The First EU: An Alternate History

By Alan Caulfield

After losing the Battle of Britain in the autumn of 1940, Germany with altered policies, took nearly two years to build up with the rest of Europe for an invasion of first Ireland and then the United Kingdom; the only country still at war. This is a story about a group of young people, who with the help of further significant events, go on a whi

• Language: English
• Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647535599

Alan Caulfield

ALAN J CAULFIELD Born 1944 in Dumfries Scotland, he left there for England with his parents when still an infant. Educated in Essex England at a Technical College and then as a student at the Marconi Company where he gained a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He also studied for a masters degree in Industrial Designs at Cape Town University. After working in various engineering positions in South Africa and Australia the last 18 years of his working life were spent in England, Germany, Spain, and Turkey with the Ford Motor Company. He wrote engineering reports and procedures for most of his working life and a few years ago started on short stories with writing groups. He has three adult sons one in South Africa and two in the United Kingdom.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

HER BEST TIME

Tim stepped off the London District Line train and walked the half mile along tree-lined streets to the grand looking, three-storied Edwardian house where he had spent the first year of his married life. On his journey from Coventry he’d noticed a lot of bomb damage especially around London, but this area seemed untouched. He was always worried about Florence, but she said nowhere in the country was safe, including the research centre where he worked, although it was bunkered. The added problem in the East End of London and out towards the English Channel was that enemy planes on their return journey from London would discharge any remaining explosives and civilian areas were often the target. But this visit coincided with the armistice negotiations which Hitler had requested so the bombing from both sides had ceased which obviously made his journey much safer.

Tim had a spring in his step as he bounded up the front stairs. He knew what was waiting for him. Knocking on the substantial door, he soon heard the sound of agile feet on the soft carpet. The door opened; he was pulled inside rather hastily.

They had been married for two years and this time Tim’s visit coincided with her best time in the month to conceive. At twenty-two Florence wanted a baby and was yearning to see him. She had been furious when her manager at the munition’s factory said she couldn’t have time off and threatened to walk out. In this war time situation, they could have read the riot act, but as the head of her section with a much-needed skill they gave in and she got her four-day weekend. She was a beauty and constantly pestered by the opposite sex especially at the factory where it was known her husband worked away, but she was steadfast and in love. There was another reason she wanted a child to cement their marriage this sunny Friday in mid-July.

‘Oh, Tim I’ve missed you so much,’ she amorously declared, meeting him in her most alluring outfit. She knew he liked her in this simple sporty gymslip, which enhanced well-formed breasts and hourglass figure.

‘Florence. You look great. What have I done to deserve such a beautiful wife?’ This time Tim was looking forward to being with her. He hadn’t made love with Molly for a few days, it was that time of the month.

‘Come,’ she said, putting her hand on his thigh as she pulled him up the two flights of stairs to their top floor bedroom. They had been apart for two months, and Florence was missing him both emotionally and physically. Her nipples were beginning to stir, and other erotic sensations added to her urgency. Those old feelings were coming back for him also as he mounted the stairway in his socks. Shoes were always left by the entrance. It was a warm cosy house, if rather large. Once in the bedroom, they tore at one another’s clothing and were naked in no time. Their desires were overwhelming. ‘Oh, you know I love that, darling,’ she said as he kissed the side of her neck moving down to her nipples. She was an avid netball player, which added to her energy? A young brunette with sparkling turquoise eyes, eagerly expecting to be well satisfied. He knew what his wife liked, and soon enough they coupled, their bodies moving together in an enchanting rhythm.

‘I’m going to fix you hard this time. I can’t wait any longer. You are so sexy.’

‘Oh, fix me or whatever you call it. Do it fast. You don’t have to be careful,’ she urged. He thought it must be that safe time of the month for her. ‘I love it, it’s too beautiful.’ They were completely engaged, tongues exploring, oblivious to everything. Their moment soon came, he quivered as he gushed inside her. ‘It’s been a long time Tim.’ She moaned in muffled tones.

As they were winding down. ‘You are so passionate, what has changed, Florence my darling?’

‘Don’t you like it then?’

‘I love it you know that, let’s lay here for a while and then maybe we can have a bath later like we used to.’

After their recuperation Tim asked. ‘Is there something to eat? I’ve only got a bottle of red wine, it’s in my bag.’

‘Oh, my word, I’ve got two bottles of sherry as well,’ she said.

‘So, we can get well happy this weekend. I’ll open mine right now.’ He retrieved the bottle from his bag in the entrance hall. ‘Where’s the bottle opener?’

She ran down with him to the ground-floor kitchen. They were both still stark naked. She soon had the opener and two glass tumblers. Laughing like teenagers they ran up to the bathroom on the middle floor. They each had good jobs and plenty of money to buy wine and sherry, which were becoming expensive. Imports had to run the gauntlet of the U-boat blockades. Florence had been saving food for this weekend with her parents’ help. Luxuries were not the norm in these days of rationing.

