1942: Winston Churchill and Britain's Darkest Hour
- ISBN-10
- 1639362339
- ISBN-13
- 9781639362332
- Series
- 1942
- Category
- History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General
- Pages
- 432
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2022-10-04
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Author
- Taylor Downing
Description
A revelatory new work of popular history focused on the year 1942, as the fate of Britain—and Winston Churchill’s leadership—hangs in the balance.
Eighty years ago, Britain stood at the brink of defeat.
In 1942, a string of military disasters engulfed Britain in rapid succession : the collapse in Malaya; the biggest surrender in British history at Singapore; the passing of three large German warships through the Straits of Dover in broad daylight; the longest ever retreat through Burma to the gates of India; serious losses to Rommel's forces in North Africa; the siege of Malta and the surrender at Tobruk.
All of this occurred against the backdrop of catastrophic sinkings in the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys. People began to claim that Churchill was not up to the job and his leadership was failing badly. Public morale reached a new low. Taylor Downing’s 1942 explores the story of frustration and despair of that year, prompting Winston Churchill to demand of his army chief, "Have you not got a single general who can win battles?” Using newly discovered archival material, historian Taylor Downing shows just how unpopular Churchill became in 1942, with two votes attacking his leadership in the House of Commons and the emergence of a serious political rival.Some argue that Britain's most precarious moment of the war was in 1940—when the nation stood up against the threat of German invasion during the Battle of Britain. But in 1942, Taylor Downing describes, in nail-biting detail, what was really Britain's darkest hour of World War II.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
1939: Countdown to War
By Richard Overy, R. J. OveryIn this dramatic account of the last days of peace in 1939, Richard Overy re-creates hour by hour the unfolding story in the capitals of Europe as politicians and the public braced themselves for a war that they feared might spell the end ...
-
The Basis and Making of British Grand Strategy, 1940-1943: Was There a Plan?
By Brian Padair FarrellCAB70 / 5 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 89 , 5/10 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 6 , MAP Report , 26/1 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 98 , MAP Report , 16/11/42 ; CAB65 / 28 , War Cabinet minutes ... LHCMA , Brooke Papers , 3 / A / V , 18/5/42 retrospective ; Butler , vol.
-
Concise Historical Atlas of World War Two: The Geography of Conflict
By Ronald StoryThe collection will cover both conventional and non-conventional areas.
-
Hell's Highway: U.S. 101st Airborne -1944
By Tim SaundersCaptain Phillips was leading us. The platoons were well deployed. We pushed our way through whatever Germans were in front of us to a drawbridge at the canal and anchored ourselves in position.' Radio operator Private Haller, ...
-
World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts that Riveted a Nation
By Alex Lubertozzi, Mark BernsteinThe journalists and the reports that brought World War II to life share accounts of the London Blitz, Eric Sevareid's parachuting over Burma from a crippled aircraft, Howard K. Smith's narrow escape from Nazi Germany on December 6, 1941, ...
-
Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema
By Jo FoxAlso reproduced in K. Jackson ( ed . ) , The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader ( Carcanet , Manchester , 1993 ) , p . 7 . 137. Ibid . , 20 October 1940. K. Jackson ( ed . ) , The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader , p . 8 . 138.
-
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945
By David M. KennedyWho touches these books touches a profession.
-
The Curtain: Witness and Memory in Wartime Holland
By Henry G. SchogtSeven stories reveal how two families - one Jewish, one non-Jewish - fared in the Netherlands during the German occupation of World War II. Each story highlights a specific aspect of life; and emphasizes the difference between the options ...
-
1941: The America That Went to War
By William M. ChristieBurman, Red, 172 Burma-Shave, 191 Burns, Bob, 202,301 Burns, George, 203 Bush, Douglas, 70 Butts, Wally, 167 Byrd, Harry F., 12ff., 17 Caldwell, Harmon, 67 Calloway, Cab, 44 Campanella, Roy, 165 Cantor, Eddie, 52 Carle, Frankie, ...
-
绞杀世界：二战各国未实施的绝密军事计划
By 迈克尔·克里根“毫无疑问的是,”海军中将路易斯·蒙巴顿勋爵注意到,“敌人已经完全认识到了海峡群岛的价值,认识到一旦我们的军队重新占领它们所带来的潜在威胁。”由蒙巴顿起草的“星座行动”是针对海峡群岛各岛屿而进行的一系列独立行动的统称。“天鹰行动”“六角琴行动” ...