Never Surrender : a Novel of Winston Churchill by Michael Dobbs

Author:Michael Dobbs [Dobbs, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Amery had emerged, irate and intent on retribution. The young Churchill had apologized, “I”m sorry,” he explained, “but I mis-took you for a Fourth Former. You are so small.” His words seemed to do little to stem the older boy’s wrath, so Churchill had added: “My father, who is a great man, is also small.”

It had cemented a life-long relationship.

Amery understood ambition, and its price. Three weeks ago Chamberlain had offered him any post in the Cabinet in return for his support, yet despite all his dreams and desires, it had been a price too heavy for Amery. There were older memories, too. Amery could recall Churchill’s father, and the day of his resignation. Most of the other boys had taunted Churchill, but Amery had come up to him at lunch and shaken his hand, very publicly, not with approval but simply from understanding. He knew the two Churchill's always traveled together, even though they were so rarely seen together.

Even now, as Churchill continued with his review, his father was with him once more, sitting amongst the expectant faces around the table. It had happened so often during Winston’s political career; he would imagine his father nearby, watching, neversurrender_internals 7/24/07 10:42 AM Page 239

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never quite approving. It had always spurred him onwards, ensured he never relaxed or took anything for granted, but, just this once, he ached for someone to tell him he was right.

“I have thought carefully in these last days whether it was part of my duty to consider entering into negotiations with That Man,” he was saying. One or two heads were slowly nodding.

Perhaps they’d been talking with Halifax. And, as weariness seemed to seep from every bone in his body, he could no longer deny the possibility that they were right. If neither Hitler nor Halifax were the fool, then perhaps it was Churchill himself.

And then he saw Ruth. He ransacked his last store of energy in order to force her image into his mind. She was sitting at the other end of the table, her hair drawn back around her face, with that determined and Germanic jib of hers. She was frown-ing, scolding him, warning him. Don’t bend, don’t you dare bend!

You are alone because you understand better than any man here. So take them with you. Do it your way. But trust them, and do it together!

“I will not hide from you, gentlemen, that what is happening now in northern France may turn out to be the greatest British military disaster for many centuries. We are straining every nerve and moving every muscle to get back as many of our men as providence will allow. It may be no more than fifty thousand. But I will not negotiate. It is idle to think that we would get better terms from Germany at this moment than if we went on and fought it out. The Germans would demand our fleet—they would call it “disarmament”—and our naval bases and our aircraft factories and much else besides.

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