The Day We Went to War by Terry Charman, Melvyn Bragg

By Terry Charman, Melvyn Bragg

11:15 am, September 3, 1939. leading Minister Neville Chamberlain confirms the nation's fears through saying that Britain is at struggle with Germany. The Day We Went to War is the definitive heritage of the build-up to, outbreak of, and primary few months of the second one international struggle. Drawing at the Imperial warfare Museum's huge records, this ebook positive factors the non-public tales of actual women and men who lived throughout the startling occasions of that 12 months, in addition to those that have been actively taken with the political negotiations and their aftermath. that includes quite a few photos and the voices of key avid gamers, in addition to contributions from famous figures who have been without delay laid low with the building up to conflict, The Day We Went to War is a gripping checklist of a unprecedented 12 months in British history.

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So too did the newsreels of the bombing of Spanish and Chinese cities. Exaggerated accounts of the strength of Hitler’s air force by, among others, the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, did nothing to allay their fears. Nor did statements by politicians. In December 1938, Sir John Simon, Chamberlain’s Chancellor of Exchequer told an audience, ‘The Germans had it in their power to let loose 3,000 tons of bombs in a single day . . ’ But despite all the official doom and gloom, and the darkening international situation, life for most Britons in 1939 went on much as before.

The same year, they drank 887 million gallons of milk. Less healthily, they also smoked a lot too. A packet of twenty Player’s Navy Medium Cut cost just under a shilling (5p) in 1939, while other brands like Woodbine, Piccadilly and De Reszke Minors cost even less. 05). Pipe tobacco cost a shilling (5p) an ounce, and five Manikin cigars were 11d (5p) a packet. 10d (14p) a pound box. 3d (6p) a packet, and Kelloggs All Bran, ‘a food that brings normal “regularity” to constipation victims’, retailing at 7½d (3p).

11 January, ROME British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his foreign secretary Lord Halifax visit Rome in an attempt to further the cause of peace. Chamberlain believes that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is a moderating influence on Hitler. But nothing is accomplished by the visit. Mussolini tells his son-in-law and foreign minister Count Galeazzo Ciano: ‘These men are not made of the same stuff as Francis Drake and the other magnificent adventurers who created the empire. ’ Ciano telephones his German opposite number Joachim von Ribbentrop and tells him that the visit has been a ‘huge farce’.

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