May 14, 2013

WIT AND WISDOM: FINEST HOUR 140, AUTUMN 2008

ABSTRACT
“I presume the details of this remarkable feat have been worked out by the staff…. Let me see them.”

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So much has been made of Churchill’s haranguing his generals that we thought readers might like to read his 30 March 1941 memo to the Chiefs of Staff on the invasion exercise VICTOR, in which five German divisions were assumed to have landed on the Norfolk coast despite heavy opposition:

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I presume the details of this remarkable feat have been worked out by the staff concerned. Let me see them. For instance, how many ships and transports carried these five divisions? How many armoured vehicles did they comprise? How many motor lorries, how many guns, how much ammunition, how many men, how many tons of stores, how far did they advance in the first forty-eight hours, how many men and vehicles were assumed to have landed in the first twelve hours, what percentage of loss were they debited with? What happened to the transports and store-ships while the first forty-eight hours of fighting was going on? Had they completed emptying their cargoes, or were they still lying inshore off the beaches? What naval escort did they have? Was the landing at this point protected by superior enemy daylight fighter formations? How many fighter aeroplanes did the enemy have to employ, if so, to cover the landingplaces?….I should be very glad if the same officers would work out a scheme for our landing an exactly similar force on the French coast at the same extreme range of our fighter protection, and assuming that the Germans have naval superiority in the Channel.

Professor Eliot Cohen, speaking to us in 1992, added: “Gen. Brooke replied on April 7th, giving the figures noted by Churchill, including estimates of enemy loss rates (ten percent in crossing, five to ten percent on landing), plus the assumption that the Germans would consume petrol and food found on British soil. Churchill responded, noting how much more difficult than this British landings in Greece had proven, and continuing to press his inquiries. Gamely, Brooke continued to reply, until the exchange petered out in mid-May.”

Cohen concluded: “What is the significance of this episode? It is noteworthy that the commander in charge, Brooke, stood up to Churchill and not only did not suffer by it, but ultimately gained promotion to the post of Chief of Imperial General Staff and chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. But more important is Churchill’s observation that ‘it would be indeed a darkening counsel to make this the foundation of serious military thought.’ At this very time, the Chiefs were debating the dispatch of armored vehicles to the Middle East.

Churchill was arguing—against the position of several of his military advisers—that the risks of invasion were sufficiently low to make the TIGER convoy worth the attempt. TIGER went through, losing only one ship to a mine and delivering some 250 tanks to the hard-pressed forces in the Middle East.”

CRIMINAL VIEWPOINT

Eric Allison of The Guardian (Manchester, UK) asked for Churchill’s July 1910 remarks about prisoner policy:

The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused against the State, a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment, a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment, tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerating processes, and an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if only you can find it, in the heart of every man—these are the symbols which in the treatment of crime and criminals mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue in it.

Four months later, we noted, The Guardian corrected the slander that Churchill had sent troops against the striking Welsh miners (see page 11) Disagreements, aside, Churchill always had kind thoughts about the paper.

Mr. Allison replied: “I found this quotation incredibly moving. I have been in prison many times, was in fact a professional criminal. Four years ago, The Guardian advertised for a prisons correspondent and I turned over a new leaf at the age of 62. Which is why I seized upon ‘a treasure, if only you can find it, in the heart of every man.’ This country tends now to believe that its kids have developed horns. Yes, they behave badly and if put through the penal system they may offend for the rest of their lives. My mantra, when told how bad they are, is: ‘We know what they are bad at; let’s find out what they are good at.’ Not a million miles from the Great Man’s thoughts on the subject, though he of course put it much better.

“You taught me something else as well, with your reference to The Guardian and Churchill; but I am not surprised that there was mutual appreciation. I come from a left-wing family and hold left-wing views but, speaking as a former prisoner, the best Home Secretaries I have come across, have both been Conservatives: Douglas Hurd and Kenneth Baker.”

INFINITE EXPANSE

Dr. John Mather reports a quip about blood samples when Churchill was ill with pneumonia in Tunis in December 1943. Lt. Col Pulvertaft, Deputy Chief Hygiene Officer at the army hospital in Cairo, was brought in to do various cultures of sputum and to take blood for examination. Contrary to some accounts, Pulvertaft did not give WSC any injections, but according to Pulvertaft’s biography in The Times (11 April 1990), when asked for a blood sample Churchill said: “You can use my finger, or my ear and, of course, I have an almost infinite expanse of arse.” 

 

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