‘Come on, I want to get drunk.’ He opened the bottle and poured the wine. They finished half the bottle while running the water. Florence went back to the kitchen to get the snacks, already prepared. Both feeling a little tipsy, they almost fell into the hot bath. Eating and fondling one another at the same time, it was quite a messy business, but being slender, at least they easily fitted in the large enamel bath. Florence could see his arousal which made her feel so ready again. Whipping a towel from the rack she jumped out of the bath. Tim couldn’t resist her, surprising himself how passionate he felt so soon after their first session. She was really turning him on. He entered her on that bathroom carpet, with the large towel rolled up under her face as a pillow. She knew he loved it like this.

‘Ooh, that’s so lovely. Push hard!’ she cried. They were climaxing as he pulled her bottom up. Muted sounds were heard from him and gasps from her, they were really enjoying one another this day. Afterwards they slipped back into the bath relaxing until the water began to cool. They had to clean up the mess, but at least both were well washed and satisfied, although a bit tipsy having finished the bottle by now and of course the fondling continued.

‘I wonder what your mom would say if she knew we were messing her bathroom up like this.’

‘My mom is not always so prim and proper, and if a baby resulted, she would be more than happy.’

‘Oh. I thought you said I didn’t have to be careful.’

‘Yes, because I want to have your baby, you silly thing. It’s only Friday midday, and my parents won’t be back until Sunday late. They took the early train this morning to stay with friends in Essex for the weekend. So, what are we going to do by ourselves, I wonder?’

‘Well, my darling, more of the same. I want to enjoy you this weekend.’

‘You are welcome.’

Tim didn’t want Florence to fall pregnant but it was too late to worry now. He just continued to delight in her for the rest of his visit. By the time their amorous break came to an end and he had to get the train back to Coventry on the Tuesday morning, they were both rather spent. He was feeling that old love for her, which, with his absence, and the presence of Molly had been waning a bit.

‘You may fall pregnant this time.’

‘Oh, Tim, I told you I want your baby. I want us to be a family, especially in these uncertain times,’ she said with some pleading in her voice.

‘We will just have to take it as it comes,’ he said, knowing full well the implications a pregnancy would have for his complicated love life.

The armistice was signed the following Thursday, and before first light the next morning, the Germans made their pre-emptive surprise attacks.

CHAPTER 2

WORK IN COVENTRY

Tim Handle was a young designer of advanced weaponry, working for the secret jet propulsion laboratory at Whitley near Coventry. This was a hundred miles northwest of where he had been living until a year before with his young wife, Florence, at her parents’ home close to Dagenham, near London, where he had just spent a long weekend. At work, his dress was always immaculate, with white shirt and tie. With his light brown wavy hair always in place he had the gait and movements of an athlete, bounding up the stairs and quickly reacting to catch the odd item that may fall off a desk. He never took up smoking like so many of his friends and colleagues.

By the summer of 1942, events had taken their toll on the United Kingdom population. There was much anxiety about full-scale war, and people were finding all sorts of ways to take their minds off the worrying events of the last few years. Tim was a twenty-four-year-old, good- looking young man with a carefree personality. Without even realising it, he had influenced young Molly Brooks, a teenager in the typing pool where he had his reports typed. Being away from home and familiar with the ways of the ladies, it was easy for him to start a relationship with Molly, who doted on him. She was a vivacious young lady whom one could imagine becoming a little overweight later on in life. Nevertheless she could be agile when flaunting her body in a flirty sort of way.

Their affair was rather intense. Everyone was living without a care for tomorrow because of the grave situation. Instead of taking to drink as many did, these two drowned their worries in one another. In actual fact, they had been living together for six months. Although they had tried to keep it secret, their relationship had finally been found out by their work colleagues. In normal times, the situation wouldn’t have been tolerated.

With the landing of the German troops and then the surrender four weeks later on 20 August 1942, everyone was told to keep calm, carry on as usual, and follow the thorough German surrender instructions. But it soon became apparent that nothing could carry on as usual. Some people, mainly the young, made plans to join the resistance, as in Tim’s case. His plan was to leave his employ, being much sought after for his knowledge, which he didn’t want to share with the Germans.

His young wife in Dagenham had recently fallen pregnant. Long trips were never authorised for young engineers, and Tim could only get a long weekend about every two months. Florence had a skilled job in a munitions factory. This was considered protected work, and therefore she was not allowed to join him in Coventry. For his part, no one working on his secret project was called up to fight.

Even if they had wanted to, permission would have been refused. The security at the centre was high, and Tim’s affair with Molly had been noted by the security people right from its beginning.

