5 DAYS IN MAY PROLOGUE PART 2

 Before we can begin our in depth discussion and analysis of Five Days in May 1940, beginning with May 24, 1940, we must examine one remarkable day in May 1940, perhaps the most significant day in European history of the 20th century. 

May 10, 1940. 

Two remarkable things occurred on May 10, 1940. First, Winston Spencer Churchill was asked to form a government by King George VI. Second, as Churchill was assuming power in England, Hitler ordered German armies to begin the invasion of Belgium and France. Two men, who had circled each other warily for several years now entered direct conflict. 

But this was not something that had been foreseen a mere two years before. In 1938 Churchill, who repeatedly and mostly by himself spoke out against Chamberlin's agreement with Hittler during their meeting in Munich, was shunned, ridiculed, and not trusted for his actions as First Lord of the Admiralty, which many considered rash, in what is known as the Dardanelles Campaign, which in fact was a brilliant move and came within a breadth of succeeding in 1915-16 before becoming a humiliating British loss. As Churchill continually and loudly railed against Hitler and the German threat, he was isolated by both his own party and the opposition. No one in England had the stomach for another war with Germany. 

Both Hitler and Churchill shared several habits/traits. Both preferred to work late and sleep late. Both believed and personally prospered in the power of the spoken word. Both of them were semi-talented painters.  Hitler was a vegetarian and did not drink or smoke and started most days in a simple military uniform.  Churchill ate three hearty meals a day, spent most of the morning in silk pajamas, a multi-colored dressing grown, and slippers. He smoked several cigars a day and drank many bottles of champagne along with many (weak) scotch and sodas. For the next 80 days these two men would engage in a titanic struggle of wills with nothing less than the fate of the world at stake. 

In the early morning hours of May 10, 1940, Hitler traveled by train to an outpost at small German town near the Belgium border. Hitler and his entourage would remain there for 23 days while Western Europe fell. "Gentleman, the offensive against the Western powers has begun" Hitler told his staff in the early morning hours. In less than 40 days he would be the master of Europe. He and his staff had come up with a unique plan- Sichelschnitt"- sickle cut. Germany would invade Belgium and lure the French and English armies north. Then German Panzers would strike moving from the west to the east- a sickle encircling movement, pushing the French and the British to the coast.  By the time he went to bed on May 10 word had reached Hitler that Churchill had been named Prime Minister. His immediate reaction was neither witnessed nor recorded. 

Across the Channell as the German invasion roared through Europe, the phone rang in Churchill's bedroom at the Admiralty House in the early morning hours with the news that the Germans were invading Belgium and Holland and bombing airfields in France. Churchill quickly arose and dressed for the day that would change his life and history.

 By May 10 Parliament had had enough of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin. A large contingent of members of Chamberlin's own Conservative party had abandoned him and the minority Liberal Party refused to back Chamberlin. That he had lost Parliament was apparent to him at least a few days before, and he began to plan for his successor. The first choice of King Goerge VI and Chamberlin was Lord Halifax. But Halifax repeatedly declined the invitation. First, as a member of the House of Lords, Halifax could not appear in Parliament, hampering his ability to lead, especially in a time of war. Second, Halifax saw himself as the power behind the throne. Churchill would become Prime Minister, but Halifax would engineer the peace with Germany.  Or so Halifax had thought. 

There was a hitch on May 10. Chamberlin had indicated the day before that he would resign, meeting privately with Churchill and Halifax. Churchill believed this was his moment. But when Hitler struck, Chamberlin changed his mind and told his war cabinet that he felt he should stay until the German threat was resolved. Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty was in Chamberlin's war cabinet. He remained silent as Chamberlin sought support to remain in power. But it was not to be; his party would not support him, and the Liberals were demanding a national government with Churchill at the head. 

With nowhere else to turn, The Conservative party reluctantly formed behind Churchill, and he was invited to the Palace to meet the King, where he was asked to form a government. 

 And so on May 10, 1940, as Hitler struck boldly and quickly across Europe. a British Bulldog assumed power across the channel and began to steel his country for a long and bitter struggle. "Nations who went down fighting rose again, but those that surrendered tamely were gone forever" Churchill began to repeatedly say. In the coming fourteen days Churchill would struggle to remain in power, fending off Halifax's maneuvering and machinations behind the scenes to first force Churchill to negotiate a peace with Hitler, and then to have Churchill removed when he refused to seek peace. 

And who was the politician that would step up and support Churchill during his darkest hours, realizing that Churchill had been right about Hitler all along and that the only way to deal with him was to fight him and defeat him and that there could be no negotiations for peace? 

