Czechoslovakia was after all a far off country of which we knew little or nothing. ![]() ![]() The fact that he appeared to be doing quite well in achieving his aims without a war, prior to the attack on Poland, was not considered of major concern. No dictator in history had made his intentions clearer than Adolf Hitler, but he was either ignored, disbelieved or laughed at as a Chaplinesque character. There were the conflicting and confusing views of political figures at the time, those who insisted a bayonet is a weapon with a worker each end, others that re-armament should take second place to resolving social problems, opinions ranging from left to right, also those who say Hitler and Mussolini as preferable to Stalin. Also, didn’t we have the League of Nations and Anthony Eden, who was our MP, to sort problems out, and even students at university were said to approve a resolution that under no circumstances would they fight for King and country. The cast array of raw materials and manpower available in the British and French empires, material unavailable to Germany, should Adolf Hitler be foolish enough to provoke a large scale military adventure. There were also considerable efforts made to stress the entente-cordial with France. In addition, the French, it was said, were capable of mobilising an army of 5,000,000 behind the Maginot Line without their own very substantial Navy, second only to ours. After all, what on earth was there to be concerned about with the British Navy, the largest and most powerful in the world. Many of us in 1939 who were of military age, had not taken the possibility of war seriously, there was the likelihood of conscription for compulsory military service which would have meant six months temporary inconvenience, not viewed as particularly calamitous. I feel that what should be emphasised is a sense of reality that wars can come about very rapidly, and normally nice people, who fortunately make up the majority, have to think about killing equally nice people for reasons frequently unclear to them. With a marked aversion to the sight of blood, as far as I am concerned, when it’s mine, a little of it goes a long way, reluctantly I would have refused Henry’s entreaties even if told with perhaps considerable justification, it’s all in a good cause. Although having always lived within a few miles of Stratford-on-Avon and William Shakespeare, I must say that had Henry V speech at Agincourt applied to World War II, the beginning which went “That he which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart, his passport shall be made”, would have applied in my case, rather than the bit at the end which says “For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, and gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here”. I have to admit however, I resisted the temptation of heroism myself. I would not wish in any way to detract from the outstanding courage and gallantry of those who took part and which, on occasions, during the Second World War, I was there to witness. Al church service was planned, followed by a party on Christmas Day and a football match on Boxing Day. Troops of both sides then joined in, hoisted white flags, shook hands in no-mans land, exchanged family photographs. ![]() The sound of battle was replaced by carols, first heard from the German lines. It was based on World War One when on Christmas Eve 1914, late afternoon, silence began to emerge all along the front. I have to confess to pacifist sympathies, but am the first to admit my ambitions for ending World War Two was a failure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |