the sheer folly of Churchill's stubborn policy of total victory was cruelly exposed when Rommel's Afrika Korps captured thirty-three thousand British and South African troops in the Libyan town of Tobruk and the Imperial position in the Middle East Theatre began to implode.

A Beaten ManAt first anti-Nazi belligerence resonated amongst the hysterical back Please click the icon to follow us on Facebook.benchers who had lost confidence in the ruling elite. The resulting political crisis swept him to power, and a military one followed hard on its heels because the collapse of France began on his very first day in office. Even though Churchill "put a bomb under Whitehall" he was forced to retain key players such as Chamberlain, Halifax and Eden who continued to serve in senior positions in his "Neville Churchill" Government. Tragically, events were soon to prove that the defeatist attitudes of that ruling elite were in fact nothing other than brutally realistic assessments more firmly rooted in reality than Churchill's fine words.

"We are not anything like as tough as we were. In the last war"Needless to say the underlying logic of the total victory policy was (in theory) perfectly sound. Because Hitler was indeed a meglamaniac who must be relentlessly fought in ever corner until he either overstretched himself, or antagonised either or ideally both of the United States and Soviet Union into a state of outright war. But the greater truth was that Britain had exhausted its limited resources and was now facing total collapse.

Churchill himself began to feel the first chill of doubt within a month of entering office. On May 28th the surrender of the Belgian Army opened a twenty-mile gap on the British left flank which was only closed by the decisive action of Alan Brooke, the Commander of BEF II Corps. The General confessed to Churchill that "We are not anything like as tough as we were in the last war. There has been far too much luxury". But almost immediately after the evacuation from Dunkirk, Churchill demanded fresh plans for an invasion of Europe, ordering Brooke back into the France to join the forces in Brittany.

The military setbacks that had begun with Norway had continued into France, and then Singapore and now Tobruk. Even though Churchills popularity had plummeted with the same loss of credibility he had suffered on all previous occupations of office, he was still respected for his tremendous value as a front man for negotiating with Roosevelt and Stalin. None of his would-be rivals had the neck to either deal with the British public nor the American or Soviet Leader. And so the fall out was that he was forced to appoint Stafford Cripps as Minister for Defence and handover the day-to-day conduct of the conflict to the War Cabinet Defence Committee.

"I cannot understand why Tobruk gave in. More than thirty thousand of our men put their hands up. If they won't fight . . ".Churchill was in fact visiting Washington when he received the news of the Fall of Tobruk. The elderly politican was terribly shaken, unable to complete a statement containing the terrible truth that "I cannot understand why Tobruk gave in. More than thirty thousand of our men put their hands up. If they won't fight . . "..

Alarmed by suggestions in American newspapers of his imminent overthrow, he telephoned Eden to enquire about the political situation. He was shocked to hear that the new consensus at Whitehall was that "so far as the conduct of the war itself goes, [Churchill] is now a nuisance (apart from his hold over the country)". A beaten man, he would now only serve as a mascot. Meanwhile a more balanced leadership would conserve British resources, looking to their American and Soviet allies to continue the War whilst British focused on national survival.