A (not so new) Obsession.

It would appear that a long time interest of mine has turned into something of an obsession – even if (at the moment at least) a small one. For quite some time now I have had a decided interest in the period from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the attack on Pearl Habor in 1941 when Britain stood essentially alone against the might of the Axis Powers. Not only was it a time of great danger it was also a time of great heroism and is a central point of our national mythology. Being British it’s actually a difficult era to avoid with so many books, TV series, documentaries and movies about the period. Two of the recent crop of movies in particular stoked my interest enough to move it in the direction of obsession – Nolan’s masterful retelling of Dunkirk and Oldman’s outstanding portrayal of Churchill in Darkest Hour. This in particular lit the fire as it raised a whole host of questions I wanted answering.

Churchill, as Darkest Hour rightly points out, was an unusual and unpopular choice for Prime Minister in 1940. I know some of those reasons why but wanted to know much more. Then there’s the leader of the Opposition to Chamberlin’s Conservative government – Clement Attlee. I know almost nothing about him so wanted to know more. Then, pre-dating the events of 1940, who did Britain get into such a mess? I know something about the process of Appeasement and the ‘peace in our times’ diplomacy but not enough to understand what was behind it all. Then there’s Lord Halifax – the Holy Fox – who was the ‘bad guy’ in Darkest Hour. Was he as portrayed or is that historians looking for a villain of the piece? Would he have actually sold Britain down the river for peace at any price? Then there’s Churchill himself. Did he really save England by taking up the position of PM when reluctantly offered it (I believe he did that and more but what was the truth behind the myth?). What of his long suffering wife Clementine and his children so intriguingly played in that scene in Number 10 on his first day in office as PM. What of his friend Antony Eden and what of Churchill’s relationship with the King which completely entranced me in the movie?

Once in power I was surprised by the Calais incident where the Prime Minister directly ordered the garrison to fight to the last man to give the men on the beaches of Dunkirk time to escape. What happened to the survivors? Was the ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk really that or was it a case of luck and Hitler’s reluctance to destroy the BEF when negotiations for an armistice was still a possibility? What happened to those who didn’t make it off the beaches and what happened to those who never made it to Dunkirk in time? Following on from the ‘miracle’ there was, quite naturally, the threat of invasion across the channel. Why didn’t Operation Sealion happen and could we have survived it? What happened in France post-Dunkirk? Why were they overrun in only 6 weeks despite the almost equivalence in forces in play? What happened to the French forces who made it to England and North Africa to continue the fight?

Taking a deep breath and a slight sigh of relief after Dunkirk and with the Battle of France over it was time for the iconic Battle of Britain. Was it the close run thing we have been led to believe? Why did we win in the end – luck, raw courage, British bloody-mindedness, or steady organisation and planning? Why, in 1940, did we have the fighters (amongst the best in the world), the organisation and RADAR ‘just in time’ that all took years to get into production?

So many questions, so many points of view around the actions of three of the most pivotal years in our long island history. I will endeavour in the upcoming years to try to answer them and I’ll let you know what I find out.