46:01happening.
46:02And there were a great many members of Parliament who had never been hitherto members of our action
46:08group who fetched up at the meeting.
46:10And the feeling at the meeting was passionate.
46:13And I felt at that time that a great many of Conservative members were not only prepared
46:18to abstain in the division, but even to vote against the government.
46:23And I came down from that meeting with feelings of great tension.
46:28Meanwhile Churchill had been putting up a great defence of the government.
46:35And it was ironical again there, because the debate was about Norway.
46:40And Norway had been a series of disasters, for which although he might not be blamed, because
46:46they may have been unavoidable, and I think were unavoidable, he was directly responsible
46:50as First Lord of the Admiralty.
46:52And Amory made a most formidable speech, in which he quoted Cromwell's words,
46:59You have been here long enough, for any good you have done, in the name of God, go.
47:05And then Lloyd George came down and made the most devastating speech I have ever heard even
47:10him make, in which he concluded by saying to Chamberlain, You have asked the nation for
47:16sacrifices, but there is one sacrifice that is more necessary than any other, and that is
47:21the sacrifice of your own office.
47:23And when the result of the division was announced, and the Conservative majority fell to about
47:2880, and that meant the fall of the government, in the circumstances, I could see Chamberlain,
47:34I can see him now, Blanche, he had asked, he had asked for friendship from those who were
47:43his friends, and he hadn't got it.
47:46And he walked out of the chamber a solitary figure.
47:50And I felt very sorry for him at that moment, because I knew that he knew that he was done.
47:55And I remember Chamberlain going to his room afterwards, and saying he wondered whether
47:59this could go on, but it wasn't until the next day that he really realised that his pay
48:05number was up.
48:07On that particular day, the whips, I think, tried to explain to him that it might have
48:12been worse, and that sort of thing.
48:14But those of us who were with him could see the writing on the wall by that time.
48:18During those two days, the 9th and 10th of May, there was great doubt as to who would
48:24succeed Chamberlain.
48:26And the Labour Party made it clear that if there was to be a coalition government, which
48:31by now everybody thought necessary, they would not serve under Chamberlain.
48:35The choice, therefore, was between Churchill and Halifax.
48:41Lord Halifax was the obvious successor, Chamberlain's trusted colleague.
48:47But no peer had been Prime Minister for nearly 40 years.
48:51As for his rival...
48:53Churchill was viewed with grave misgiving by the establishment, as it would now be called.
49:00Everybody at 10 Downing Street, and Whitehall generally, the Cabinet offices, and in very
49:07large sectors of the Conservative Party, were frightened of Churchill.
49:11They thought he was an adventurer.
49:13They remembered Gallipoli.
49:15They thought that they did not want to see the fortunes of this country, at a most critical
49:20moment in its whole history, handed over to somebody who might do the most extraordinary
49:27things and undertake the most astonishing adventures.
49:31And they all, after all, realized that Norway, this fiasco from which we were just hoping to
49:36recover or had just been saved in the nick of time, was largely the inspiration of Churchill.
49:42It was a very fine idea, but it didn't work, just like Gallipoli.
49:47And therefore, it was with a certain amount of fear of Churchill that I think the minds of
49:57most people in the centre of government and in the centre of Whitehall turned towards Halifax.
50:04Halifax was safe.
50:05He was clever.
50:06He was a fellow of all souls.
50:09He was a man of indisputable charm and absolute integrity.
50:16And it was hoped that he would perhaps be sent for by the King.
50:20The Labour Party approached me, Hugh Dalton, and Herbert Morrison.
50:26And they both talked in favour of Halifax.
50:30And they thought that Halifax ought to take over.
50:34And I think their idea always was that Churchill would run the war under Halifax.
50:41An idea which didn't appeal to Halifax.
50:43I remember Churchill telling me that the critical moment came when Chamberlain asked Halifax and
50:52him to join him in the cabinet room.
50:56And the three of them were there.
51:01Halifax was sitting beside Chamberlain, who suddenly turned to Churchill and say,
51:08Tell me, Winston, do you see any reason why in the 20th century a Prime Minister should
51:15not be in the House of Lords?
51:18And Churchill thought that this was a trap.
51:24Because if he said, No, I see no reason at all.
51:28He thought Chamberlain would turn to Halifax and say, In that case, if the King were to
51:32ask my advice, I could perhaps suggest you.
51:36On the other hand, it would be very difficult for him to say, Yes, I do.
51:40Because then there could be no alternative but himself.
51:43And so he turned round and stood staring over the horse guards parade and did not reply to
51:49the question.
51:50The decision, I think, was largely taken by Halifax, who told me he had a pain in his
51:55stomach an hour or two before the meeting and did not really want to be Prime Minister.
52:01But as the man who really did want to be Prime Minister, I bet he was quite determined on
52:06it was Churchill.
52:08At dawn that morning, the Germans swept into Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg.
52:13The war was at last coming very close home to Britain.
52:20As the Allied armies braced themselves for battle, Chamberlain went to the palace to resign and
52:25advised the King to send for Churchill.
52:30Churchill would be a gamble.
52:32And perhaps when you're in a very serious moment of your lives, a gamble is not the thing
52:38to undertake.
52:39And so it was with great despair that we all heard on the evening of the 10th of May that
52:48the King had sent for Churchill.
52:49The King had sent for a crash.
52:51The King had sent for the King's
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