Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (60 page)

On the night of 31st August, German SS operatives in civilian clothes staged assaults in Germany, attacking a customs post at Hochlinden, a forest headquarters in Pitschen and the radio station in Gleiwitz where they broadcast a statement in Polish saying that the station had been seized and was now in Polish hands. Before running away from each of the targets, they left behind the bodies of several prisoners from Dachau concentration camp dressed in Polish uniforms, all of them having been injected with lethal drugs and then shot so that it would look as though they were Polish soldiers who had perished in the attacks.

At 00.40am on 1st September, Hitler signed the order to invade Poland; at 4.45am the invasion began. Concerns expressed by German Generals were dealt with by Hitler saying: “Our enemies are small worms. I saw them at Munich.” Later in the day, Hitler broadcast to the nation, complaining of numerous Polish atrocities including three that were “quite serious”. The conquest of Poland was speedy, the mass-murder of civilians began on the first day. Soon the Germans had all of western Poland; within three weeks, as agreed, Russia took eastern Poland.

In London, the Cabinet met. Chamberlain and the appeasers still wanted negotiation. Some members of the Cabinet, totally exasperated, refused to leave the room until it had been resolved to send an ultimatum to Germany. In the end Chamberlain and Halifax agreed. At 9am on 3rd September, a two-hour ultimatum to withdraw from Poland was handed over. Of course it was ignored, and at 11am Britain declared war on Germany. France, Australia and New Zealand followed, so did South Africa after some argument with the Boers, and then Canada. No other nations ever declared war on Germany, not even the great powers of the USA and Russia.

It was now impossible to ignore Churchill. Also, if he were in the Government, he could not criticise the Government. After a decade on the backbenches, he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. A signal was sent to all naval vessels: “Winston is back”.

The British Expeditionary Force was sent to France, although at first there was no fighting. At sea, Britain suffered massive losses from mines, submarines and warships. The situation was made worse when Irish Prime Minister De Valera went back on his promise and refused Britain access to the ports handed over by Chamberlain.

Copying the Germans’ staged attacks, on 26th November the Russian Army fired seven shells at the Russian village of Mainila, causing no casualties. Announcing that the Finns had attacked them, the Russians launched an invasion of Finland. They met with stiff resistance and were forced to sign a truce. Russia acquired a tenth of Finland, but in doing so they made Finland an ally of Germany.

Elsewhere on land little was happening in the period of the so-called ‘phoney war’. Chamberlain even announced that “Hitler has missed the bus”. Then, in April 1940, the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway. Churchill had wanted to send troops to Norway or mine Narvik harbour so as to deprive Germany of the Swedish iron ore they needed for their war machine (the iron ore being exported through Narvik in Norway when the Baltic was frozen). The Prime Minister had vetoed the plan, Halifax declaring that it would be seen as bullying neutrals. Chamberlain, Halifax, Simon and Home Secretary Samuel Hoare were still living in a different world, hoping for a negotiated truce with Germany brokered by Italy, the United States and the Pope.

Troops were hastily landed in Norway. It was too late; although Narvik was briefly captured, the surviving troops had to be withdrawn.

The Norway debate began in the House of Commons on 7th May 1940. Chamberlain’s speech was weak and poorly received. Churchill had to speak in support of his colleague, but there were many who had had enough and could say so.

The crushing blow came from Conservative Leo Amery, quoting Cromwell’s words to the Rump Parliament in 1653: “You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
⁵²

The vote was put. It was only a motion to adjourn, and the Government won by 81 votes. However, it was treated as a vote of confidence, and the Government’s majority of MPs was over 200. A total of 39 Conservatives had voted against their party and more than 60 others had abstained. Chamberlain left the chamber to cries of ‘Go!’.

Realising that he might have to resign, on 9th May Chamberlain met with his potential successors, Halifax and Churchill. Halifax had the support of most Conservatives, and Labour and the Liberals would approve. Taking Chamberlain by surprise, Halifax said that as a lord he could not speak in the House of Commons, and that was unacceptable for a Prime Minister. It was unconvincing reasoning; there were many ways out in times of crisis: the two Houses could have sat together, he could have been an exception, or his peerage could have been suspended. Nevertheless, it was clear that he did not want the job. Very likely, he expected that Britain would soon have to surrender and he did not want to be Prime Minister at such a time; quite possibly he was hoping to become leader after the surrender, or maybe he just believed that Churchill was the right choice. Churchill said nothing. Next, Chamberlain asked the Labour leaders if their party would join a coalition. They agreed to consult their colleagues. That night, the Germans invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

52 Paradoxically, Amery’s elder son made pro-Nazi broadcasts from Berlin and tried to enlist British POWs to the Nazi cause. He was hanged after the war, one of only two men (the other was Summerset Fox in 1654) ever to have pleaded guilty in England to a charge of treason.

The French defensive fortification, the Maginot Line, stretched along the border with Germany, but not the border between France and Belgium. To plug the gap, Churchill had wanted to station British and French troops in Belgium. King Leopold III would only agree if he was promised the restoration of Belgium’s African colonies and compensation after the war. As that was being negotiated, Leopold added that anyway, British and French troops could only arrive after Germany had attacked Belgium, as he wished to remain neutral. It was now too late, the German invasion had begun. After three weeks of resistance by the Belgian Army, without consulting his Generals or his ministers, Leopold surrendered and ordered his army to lay down their weapons
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. The road from Germany to Paris was open; the advance was unstoppable.

With a changed situation, Chamberlain announced that he must stay on. Then, Labour’s answer came. They would join a coalition, but not one Labour MP would join so long as Chamberlain was Prime Minister. The Liberals were also against Chamberlain. All blamed him for weakness and gullibility, when they had opposed even his limited strengthening of the forces.

