Churchill, a backbencher in 1933, soon began advocating several actions including a British and USSR alliance, intelligence gathering and increased arms production, actions that alarmed people in the peace movement. He had worked in the intelligence services when he headed the Admiralty before and during World War I. In the 1930s, he created his own intelligence apparatus, even more proficient than the government’s agency. He placed minions within the government departments and the military services. One such figure was Major Desmond Morton, then head of the newly-created MI6, of the Industrial Intelligence Centre. During the war, he would serve as Churchill’s intelligence adviser. 657
During the 1930s, people formed numerous groups, not necessarily pro-NSDAP or pro-Hitler, but to nurture a closer connection between Germany and Britain in order to avoid another disastrous war as many people had been in WWI or had lost family members in that war. 658 Hitler sent Alfred Rosenberg, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and others to Britain and invited many British diplomats to Germany, including David Lloyd George. Several groups in Britain, people in the Establishment, politicians, aristocrats, and businessmen, who completely opposed the intensifying discord and once war had erupted, wanted an early resolution to the conflict and worked towards that end.
Ribbentrop arrived in London in October 1936 as Ambassador to Britain with the hope of cementing the Anglo-German alliance. Because of his lack of knowledge of British culture, he made numerous social blunders and failed to develop a good relationship with many in the British Foreign Office. He also did not comprehend the king’s restrained role in government affairs as he incorrectly assumed that the King regulated foreign policy. Ribbentrop assured Hitler that Edward VIII supported the Führer. In December, during the abdication crisis, Ribbentrop reported that the Jews and their minions were forcing the king out because of his pro-German sympathies.
On September 16, 1938, King George VI sent a letter to Chamberlain saying, “I am sending this letter to meet you on your return, as I had no opportunity of telling you before you left how much I admired your courage and wisdom in going to see Hitler in person. You must have been pleased by the universal approval with which your action was received. I am naturally very anxious to hear the result of your talk, and to be assured that there is a prospect of a peaceful solution on terms which admit of general acceptance. I realize how fatigued you must be after these two very strenuous days, but if it is possible for you to come and see me either this evening or tomorrow morning, at any time convenient to yourself, I need hardly say that I shall greatly welcome the opportunity of hearing your news.” He followed up this letter with another one dated September 27, conveying his “heartfelt congratulations” for the success at Munich and inviting Chamberlain to immediately visit Buckingham Palace as soon as he returned. 659
In 1939, Harry Elmer Barnes justifiably accused Vansittart of plotting aggression against Germany. Vansittart wrote, “In the opinion of the author, it is an illusion to differentiate between the German right, center, or left, or the German Catholics or Protestants, or the German workers or capitalists. They are all alike, and the only hope for a peaceful Europe is a crushing and violent military defeat followed by a couple of generations of re-education controlled by the United Nations.” 660 In 1943, Vansittart would write Lessons of My Life, a venomous, hate-filled diatribe against Germans. His mistrust of Germans began when he was a student in Germany in the 1890s. He regarded national socialism as evidence that the Germans did not want or care about democracy. He appealed for complete disarmament and a re-educational program for the entire generation.661
Vansittart was the self-appointed chieftain of the “hate Germany” movement in Britain, insisting, in an article, Bones of Contention that at least seventy-five percent of the German people were “incurably bellicose.” 662 In his book, he wrote “that all Germans are bad; I have taken the percentage of good Germans at twenty-five. I am, however, prepared to abide by the generosity… Seventy-five per cent of Germans have… been eager for any assault on their neighbors. Much of their own tastes and nature they can and must change for themselves.” He said that others would have to change the Germans, “not by brutality. You cannot educate by brutality. Only Germans have thought so; and in this, too, I am anti-German.” 663
By 1940, all of the surviving monarchies throughout Europe, from Holland, Belgium and elsewhere seemed to be in exile in Britain. The younger generation of royals, Edward, Prince of Wales, his brother Prince George, the Duke of Kent, recognizing the devastation and death of World War I, certainly did not want any part of the erupting war. Hitler did not want war with Britain but a few people in Britain, worried about the balance of power in Europe, were now plotting and promoting war against Germany. 664