The situation for Tim was quite an emotional dilemma. One might say he had two young wives to consider. Although Molly knew about Florence, Florence had no knowledge of Molly—or so Tim thought, anyway. Tim wanted Florence to move in with relatives living in Scotland, because of the ever-increasing bombing around Dagenham. Before the surrender an arrangement had already been well planned, although permission had not been granted because of her work. They hoped the pregnancy would change this.

Now that the surrender had been signed and the bombing terminated, Tim hoped to activate the same arrangements he had made previously with her relatives in Scotland. Florence would be able to rest there, away from the chaos of London. Tim hoped it would be easier to travel to where her relatives lived, in Glasgow and a remote part of southern Scotland. Perhaps this remote area wouldn’t be affected by the occupation too much.

Tim had attended a mixed grammar school in West Ham, East London, getting excellent marks in all his subjects for his Higher School Certificate at the age of eighteen. His parents had sacrificed everything to pay for his education, which helped him acquire a student apprenticeship at a local company making and repairing small, specialised steam turbines. He had spent the first year of the apprenticeship in all the different workshops, where he acquired practical proficiency. After this, he spent a year in the drawing office and then on to project management. In this time he gained a degree in engineering at the local college of technology, studying part-time with one year full-time.

At the end of his training, he was readily taken on as a project manager in the turbine refurbishment unit, but soon after was snapped up on good pay by the Jet Engine Research Centre in Coventry, a quasi-governmental establishment.

Right from school age, Tim had received good advice and encouragement from his parents. His father was a specialist toolmaker and his mother a shorthand typist. He had a younger sister, Ann, at home in West Ham.

One interesting stipulation of his schooling had been that all grammar school pupils had to study a foreign language, but this could not be Hebrew. A large contingent of Jews attended the school, and their extracurricular study of Hebrew would have given them an unfair advantage. Tim took French as his compulsory language, which was the norm at his school.

Tim was good friends with Arthur, a Jewish boy, who attended the same school and lived close by. Until age thirteen, they could hardly be separated. But Arthur’s parents didn’t encourage the friendship, and they drifted apart eventually. Arthur became a top London surgeon later in life, after surviving some horrendous conditions following the German invasion.

Tim had been quite a sportsman in his time, being a school champion sprinter and long jumper. He also enjoyed playing football and rugby. He belonged to small clubs until the age of twenty-three, at which time he was drafted to the research and development centre in Coventry. He was a skinny five foot eleven inches. When he stood with Molly, a vivacious, blue-eyed, natural blonde four inches shorter, they made a good-looking couple.

They had met more than a year ago. Since starting their affair, he hadn’t needed another exercise. Molly kept him fit, especially after they moved in together. Molly, who had just turned nineteen, was what some might call a nymphomaniac—for Tim anyway. At the beginning of their relationship, this had affected Tim’s work, which did require much concentration at specific times. In fact, he was reprimanded by his supervisor for not pulling his weight. He didn’t know about Tim’s nocturnal activities at the time. This was a wake-up call, and Tim made sure it didn’t happen again.

Of course with their intense affair, Molly was attached to Tim, the more so as she was young and he was her first lover. He was careful not to make her pregnant. She took no heed of it. In fact, they never spoke about babies. As Molly approached sex with such gay abandon, he wondered if she knew of the connection.

Molly Brooks came from a close family who complained about her going out with Tim. The complaints faded after her eighteenth birthday. Mind you, they didn’t find out he was married until later. Tim wasn’t absolutely sure Molly had been a virgin when they met, although she didn’t seem to know much about sex. He had seen her kissing and cuddling her father, whom she was fond of, but he didn’t want to go there. He was happy she was sexy and just left it at that.

Luckily Tim had no problem with money, saving quite a lot over the year he had spent in Coventry. One reason was his generous living-away allowance. Because he had been living with Molly this money had accrued. They enjoyed staying in, listening to music, cooking, doing the housework, and making love.

Florence had her own money and help from her parents. Now she would be going to Scotland, where Tim hoped to join her at some stage. He could forget about her for the time being and concentrate on his own plans, which included Molly. He knew this was wrong and that he shouldn’t be forsaking his beautiful young wife, who had just fallen pregnant. It was the times, he kidded himself.

His idea was to hide on remote farms with cooperating farmers until the dust had settled after the surrender, and then see if he could find and join the resistance. Many young men were thinking like this. He had always been interested in the military. When he was fourteen, he had joined the army commandos. They had given him basic weapons training and survival training. He had left that when he was eighteen, but still volunteered for weekend groups. One weekend they had trained in unarmed combat and street fighting; this is where his interest in the sport started. There was an instructor he got on well with and he went from strength to strength.

