Churchill's Finest Hours

The Splendid And The Vile, by Eric Larson

Published in 2020 by Crown, an Imprint of Random House

There is a strange irony in reading a book about a nation under siege when, at the moment, the world is under siege from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The nation under siege in this true-life tale is Great Britain, and it’s the start of World War II. Erik Larson’s “The Splendid and the Vile” covers the period from Winston Churchill’s appointment to prime minister in 1940 until the American official entry into the war in December, 1941. This is a period where Britain is fending off continuous naval attacks and aerial bombing from Germany, a period when Churchill’s leadership is put to the test.

Larson dramatizes that leadership by focusing on Churchill’s inner circles, including his family members, close friends, chiefs of stall and fellow politicians, and provides an intimate picture of how this extraordinary man managed to keep his country together during the early years of the war. We see Churchill interacting with his wife, Clementine, with his secretary, John Coleville, with Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken), with U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, along with dozens of military and government officials. The word that kept popping to mind about Churchill in this story is ‘indefatigable.’ The man was possessed of seemingly superhuman energy and boundless faith. He firmly believed – and inspired his country to believe – that Great Britain would ultimately prevail in this war. He served as a powerful symbol of hope when his country was being beaten and hope was in short supply.

However, as much as Churchill inspired his countrymen to ‘never surrender’ with his words (“…I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”), he was still a human being, capable of moments of self-doubt and bouts of depression. And he was not averse to feelings of empathy, as is illustrated in this passage of Churchill surveying Bristol after a bombing raid:

“As the train departed, Churchill waved at the crowd from the window, and kept waving until the train was out of sight. Then, reaching for a newspaper, he sat back and raised the paper to mask his tears. ‘They have so much confidence’ he said. ‘It is a grave responsibility.’”

One cannot imagine how this great leader coped with the nightly bombing of London, Coventry, Bristol and other cities, night after night, month after month. His country was losing the war, and losing it badly, and yet his determination never wavered.

One of the techniques that Larson uses to great effect in this story is bringing the German perspective to life. Throughout the German bombing raids, and periods in between, we see the stratagems of Hitler, Hermann Göring (commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe), Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda), Adolph Galland (German flying ace), and other key figures in the German military. Using diary entries and other documents, the words of the German military leaders come to life and add a thrilling element to this narrative.

Reading about a man who was so right for his time, readers will naturally look for examples of Churchill-type leadership today, during the current global health crisis. Where are the true leaders who will inspire us to persevere? Where are the words of hope and faith that will make nations fight on and believe that better days lie ahead?

“The Splendid and the Vile” is essentially a story about leadership in a time of crisis. It’s a story about the thoughts and actions of a single man and how he used his incredible gifts to inspire a nation to keep fighting and never give up. Indeed, Larson has done a splendid job showing us what true leadership looks like from the inside.

Operation Mincemeat: a masterstroke of intelligence and deception

Operation Mincemeat: How A Dead Man And A Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis And Assured An Allied Victory

By Ben Macintyre

Published in the U.S. by Broadway Paperbacks, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

In 1943, two British naval officers devised an improbable plan to fool Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, a plan so bold and audacious that it could never get approved, let alone pulled off.

Except the plan was approved by Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower and, against all odds, it succeeded beyond the wildest expectations of many. It's widely believed that the implementation of this ingenious plan succeeded in altering the course of World War Two.  

The true story of how the British and Americans deceived the Germans is told in Ben Macintyre's thrilling book, "Operation Mincemeat" (an earlier book about the events, The Man Who Never Was, was published in 1954 and it quickly became a best seller; a movie of the same name was released in 1956).

The plan was to create a fake identity of a purported British airman and arrange for the body to wash ashore in neutral Spain. The dead body would contain official documents confirming Allied plans to launch a surprise attack on Greece, when the actual attack would take place in Sicily. If the Germans believed that an attack on Greece was imminent, it would strengthen its resources in that area and leave southern Italy relatively exposed. At this point in the war, the Axis powers held an iron grip on Europe; the Allies needed a weakly-defended entry point in which to launch an assault, which would aid them in eventually liberating Europe.

For the plan to work, an extraordinary degree of luck and good fortune had to play into the Allied hands. In Spain, the Nazis had a vast network of spies and informants working in that country, and many of these agents needed to believe the ruse and pass false information up the chain of command. The opportunities for error were enormous. It's interesting to note the various forms of communication that were employed in fabricating this ingenious hoax - including letters, memos, diaries, newspapers, and good old-fashioned rumour and gossip.

Macintyre describes the lives, backgrounds and motivations of all participants with a superb sense of pacing and detail. At times, Operation Mincemeat reads like a thriller with sudden plot twists and mounting suspense. No detail is overlooked, from the intricate planning and choosing of a body to creating a fake identity and transporting the body to the coast of Spain. It's no accident that Ian Fleming (creator of the James Bond series) and Alan Hillgarth (an adventure novelist)  were among the officers who took part in the ploy.

Here, Macintyre sums up how a single, simple idea took shape and wound up changing the course of history:

"Amateur, unpublished novelists, the framers of Operation Mincemeat, dreamed up the most unlikely concatenation of events, rendered them believable, and sent them off to war, changing reality throughout lateral thinking and proving that it is possible to win a battle fought in the mind, from behind a desk, and from beyond the grave."

"OperationMincemeat" is an incredible story about an incredible chapter in the history of World War Two, and I give it two thumbs up.