To save face, Chamberlain’s government decided to fight a “short and strictly limited” war followed by a “negotiated peace” as quickly as possible. They called this period, from September 3, 1939 to April 1940, the Phony War. After war really erupted, several groups attempted to set up meetings during which they could, with neutral mediators, end the war. On January 12, 1940, Francis D’Arcy Osborn, the British Ambassador to the Vatican, met with Pope Pius XII, and thereafter met with Lord Halifax. The Pope, acting as an intermediary, said that there were several German generals who, if they could obtain British support, were planning on overthrowing Hitler and establishing an interim military government which would restore Poland and Czechoslovakia but would retain Austria. During the next few months, the Foreign Office considered the Vatican’s proposal. 665
Following the eruption of war, Lord Halifax and R. A. Butler, Halifax’s under-secretary, thought it prudent to discontinue the destruction if there was any chance to do so without defaming the country’s dignity. Suddenly, Halifax and Butler were at the center of the peace movement which had ties to the main factions of the Conservative Party. People who desired an early peace included Queen Mary, the Dukes of Westminster and Buccleuch, Lords Aberconway, Bearsted, Brockett, Buckmaster, Harmsworth, Londonderry, Mansfield, and Rushcliffe, and at least thirty MPs. The court, and even the City of London, big business, and aristocratic landowners joined the movement because of fear for the future of the Empire and the potential termination of the international system of imperialist Britain. Total war entailed the socialization of Britain and a disastrous struggle within Europe that would only benefit the Soviet Union. U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy reported to FDR that Montagu Norman thought that Britain was finished. Lord Halifax surmised that Bolshevism, after the war, would oppress all of Europe. 666
667 Prince George, the Duke of Kent led the Anglo-German peace group, mostly composed of senior RAF officers, called the RAF Club. 668 When World War II erupted, he returned to active military duty as a Rear Admiral, serving on the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. In April 1940, he had transferred to the RAF where he assumed the position of a Staff Officer, a Group Captain, at the RAF Training Command.
British intelligence wanted Britain to stay out of WWII so Churchill, a perpetual warmonger, exploited people and circumstances and allegedly replaced all the key political figures in order to get the country into war. He became Prime Minister on May 10, 1940 but recognized that his hawkish political position was unsustainable absent sufficient support and without enacting legislation to silence his opposition. Yet, many of the Conservative MPs, who retained their desire for appeasement, remained in the House of Commons. Though Churchill was now Prime Minister, Chamberlain retained the greatest respect, applause and appreciation of their colleagues when they entered the Chamber together. Only after court historians and the press characterized him negatively did he lose all of that admiration. Churchill cautioned numerous journalists seeking to identify and perhaps expunge the guilty parties that if they disparaged certain people, not only would they have him to deal with but it would only benefit Germany. 669
Churchill soon dismissed the popular Vernon Kell, first Director General (DG) of MI5,
claiming that he had been too permissive with the Fascist underground. Churchill then appointed his own intelligence adviser, Sir Desmond Morton, from his Focus group. He had an SIS background and was more dedicated to the anti-Fascist cause than Kell. Reportedly, Churchill ordered Kell’s assassination. Anthony Trevor-Stokes claimed that Churchill used black magicians in WWII, many of whom Trevor-Stokes personally knew. Trevor-Stokes was one of the three men who exposed Churchill’s alleged murder of Chamberlain, Britain’s most popular Prime Minister who died on November 9, 1940. 670
Churchill appointed himself as the Minister of Defense when he became the PM and then immediately purged his War Cabinet of anyone who advocated peace. He dispatched Sir Samuel Hoare as an ambassador to Spain, where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were then residing. He instructed Hoare to make certain that Franco’s country remain neutral. On September 1, 1939, Churchill had also begun rounding up enemies of the state. Some of those who the government detained included Oswald Mosley, the youngest elected Conservative MP, and his wife Diana, Captain Archibald M. Ramsay, Sir Barry Domvile, the former director of naval intelligence (1927-1930). 671 Mosley had created the BUF in 1932. The government would order the termination of the group in 1940.
