Operation Unthinkable: The Third World War: British Plans to Attack the Soviet Empire 1945 by Walker Jonathan

Author:Walker, Jonathan [Walker, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

7

THE PLAN DELIVERED

The day after the coalition broke up, the Joint Planners finally presented their plan for Operation Unthinkable to the chiefs of staff. It was enclosed in a Ministry of Defence folder marked ‘TOP SECRET – RUSSIA. THREAT TO WESTERN CIVILISATION’.1

On the morning of 24 May the chiefs had their regular meeting attended by the Joint Planners. The agenda involved operations in the Pacific, but at the end of the meeting the Planners left their file on Unthinkable with the chiefs for their consideration. In the evening the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, settled down to read the plan and pondered its terrifying implications; he recorded in his diary:

This evening I went carefully through the Planners’ report on the possibility of taking on Russia should trouble arise in our future discussions with her. We were instructed to carry out this investigation. The idea is of course fantastic and the chances of success quite impossible. There is no doubt that from now onwards Russia is all powerful in Europe.2

Brooke later reflected on this diary entry and expanded on his thoughts:

It may be remembered that a few weeks earlier, when examining the desirability of dismembering Germany after her defeat, the COS had then looked upon Russia as our future potential enemy. This paper had created a considerable stir in the Foreign Office, who considered it very remiss of us to look upon our present ally as our probable future enemy. We might even have been asked to withdraw this paper had we not asked for an interview with Anthony Eden, who approved our outlook. Now only a few weeks later [in fact it was months later], Winston had come to us expressing his anxiety at seeing ‘that Russian bear sprawled over Europe’, and instructing us to examine from the military point of view the possibility of driving him back to Russia before the Americans and ourselves demobilized our forces! I asked him if he took charge of all the political aspects of launching a war on our ally! He said we could leave that aspect and concentrate on the military problem. Here I was on the evening of May 24th, a few days after VE Day, examining the results of the Planners’ work on this problem. The result of this study made it clear that the best we could hope for was to drive the Russians back to about the same line the Germans had reached. And then what? Were we to remain mobilized indefinitely to hold them there?3

It was true that Brooke had reservations about many of Churchill’s ideas. During the war, he had often held the balance between the four huge personalities of Churchill, Montgomery, Eisenhower and Marshall, who might otherwise have fallen out with each other. He did it not by tact but by being outspoken and direct. His umpiring was all the more credible because they all knew he had no desire for personal advancement. Brooke also harboured very mixed emotions about

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