The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

majority of the War Cabinet agreed with Halifax, he would be obliged to go
along with them. In fact, if Chamberlain sided strongly with Halifax,
Churchill’s position would be very difficult; the former Prime Minister, the
one man who had dealt personally with Hitler, still carried considerable
clout, far more than Attlee or Greenwood, who were new to government.
And Churchill was still only sixteen days into the job; his position was far
from secure. Halifax’s stance seemed, at face value, reasonable, and there
was no doubting the gravity of the situation Britain was now in. However,
Churchill knew that to try to bargain with Mussolini would be to set
themselves down a path from which it would be very hard to turn back. In
any case, he did not believe for a minute that Hitler would offer tolerable
terms. There was thus no point in even considering it. They would fight on
or die in the process.
‘Herr Hitler thinks he has the whip hand,’ said Churchill. ‘The only
thing to do is to show him that he cannot conquer this country.’ However,
he realized that some kind of concession to Halifax was now needed. He
thus told the Foreign Secretary that he would not raise any objection to
some kind of approach being made to Mussolini. The phrasing was
intentionally vague; in reality he had no intention of making such a move.
Halifax had already discussed a joint draft with Reynaud, which he now
read out. Greenwood suggested Mussolini might demand Malta, Gibraltar
and Suez. Chamberlain, crucially, said he suspected the Italian leader would
demand more, and as part of a general settlement with Germany. The
meeting ended with the five men agreeing that Halifax should, overnight,
prepare a draft communiqué to Mussolini.
Later that evening, Churchill dined with Eden, Ironside – whom he had
just sacked as CIGS, replacing him with Dill – and Ismay. He knew by then
that Calais would surely fall and that, with it, would be lost all of 30th
Brigade and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment. Earlier, at 6.57 p.m., the signal
had been given for the Royal Navy to begin Operation DYNAMO, the
evacuation of Dunkirk. Much of the BEF would surely follow the Calais
garrison into captivity. How else could it be otherwise? And the worse the
news from France, the harder it would be to prevent Halifax from getting
his way. That night, he barely touched his food or drink. Afterwards, he
stood up, a sad expression on his face. ‘I feel physically sick,’ he said.