None other than Neville Chamberlin. Chamberlin had brought Churchill into his war cabinet. Churchill, while criticizing Chamberlin's actions at Munich, was personally very kind to Chamberlin. When he became PM, Churchill allowed Chamberlin to remain at 10 Downing Street for several weeks. He brought Chamberlin into his war cabinet as Chamberlin had done with him and sought out his advice often. And as Halifax tried to wrest the government away from Churchill, Chamberlin remained non-committal before whole heartedly backing Churchill and giving him the political security to focus all of his attention on Germany and saving the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from annihilation as it was surrounded on three sides in France and being beaten into the sea. 

Understanding that on May 10, 1940 Churchill finally assumed power on the day Hitler launched his successful invasion of Europe- a day unlike any other in European history- we can now begin our in-depth examination of the five days in May that saved Western Civilization from Nazism and Hitler. 

5 DAYS IN MAY- PROLOGUE

 May 24-28, 1940, London, were arguably the five most important days for Western Civilization. The decisions made by England's new Prime Minister- Winston Spencer Churchill -saved democracy and freedom from Nazi oppression. It is our intention to examine those days, at times hour by hour, drawing on a detailed history from multiple sources that we have spent a good deal of our life reading and studying. England from 1930-1945 is our passion, and the hours we have spent learning about the lives of those who lived in those times, and the decisions they made, has been our joy. So now that football is over, you can expect these posts on the weekends to come. Let's dive in. 

May 24, 1940. Winston Churchill has been Prime Minister for exactly fourteen days. On this Friday things never looked bleaker for England. The decisions Churchill and his war cabinet would make would not win World War II, but they would prevent Hitler from winning the war, as Germany was never closer to winning the war than on Friday, May 24. 

There are three prime characters we must study, and a fourth outside their orbit. You can think of this as a triangle of men, with one other hoovering outside the three interconnecting lines. Those men were Churchill, former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and Lord Edward Fredrick Lindley Wood Halifax, often referred to as the "Reverend Holy Fox" by Churchill behind Halifax's back. 

What we first must understand is that Halifax was the King's choice to replace Chamberlain when he resigned. But Halifax was not a member of Parliament. He was a member of the House of Lords, and as such, he could not appear in Parliament and lead Parliament as a Prime Minister.  When asked, Halifax deferred to Churchill being chosen, believing that he could be the power behind the throne. He was wrong. Churchill was always a step ahead of him. Or, as we will see, almost always. 

The fourth member of this triangle plus one was...surprisingly, Benito Mussolini. It was not, as you might expect, Hitler, although his actions, and inactions were crucial to Churchill's and England's success. 

The stage in Europe was bleak. France was nearly defeated. The Germans were marching on Paris. The British Expeditionary Force, over three hundred thousand men, were trapped and retreating to the French coast. England was facing the near total loss of her army. And there was more. 

King Leopold III, the monarch of Belgium, was about to surrender his army and country to the Germans. When France and Belgium fell, England would truly be standing alone. Europe would be lost under the grip of the "odious Nazi' regime", and without her army, only the RAF and the navy would be left to protect England from invasion. The United States was eighteen months away from entering the war. President Roosevelt did not trust Churchill, and was hesitant to extend himself, especially while facing re-election for an unprecedented third term. Churchill and Roosevelt would not form their close friendship and trust for more than two years hence, and in the interim, Roosevelt plotted to take England's navy and many of her overseas bases because he and his advisors did not think England would survive. 

Halifax moved steadily and stealthily, with the support of the King and a large contingent of the Conservative party, for a peace agreement with Hitler to be brokered by Mussolini, who had not yet brought Italy into the war. Some members of the Conservative Party (of whom Churchill was also a member) did not agree with seeking peace, nor did most of the Liberal Party, whose strong support was the only reason why Churchill was chosen as Prime Minister- making him a shaky, compromise PM. 

For reasons we will discuss later, regarding some disastrous decisions Churchill made in the First World War, Churchill was not trusted. He was thought to be impetuous, stubborn to a fault; an unstable alcoholic who was not fit to lead England at this dark hour. 

So we begin our study of these five days with Churchill being undermined by his own war cabinet, with shaky support at best from Parliament, facing the loss of France, Belgium, and England's army. 

As we will see, Hitler was never closer to winning World War II than on Friday May 24, 1940. What Churchill and England did and did not do, and what Hitler did not do, shaped future events and sealed Germany's fate in a way that could not been seen nor understood during that fateful weekend. Had England fallen, the world would have been a much different place for the rest of the 20th century. And facing the loss of her army, England was about to fall. 

But one man would not let that happen, and we will be examining in the days and weeks ahead on this blog his responses to the rapidly unfolding events during those five days in May, 1940, that would test him like no other leader has ever been tested. 

The man was about to meet the moment.