Winston Churchill Takes Charge of the War Effort: Two Remarkable Pieces from Just Days Into His First Prime Ministership, Precious Mementos of World War II and the Evacuation at Dunkirk (Also, a surviving page of the famous letter from Churchill to the arch-appeaser Lord Halifax on June 3, 1940, the day the Dunkirk operation ended, stating they must be rebuilding the British Army, and making it clear it is he who is in charge)

Winston Churchill

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A note from the War Cabinet, May 20, 1940, pre-Dunkirk, written in his presence, trying to respond to the Nazi blitzkrieg in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands?Both salvaged and retained for posterity by his private secretary John Colville, and affixed in a form of journal entry, with Colville's handwritten annotations as provenance?Truly unique, we have never seen anything like this on the market beforeThe Battle of FranceOn May 10, 1940, the Phony War came to a stunning end as Hitler invaded the Low Countries?Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands?and France. His progress just in the first day was dramatic and altogether unlike the experience of World War I. It was clear that Britain needed a coalition government that would put aside party considerations and turn all attention to actively dealing with the war. The Labor Party refused to serve under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, whose appeasement policies were blamed for Britain?s unpreparedness, and it was clear that Chamberlain had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. He resigned. Chamberlain and the King wanted appeaser Lord Halifax as his successor, but Halifax declined, likely because he did not want to be at the epicenter of the crisis with Winston Churchill nipping at his heals. The King called on Churchill to form a government. Churchill later said of this moment, ?I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial?? That day the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) entered Belgium from France intending to meet the German attack there.On May 12, the ill prepared French defenses at Sedan are overrun by German forces. The captured bridges that span the Meuse River allowed German troops and armor to pour across, giving them direct access to the rear of the undefended Allied frontline. The next day, May 13, in his first speech before the House of Commons, Churchill declared that ?I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat? and offered an outline of his bold plans for British resistance.On May 15, the Netherlands surrendered. The next day, in office but six days, Churchill visited Paris only to hear that the French were defeatist and considered the war as good as lost. While there he learned that the Belgian government had fled the country. Churchill was desperate to keep France in the war, but on the 17th learned that Paul Reynaud has formed a new French government, one that included 84-year-old arch-defeatist Marshal P?tain, the French hero of World War I. The next day Maxime Weygand, an advocate of seeking an armistice with the Germans, was named commander of the French armed forces. These were ominous developments indeed for the British and their Prime Minister, in office one week.Meanwhile the Battle of France continued, if just barely. On May 18 the Germans reached the Aisne River. It became apparent that their major objective is not Paris but the Channel coast, in the hope of cutting off the British and Belgian armies as well as the French divisions in Belgium. The French did not claim that the Germans had been halted, but said they had been slowed down. The Germans claimed that they are within 60 miles of Paris, but the French said 90 miles; the difference hardly mattered at all. French military circles estimated that the Germans are using 80 divisions, 11 of them motorized. They are said to have thrown in from 2,500 to 3,000 tanks. Things were going from bad to worse, and quick.On May 19, the key city of Amiens was besieged by German troops. The brilliant General Rommel?s forces surrounded Arras; other German forces reached Noyelles; all the towns were close indeed to the English Channel. The next day the Panzers reached Amiens, following two days of heavy air raids. The Germans gradually penetrated the city and two other armored divisions supported the offensive. On or about the 20th, the British War Cabinet decided that their best bet was for the B.E.F. to a.

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• Titre: Winston Churchill Takes Charge of the War Effort: Two Remarkable Pieces from Just Days Into His First Prime Ministership, Precious Mementos of World War II and the Evacuation at Dunkirk (Also, a surviving page of the famous letter from Churchill to the arch-appeaser Lord Halifax on June 3, 1940, the day the Dunkirk operation ended, stating they must be rebuilding the British Army, and making it clear it is he who is in charge)
• Reliure: Couverture souple