Archive for May 30th, 2013
How Hitler described Churchill on May 4, 1941?
On May 4, the British troops were on the run on all the battle fronts. The 55,000 British army, which Churchill decided to relocate from Egypt after the Libya front was stabilized, was evacuating Greece on April 27, and shortly evacuated the island of Crete.
Erwin Rommel was advancing toward Cairo (Egypt). England was on its knees internally, after the frequent air raids of the Luftwaffe during many months, and England needed 33 million tons of supplies from overseas, every month to just survive. Most of the supplies were purchased on credit from the USA, and the German U-Boats were sinking about 700,000 tons of merchandize every month.
And then Hitler decided to shift his attention eastward toward Russia, his Vital Space. Hitler was interested in being the dominant power in Continental Europe, and wished Churchill to just accept a NON-Victor deal. Churchill wanted the total defeat of Nazi Germany, clear and square.
In June, the Japanese occupied the two main military bases of England in the far east: Hong Kong and Singapore and destroyed a dozen of its cruisers and destroyers.
On May 4, Hitler mocked Churchill, and said in his public speech:
“This constantly drunk Churchill has the brain in perpetual shift, and afflicted with generalized paralysis.
As a soldier, Churchill is a lousy politician and strategist.
As a politician, Churchill is a lousy soldier.
He possesses a remarkable gift: The ability to lie through his teeth, faking pious impassibility, and presenting terrible defeats as glorious victories.
In other countries but England, Churchill would have faced the Highest Court for failing in his duties...”
Sure, Churchill drank a lot, and barely slept during the war. He frequently harassed his generals and ministers several times a day, and many times changed his orders in the same day. Churchill kept up sending a steady stream of suggestions, messages and orders… He wanted to be informed of every details, particularly the military operations.
Churchill never moved without his red velvet box that he called “My eggs”: The box contained the most current decoded messages from the enemies.
England had the best decrypting team of scientists at the time and used Enigma, a sort of large computer that the French and Polish scientists have created.
An anecdote recounts Roosevelt saying:
“Churchill put out 100 orders and ideas every day. At most 4 are good. And Churchill has no idea which were the good ones…”
Isn’t Churchill who said: “Success is to move forward from one failure to another with enthusiasm…”?
Adonis Diaries 