Domvile, after leaving Naval Intelligence in 1930, commanded the Third Cruiser Squadron (1931-1932), and was the President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich (1932-1934). In 1935, he visited Germany and was impressed with the effectiveness of the NS government. He attended the Nuremberg Rally in September 1936 as a guest of Ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop. Between March 1938 and June 1939, Domvile, believing that a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy existed, along with other like-minded individuals founded The Link, which had doubled its membership to approximately 4,300 people. Domvile was also a council member of the Anglo-German Fellowship. 672
On May 8, 1939, Admiral Domvile wrote the foreword to Arthur P. Laurie’s The Case for Germany. Dr. Laurie, a brilliant scientist and author of many scientific-related books, also wrote Great Britain’s policy after Munich (1940). Domvile included the following in his foreword, “Dr. Laurie knows full well that this friendship (between Britain and Germany) is the keystone to peace in Europe—nay, in the whole world. He is one of the small groups who founded the Association known as The Link, whose sole aim is to get Britons and Germans to know and understand one another better… He writes of the National Socialist movement with knowledge and great sympathy… value of this book lies in the fact that it is written by a foreigner, who cannot be accused of patriotic excess in his interpretation of the great work done by Herr Hitler and his associates.” 673
The Link, as well as other similar groups, appealed to many people in the British establishment such as the Duke of Westminster, Britain’s biggest landowner, who joined the group. The Duke of Hamilton belonged to the Anglo-German Fellowship. Many Brits, who did not want war, felt that way because they agreed with Hitler and the NS philosophy. In addition to the BUF, individuals who endorsed National Socialism included Lord Harry McGowan, chair of the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), General Sir Ian Hamilton, head of the British Legion, and Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England. Many people were generally horrified when Britain allied with the Soviet Union, which they viewed as the wrong side. In addition to being pro-German, some of the industrialists and bankers had invested heavily into German industry, urged by Norman. 674
Churchill took measures against his opponents. By May 1940, the BUF, which claimed 50,000 members at one time, was associated with a network, the other pro-German groups which included the NS Party in Berlin, the Right Club and the Nordic League. Purportedly, the Right Club and the Nordic League had access to sensitive military secrets which they were able to convey to Germany. On September 11, 1939, the leaders of the Nordic League had decided to attach their group to the BUF, led by Sir Mosley. British intelligence had monitored the activities of the BUF, the Right Club, and the Nordic League for months. In May 1940, MI5 put the Right Club secretary, Anna Wolkoff, under surveillance. She was a White Russian émigré, the eldest child of the last Imperial Russian naval attaché in London. A clerk at the U.S. Embassy, Tyler Kent showed Wolkoff copies of the private memos between Churchill and Roosevelt very early in the war. Kent evidently decided to release selective bits of this information to the press revealing FDR’s collaboration with Britain in ending American neutrality. He planned to leak the data at the beginning of the presidential campaign in an effort to destroy FDR’s chances for reelection. 675 Anna Wolkoff sympathized with NS Germany, where she had visited several times during the 1930s. Because of those visits, beginning in 1935, MI5 regarded her as a possible German spy. Allegedly, she was associated with Wallis Simpson, who was actually a client of her couture business. British counter-intelligence was also trying to frame Simpson.
