Stopping Hitler: An Official Account of How Britain Planned to Defend Itself in the Second World War

By Captain Graeme Chamley Wynne

After the unprecedented death and devastation of the First World War, few people imagined that such a conflict could ever happen again. Though the belief that it had been the ‘war to end war’ was to be shattered within a generation, in the immediate aftermath of the First World War it was expected that international disputes could be settled by arbitration through the creation of League of Nations. Consequently, the British Government concluded that there would not be another war in the foreseeable future and therefore the country’s armed forces could be correspondingly scaled back.

The rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s, however, prompted politicians and military leaders to contemplate the frightening prospect of another global conflict. The Chiefs of Staff of the three Services were instructed to bring Britain’s armed forces up to a standard where they could resist a revitalized and powerful aggressor, and to put in place plans for the defence of the country.

When that war became a reality, the Chiefs of Staff then had to devise schemes to prevent a German invasion and, as the war progressed, to counter the bombers of the Luftwaffe and the flying bombs and rockets that followed.

Reproduced here in its entirety is an official account drawn up by Captain G.C. Wynne of the Historical Section, Cabinet Office in 1948\. Arranged in four parts, corresponding to the four different threats which developed with the changing situations of the war, it details the various plans made for Home Defence between 1939 and 1945.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Release date: Feb 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473895546

Captain Graeme Chamley Wynne

John Grehan has written or edited more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent war in Afghanistan. His previous publications include, 'Unearthing Churchill’s Secret Army, The Official List of SOE Casualties and Their Stories', co-authored with Martin Mace. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.