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

he believed, if Churchill was PM while he, as Foreign Secretary, acted as a
restraining influence from within the Cabinet. Yet while someone who felt
sick at the mere thought of becoming PM was possibly not the best
candidate, Halifax was aware of his own more pertinent shortcomings: he
was not particularly interested in military matters; nor did he know much
about them. Churchill, on the other hand, loved war and warfare and all
matters military; he always had done and had a fine war record that had
prompted talk of Victoria Crosses on more than one occasion. He had
served at Omdurman, and in South Africa during the Anglo–Boer War,
during which he had daringly escaped from captivity while a prisoner of
war. Unlike Halifax, Chamberlain, or even Hoare and Simon, Churchill had
served in the First World War too, commanding his battalion on the Western
Front after resigning from Government in 1915.
The first hurdle over the succession was thus decided. Chamberlain left
Halifax and Churchill to have a pot of tea together while he waited for the
Labour delegation of Attlee and Greenwood to arrive. They did so at 6.15
p.m. Despite what he had said earlier about resigning, Chamberlain, still the
Prime Minister, then asked them whether they would serve under him in a
full coalition government, and, if not him, then somebody else. He did not
name the someone else. Attlee and Greenwood told him they would ask the
party’s National Executive, who were in Bournemouth at their annual Party
conference, although Attlee confessed bluntly that his own view was that
Labour would not have him remain PM, and he added, ‘I think I am right in
saying the country won’t have you either.’ They left having promised to
telephone through the answers as soon as they had them.
Meanwhile, Churchill had returned to the Admiralty. Later that evening,
his son Randolph rang him from his Territorial unit and asked him the
news. ‘I think,’ Churchill told him, ‘I shall be Prime Minister tomorrow.’
Hitler had managed to maintain a high level of secrecy over his plans for
the attack in the west, which was codenamed Fall Gelb – ‘Case Yellow’.
Even those in his close entourage had little idea what was afoot when, on
the afternoon of 9 May, they were told to prepare to travel. Around 5 p.m.,
Hitler left the Reich Chancellery, climbing into an open-top Mercedes
escorted by only plain-clothes detectives and members of the SD. 1
Following behind were various members of his staff, including the 32-yearold
Christa Schroeder, who had faithfully been serving the Führer as one of