The pro-German sentiments and activity alarmed Churchill so he persuaded the Cabinet to quickly approve Defence Regulation 18b, allowing the government to arrest and detain people who it claimed presented a potential national security risk. He followed this with legislation that provided for an onslaught on the far Right. In the next three months, officials arrested 1,769 people, including Sir Archibald M. Ramsay, an MP, Sir Barry Domville, Sir Oswald Mosley, and other leading BUF members. The government dismissed the Duke of Buccleuch from his position as lord steward of the Royal Household and put him under surveillance. These actions were a clear omen to any antagonists of the war effort and a warning against those who favored peace with Germany. In order to remain safe and free, individuals would have to tread very carefully. Other MPs, also part of the peace group, looked to David Lloyd George as the leader of an alternative administration. 676
Using the Defence Regulation 18B, similar to the U.S. Military Commissions Act of 2006, British Intelligence interned Sir Domvile from July 7, 1940 to July 29, 1943. In June 1940, they had arrested and incarcerated his mistress, Olive Baker, for five years for distributing leaflets promoting German radio broadcasts to Britain. 677 Domvile’s belief in a Judaea-Masonic combination responsible for much of the world’s problems increased as a result of his internment. Before they incarcerated him, he concealed his latest volume, a personal diary, in his garden where he hoped that the authorities would not find it. 678
On June 18, 1940, the Italian Foreign Minister wrote about Hitler’s attitude towards Britain, in his diary, “If London wants war it will be total war, complete, pitiless. But Hitler makes many reservations on the desirability of demolishing the British Empire, which, he considers, even today, to be an important factor in world equilibrium. I ask von Ribbentrop a clear-cut question, ‘Do you prefer the continuation of the war, or peace?’ He does not hesitate for a moment. ‘Peace.’ He also alludes to vague contacts between London and Berlin by means of Sweden.” On July 19, 1940, Hitler delivered a speech in the Reichstag, remarks to the British public, during which he requested that England join Germany at the peace table. The Germans thought that Churchill, the warmonger, was totally unaware of the desires of the British population, most of who wanted peace. Hitler said, “I see no reason why this war must go on.” The Luftwaffe dropped copies of this speech throughout Britain. The British government rejected Hitler’s peace proposal three days later. Meanwhile, British civilians prepared for a probable invasion. 679
Captain Archibald M. Ramsay, founder of the Right Club, in the House of Commons, later stressed the fact that there was a difference between anti-Semitism and pro-Nazism. Other Right Club members included William Joyce, who defected to Germany as a broadcaster, A. K. Chesterton, Francis Yeats-Brown, Admiral Wilmot Nicholson, and the Duke of Wellington. Members frequently convened their meetings in the Russian Tea Room. On January 3, 1946, the government would execute Joyce. Prior to his death, he said, “In death as in this life, I defy the Jews who caused this last war and I defy the power of Darkness which they represent. I warn the British people against the aggressive Imperialism of the Soviet Union. May Britain be great once again; and, in
the hour of the greatest danger to the West, may the standard of the Hakenkreuz (Swastika) be raised from the dust… I am proud to die for my ideals; and I am sorry for the sons of Britain who have died without knowing why.” 680
On June 24, 1940, the State Secretary filed charges against Ramsay, for engaging in “acts prejudicial to the public safety or the defense of the Realm, or in the preparation or instigation of such acts, and that by reason thereof it was necessary to exercise control over him.” Officials stated that he, in May 1939, formed the Right Club, which “ostensibly directed its activities against Jews, Freemasons and Communists.” The government suggested that he designed the club “to spread subversive and defeatist views among the civil population” of Britain, to obstruct its war effort and “endanger public safety and the defense of the Realm.” 681
Ramsay, in answering the charges, said, “The formation of the Right Club… was the logical outcome of many years of work against Bolshevism, carried on both inside and outside the House of Commons, and well-known to all my political colleagues since 1931. The main object of the Right Club was to oppose and expose the activities of Organized Jewry, in the light of the evidence which came into my possession in 1938… Our first objective was to clear the Conservative Party of Jewish influence and the character of our membership and meetings were strictly in keeping with this objective. There were no other and secret purposes. Our hope was to avert war, which we considered to be mainly the work of Jewish intrigue centered in New York. Later, I and many others hoped to turn the phony war into, not total war, but an honorable negotiated peace.” 682 The government sent Ramsay to Brixton Prison for accusing the Jews of provoking the war. They would ultimately release him on September 26, 1944.
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