As Britain Declares War on the Germans and Winston Churchill Joins the War Effort, He Writes: “During the last three weeks I have not had a minute to think of anything but my task. They are the longest three weeks I have ever lived.”

In the Spring of 1929 the Conservative Party lost the General Election, and Winston Churchill stepped down as Chancellor of the Exchequer and left government. He would not serve again until September 1939. The intervening years were filled with grave dangers, as in 1933 Hitler rose to power, Germany rearmed, and in 1936 began its conquests. Japan invaded China, and Italian Fascism became aggressive and expansionist. Meanwhile, Britain and France, who had lost so many men in World War I, were lost in a pipe dream of peace and appeasement, and a politics of denial and pacifism. This culminated in the disastrous Munich Agreement in 1938, which led to the Nazi conquest of Czechoslovakia. Among the public men of influence, only Churchill recognized the profound peril to the world that the Nazis and Fascists represented. He spoke out in Parliament, on the radio, in his newspaper columns, anywhere and everywhere, demanding the government wake up and prepare. So Churchill’s had been a voice in the wilderness, crying out against the mortal danger posed by the dictators. Churchill was ignored and even scorned.

At 8:30 AM on September 1, 1939, Churchill was awakened by telephone and told that German armies had invaded Poland, thus starting the Second World War. Later in the day he drove to London to meet Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who advised him that he would like Churchill to enter the Government. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany in response to the German invasion of Poland. Addressing Britons from 10 Downing Street, Chamberlain explained that the 11 a.m. deadline the British had set for Germany to begin withdrawing its troops from Poland had passed. “Consequently,” Chamberlain announced at 11:15 a.m. London time, “this country is at war with Germany.” He then paused for almost 5 seconds, letting the crushing reality of those words sink in for his listeners. He went on to say, “You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed…” In London the air raid sirens sounded only 8 minutes later.

Churchill joined the War Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty. That day, the signal went out to all ships and naval bases: “Winston is Back!” Churchill’s arrival in government and at the Admiralty energized both. He immediately began sending voluminous memos to everyone in and out of his department, giving instructions and opinions, seeking assessments and comments, and asking for reports of all kinds. These notes often ended with “pray inform me” or “pray send me,” so they quickly became known as the “First Lord’s Prayers.” Within the Admiralty, Churchill made the staff, both civilian and military, feel that they were under his eye. At the same time, he exhibited a sense of pugnacity and communicated the feeling that he could barely wait to be up and at the Germans, that he had a burning desire to take the offensive and win the war. This feeling was contagious. In fact, the energy and method he used to build morale at the Admiralty would soon be employed to sustain the entire nation.

Churchill wasted no time in visiting dockyards and ships, closeting himself with admirals, dealing with issues of supply, planning military measures, considering statistics, bringing useful people into government service, worrying about submarine warfare, and coordinating navy and army operations. On September 15, he Churchill left London by train for Scapa Flow Naval Base in Scotland, which he had learned was inadequately defended. He wanted to see the situation for himself. He did not, however, stop working on his other projects, even for a minute, and he continued to transact affairs and send instructions as though he were still in London.

According to “The Churchill War Papers – At the Admiralty” by Martin Gilbert, on September 16, Churchill sent Lord Halifax a letter about the the situation in the Balkans, then turned his attention to boosting the morale of the workers in factories supplying the Admiralty. He composed an inspirational letter to be sent to them, saying “I wish to impress upon every man and woman in your employment the urgent importance of the Government work on which they are engaged. The zeal and craftsmanship of those who like them are equipping our fighting forces, will be a decisive factor in the defeat of Hitler and all he stands for. I shall be glad if you will convey to them my conviction that in their present occupations they are serving their King and Country no less effectively than those who have joined in His Majesty’s Forces…”

On Sunday, September 17, HMS Courageous was torpedoed by a German U-Boat while on patrol off the coast of Ireland. She capsized and sank in 20 minutes with the loss of 519 of her crew, including her captain. There were serious questions asked about how it came about that a submarine was able to get within striking distance of the Courageous, in view of the fact that the Admiralty had assured the nation that it could deal with the submarine threat. Churchill was on the spot; this was a question of naval readiness.

Back in London, on the 20th, Churchill stood before the House of Commons to state, “The submarine was immediately attacked by one of the screening vessels …His Majesty’s Ship ‘Courageous’ had on board 1,202 officers and men…I should like to express on behalf of His Majesty’s Government and the Board of Admiralty their profound sympathy with those who have been bereaved.” Asked “whether this ship was accompanied by its full complement of protecting destroyers,” Churchill replied that the Courageous “was accompanied by a full escort of destroyers.” Members of Parliament were worried, and Churchill tried to assure them, “I see no reason to doubt the soundness of the broad view, which the Admiralty expressed before the war, as to our means of coping with this peculiar form of menace.”

Winston Churchill’s main source of income was not his salary as a Member of Parliament, but as an author. He wrote 43 book length works in 72 volumes, and also wrote some 10,000 articles for newspapers and magazines over a period of decades on a broad variety of subjects. In many cases, these newspaper articles were for The News of the World, which was so fond of his work that from 1936 and 1939, they paid him £400 for article, which would be £12,000 (or over $15,000) in today’s money. Quite a sum to pay a columnist during the Depression, and enough to keep Churchill in his Pol Roger champagne and Romeo y Julieta brand cigars. Major Percy Davies was director of the News of the World, and Sir Emsley Carr was the editor in the 1930s. When Carr died in August 1941 Davies ascended to the editorial position. It was with these men that Churchill dealt.

The day Churchill spoke to Parliament on the Courageous matter, he wrote Davies saying he could no longer write for private concerns while serving in public office, and was glad the paper had complied with his request and suspended his contract during the war.

Four days later Churchill again wrote Davies, again about articles, but this time stressing that the burdens of war were taking a toll on him. Typed letter signed, on his Admiralty letterhead, London, September 24, 1939, to Davies. “Thank you very much for your letter. I shall not publish the scientific articles in any other magazine as I am not printing any new matter during the war. I entirely agree with you that the Sunday Chronicle if they print extracts from my previous articles must make it clear that they are not new work and must not have posters suggesting that they are. It seems to me very likely that these conditions will deter them.

“During the last three weeks I have not had a minute to think of anything but my task. They are the longest three weeks I have ever lived.”

In eight months he would be Prime Minister, and it would absorb every ounce of his energy and hour of the day to win the war.