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

much on edge,’ noted Jock Colville on Eagle Day, ‘concerned with the
quickest method of sending reinforcements to the Near East before the
expected attack on Egypt.’ There were two problems. The first was the
severe shortage of war materiel and sending overseas arms and equipment
that was still desperately needed in Britain, a gamble Churchill was
prepared to take and to overrule all objections from his Chiefs of Staff to do
so. In fact, no fewer than 150 precious tanks were sent to the Middle East,
while a daring plan to fly in Hurricanes from an aircraft carrier from the
western Mediterranean was also put into effect. The second problem was
time. Getting men and materiel all the way round South Africa, or from
India and the Dominions, was very time-consuming. Britain had to pray the
Italians would not attack too soon.
For a young man like Jock Colville, just twenty-five years old, his
proximity to Churchill and Britain’s leaders at this momentous time was
eye-opening to put it mildly. He was almost daily finding himself dining
with Churchill, Beaverbrook, Eden, Ismay or the CIGS, General Dill, and
other Chiefs of Staff. On the second weekend in August, he was at
Chequers, the PM’s country residence, and found a letter from Admiral
Nelson in one of the rooms, written shortly after the Battle of the Nile in
August 1798. ‘My Lord,’ Nelson had written to the First Lord of the
Admiralty, ‘was I to die at this moment, want of frigates would be found
stamped on my heart.’ Jock now suggested Churchill send this to Roosevelt.
The Prime Minister smiled and assured him that they were now certainly
going to get the destroyers from America. ‘But it is curious,’ noted Jock,
‘how history repeats itself even in small details.’
Churchill had, by this time, already heard that Roosevelt and his
Cabinet had agreed to the legislation for the sale of fifty or sixty old
destroyers. What now had to be agreed was a quid pro quo that would be
acceptable to Congress and the British. On the morning of 14 August,
Ambassador Joe Kennedy, through gritted teeth, presented Churchill with
Roosevelt’s offer. Britain had to agree to send the Fleet to other parts of the
Empire should British waters become untenable, and, second, to grant
ninety-nine-year leases to establish US naval and air bases in the West
Indies, Bahamas, Bermuda and Newfoundland. As ever, Churchill offered
Kennedy a ‘highball’ on his arrival at Number 10. As ever, Kennedy
declined. ‘This war will go on till then unless Hitler is beaten,’ Churchill