Chamberlain knew it was over. He went to see the King to offer his resignation. George suggested Halifax as the next Prime Minister, but Chamberlain explained that Halifax was reluctant. So, as a last resort, the best man would have to get the job. In the evening, at the age of 65, Churchill became Prime Minister.

Churchill had been a soldier, journalist and author as well as a politician, and had seen action in India, in Sudan (taking part in the last British cavalry charge), in the Second Boer War and in the First World War. He had switched parties twice, so he was not trusted by the Conservative Party hierarchy, but he was the only man who could unite Parliament and lead the nation.

Taking complete control of the Government and the armed forces, Churchill’s energy, brilliance and determination captured Parliament, the people and in time the free world. The King also became an admirer, writing that “I could not have a better Prime Minister”. Churchill returned the compliment, judging his relationship with the monarch as being without precedent since the days of Queen Anne and the Duke of Marlborough. It was an appropriate comparison; George was the 6 x great-grandson of Anne’s successor King George I, and Churchill was the 6 x great-grandson of Marlborough.

However, even with Churchill at the helm, British forces were thrown back. The sudden Belgian surrender enabled the German advance to accelerate, and the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army were driven on to the beaches near Dunkirk. It was here that 850 naval and merchant vessels, as well as a flotilla of fishing boats, paddle steamers and pleasure craft, crossed the Channel and rescued 224,000 British soldiers and 111,000 French soldiers; but thousands were killed, and all the army’s equipment was lost.

The disaster of complete defeat in Europe was somehow turned into a triumph as Britain lived to fight another day. Churchill was not fooled, wars were not won by evacuations. Britain had not been so vulnerable since 1066.

Certain of which side would win, the Italians joined Germany and declared war on Britain and France. Churchill was not amused: “People who go to Italy to look at ruins won’t have to go so far as Naples and Pompeii again.” Russia saw another opportunity, and seized Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Then northern France surrendered, with southern France being administered by collaborators.

Britain, the dominions and the colonies were now on their own. Nevertheless, Hitler told his Generals that there would be no invasion until the Luftwaffe had air superiority over Britain and the Channel. On 10th July, the Battle of Britain began as the Germans bombed factories, ports and installations. They encountered fierce opposition from the RAF – on 15th August alone, 76 German planes were shot down.

Bomber Command retaliated by bombing Germany. Hitler was furious. Having lost the Battle of Britain despite a numerical superiority of almost five to one over the RAF, the Luftwaffe started to bomb British cities, and the Blitz (from
Blitzkreig
, German for ‘lightning war’) began. London was bombed every day from 7th September to 2nd November 1940. As a consequence, the factories and airfields had some relief.

The King and Queen stayed in London for much of the time, taking their chance like everyone else, although later they spent their nights and weekends at Windsor. The Foreign Office had advised the King that the royal princesses should be sent to Canada for safety. The Queen replied, “The children will not leave unless I do, I shall not leave unless their father does, and the King will not leave the country in any circumstances.”

Now the Luftwaffe sought to kill one of the most symbolic lives amongst its enemies, King George VI, making several attempts to bomb Buckingham Palace. In the first attack, at night, a bomb exploded under the King’s study; fortunately he was at Windsor, and there were no casualties.

On 13th September 1940, the King and Queen were at the Palace. They were standing by a window as the Queen was trying to remove an eyelash from her husband’s eye. At that moment, they heard the engine noise of a bomber. The King said to the Queen, “Ah, a German”. Then there was the scream of a bomb hurtling to the ground. The bomb flew straight past them and exploded in the courtyard, blowing out several windows, with large amounts of smoke and debris being thrown into the air. The royal couple stood transfixed, no time to move. According to the Queen, her knees trembled a bit. Then another bomb crashed through a glass roof, and a third bomb destroyed the chapel, injuring three members of the palace staff. But the attempt to kill the King failed.

It was not over. Two days later, on the morning of Sunday 15th September, the Germans launched a bombing raid on London from airfields in northern France. One plane, a Dornier Do 17 twin-engine bomber, suffered an engine malfunction and a loss of power. As a result, it fell back from the main formation. However the plane was still airworthy and carrying bombs, so the pilot flew on.

As the Dornier crossed south London, it was attacked by Hurricanes of 310 (Czech) Squadron. The bomber suffered some damage, the gunner was killed and two of the crew bailed out as the pilot, Oberleutnant Robert Zehbe, continued on his own. He saw a solitary building – it was Buckingham Palace. Flying along the Mall, the route from Trafalgar Square to the Palace, Zehbe levelled out to begin his bombing run. At that very moment, the Dornier was spotted by Sergeant Ray Holmes who was piloting a Hawker Hurricane fighter flying towards the bomber.

Holmes decided to make a head-on attack. Once within range, Holmes pressed his machine-gun firing button; nothing happened – he was out of ammunition. The planes were closing at 400 mph.

Realising that the only way to stop the bombing was to ram the Dornier, Holmes climbed and then dived, aiming his plane at the bomber, and sliced off the Dornier’s twintail with his left wing. Having somersaulted and then dived as the wing tips broke off, the Dornier smashed on to the forecourt of Victoria Station, but not before a bomb had spun out of the plane and exploded in the grounds of the Palace. The injured pilot parachuted to the ground, where he was attacked by an enraged mob, mainly women with kitchen knives. Although rescued by members of the Home Guard, Zehbe died of his injuries the next day. Badly damaged, the Hurricane also went into a dive. Holmes managed to bail out, coming down in Chelsea, but his parachute caught on the guttering of a building leaving him dangling with his feet resting on a dustbin. He was helped down and taken to the Orange Brewery in Pimlico for a brandy, and after a checkup at Chelsea Barracks he was returned to RAF Hendon in a taxi.