Winston Churchill - The Grand Alliance

The Grand Alliance
Copyright 1948 by Winston Churchill
Cover art to the electronic edition copyright 2002 by RosettaBooks, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical ayrticles and reviews.

Electronic editions published 2002, 2010 by RosettaBooks LLC, New York.
ISBN ePub edition: 9780795311444

In War: Resolution

In Defeat: Defiance

In Victory: Magnanimity

In Peace: Goodwill

I MUST AGAIN ACKNOWLEDGE the assistance of those who helped me with the previous volume, namely, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall, Commodore G. R. G. Alien, Colonel F. W. Deakin, and Sir Edward Marsh, Mr. Denis Kelly and Mr. C. C. Wood. I have also to thank the very large number of others who have kindly read these pages and commented upon them.

Lord Ismay has continued to give me his aid, as have my other friends.

I record my obligation to His Majestys Government for permission to reproduce the text of certain official documents of which the Crown Copyright is legally vested in the Controller of His Majestys Stationery Office. At the request of His Majestys Government on security grounds, I have paraphrased some of the telegrams published in this volume. These changes have not altered in any way the sense or substance of the telegrams

THIS VOLUME, like the others, claims only to be a contribution to the history of the Second World War. The tale is told from the standpoint of the British Prime Minister, with special responsibility as Minister of Defence for military affairs. As these came directly to some extent into my hands, British operations are narrated in their scope and in some detail. At the same time it would be impossible to describe the struggles of our Allies except as a background. To do full justice these must be left to their own historians, or to later and more general British accounts. While recognising the impossibility of preserving proportion, I have tried to place our own story in its true setting.

The main thread is again the series of my directives, telegrams, and minutes upon the daily conduct of the war and of British affairs. These are all original documents composed by me as events unfolded. They therefore constitute a more authentic record and give, I believe, a better impression of what happened and how it seemed at the time than any account which I could write now that the course of events is known. Although they contain expressions of opinion and forecasts which did not come true, it is by them as a whole that I wish my own share in the conflict to be judged. Only in this way can the reader understand the actual problems we had to face as defined by the knowledge then in our possession.

Space would not allow, nor indeed in many cases have I the right, to print the replies, which very often took the form of lengthy departmental memoranda. I have therefore been careful to avoid, so far as I can, throwing blame on individuals. Where possible I have endeavoured to give a summary of replies to telegrams. In the main however the documents which are printed tell the tale.

We are again dealing with war on the giant scale, and the battle on the Russian front involved as many divisions on both sides as were engaged in the Battle of France. At every point along a far longer front the great masses engaged, with slaughter incomparable to anything which occurred elsewhere during the war. I cannot attempt to do more than refer to the struggle between the German and the Russian Armies as the background of the actions of Britain and the Western Allies. The Russian epic of 1941 and 1942 deserves a detailed and dispassionate study and record in the English language. Even though no facilities for foreigners to narrate the Russian agony and glory might be accorded, the effort should be made. Nor should this impulse be chilled by the fact that the Soviet Government have already claimed all the honour for themselves.

Hitlers invasion of Russia brought to an end the period of almost exactly a year during which Great Britain and her Empire stood alone, undismayed, and growing continually in strength. Six months later the United States, violently assaulted by Japan, became our ally for all purposes. The ground for our united action had been prepared beforehand by my correspondence with President Roosevelt, and it was possible to forecast not only the form of our operations but also their sequence. The effective combination of the whole English-speaking world in the waging of war and the creation of the Grand Alliance form the conclusion to this part of my account.

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

CHARTWELL,
WESTERHAM,
KENT

January 1, 1950

Book I

Germany Drives East

Book II

War Comes to America

How the British fought on
with Hardship their Garment
until
Soviet Russia and the United States
were drawn
into the Great Conflict