CHAPTER 3

THE WAITING GAME

In the time Tim was establishing himself at the jet propulsion laboratory, the war was carrying on. After the failed attempt to invade the United Kingdom in 1940, Hitler composed himself and started listening to his generals. He dismissed Goering as the head of the Luftwaffe and assigned a proven military strategist, who started targeted bombing of British aircraft and munitions factories plus military bases, using good intelligence. Number one on their bombing list was the British radar facilities. Many of these raids were sneaked in at night. They found ways to nullify the British radar cover and developed their own radar and guidance systems. Even though provoked by the British bombing of civilian areas in Germany, the Luftwaffe continued to concentrate on military targets in Britain and did not specifically bomb civilian areas. Initially, the British had the advantage of heavy bombers. But these were very vulnerable, and the United Kingdom was running out of strategic resources to sustain them.

The war continued between Germany and the United Kingdom, but not on land in Europe anyway. This lasted for nearly two years. In this time, Churchill was desperately trying to get the US involved. He visited on three occasions, but after the death of President Roosevelt in 1941, he came up against a brick wall. The US, with its large German and Central European populations, was not interested in helping a declining imperial power led by a warmonger. The demise of the Jews was not fully understood at this time.

There were many sea battles. In the surface engagements, the United Kingdom normally came out on top, but German submarines were sinking vast numbers of British merchant ships. The Germans had developed homing torpedoes and a new class of submarine with an underwater speed and range that could almost overhaul the average merchant convoy. These were built in their hundreds. Germany didn’t need so much steel and manpower for tanks and heavy artillery, as they had decided not to attack Russia.

The US didn’t send any of their ships in the convoys. Therefore no US vessels were sunk. There was an unofficial limit of one hundred and fifty miles off the coast of the US and Canada where the Germans did not operate. Beyond this limit, any ship steaming in the direction of the United Kingdom was fair game. At this stage, it seemed the US was happy to stay out of the war, supplying goods and equipment to the United Kingdom in exchange for gold or strategic places that were part of the far-flung British Empire. They were also selling specialised equipment to Germany via neutral Sweden.

The situation in the United Kingdom was becoming more and more desperate. Some draconian measures had to be introduced. Martial law was enacted. All men who were of fighting age and not in protected work were called up. Women and children were employed, with payment in meals only, for food production and clearing bomb damage. Nearly all industrial work was now for the war effort.

On the political front, in the two years from mid-1940 to mid-1942, Germany concentrated on building better relations with the European countries they occupied, diverting their joint will against Britain. This wasn’t difficult as far as France was concerned, especially after the British sinking of a number of their warships in North Africa, killing twelve hundred. In Poland and Czechoslovakia, it was not so easy to gain support, but offers were made and in the end, Germany had the whole of occupied Europe on its side.

The Germans ceased killing Jews as part of this strategy, although the Jews were still restricted. This didn’t seem to bother the average European. Many had benefited from the demise of their Jewish countrymen. Where possible, however, assets were returned to their original Jewish owners. Of course, there were many who objected to the treatment of the Jews, but they were in the minority.

The story put around about the United Kingdom was that the English and their empire were a spent force, the same as the Ottoman Empire had been twenty-five years before. The United Kingdom was now the only country left at war with the whole of Europe.

In the summer of 1941, Germany secretly negotiated with Turkey for several months, obtaining an agreement for their expeditionary army to traverse the eastern part of Turkey from its ports on the Black Sea into Iran. From there, they would sprint south to the Persian Gulf and battle the British for control of the oil fields and refining facilities. The German army of three hundred thousand, with tanks and other heavy equipment, was commanded by Field Marshal Rommel.

Although Hitler had a non-aggression pact with Stalin, he didn’t trust his fellow dictator and only let him know about the plan two days before the embarkation of an army from German occupied Romania. The Turks remembered Churchill’s involvement in actions against them in the previous world war, so there was no love lost for the British from that quarter.

Turkey was always worrying about Russia and was happy to get a powerful friend in Germany on side. Germany also gave the Turks pledges about future help for their economy. By now it was becoming clear to all that unless the US came to their aid, Britain would lose the war—and the US didn’t seem inclined to. In turn Hitler was happy to keep away from Russian territory.

As the German army was being transported across the Black Sea, it was imperative to keep the British Navy out of that area. This was achieved by Turkey, who controlled the entry from the Mediterranean via the Bosporus. The joint navies of Germany, France, and Turkey were also deployed in the Aegean and Black Sea. The reason that Hitler went this route was to avoid the British navy. He realised the British still had the edge when it came to sea power and controlled the Mediterranean. Except for the U-boat war in the Atlantic, Germany’s plans to wreak surface havoc in British sea lanes throughout the world had come to nothing. All long-range battleships deployed from Germany had been neutralised.

Germany didn’t ever come to the aid of the Italians, but indirectly helped them in Greece and North Africa, as all the British troops in the Mediterranean withdrew to fight Rommel around the Persian Gulf.

Hitler had control of the French navy. It was the fourth largest in the world at that time. He sent a fleet around the Cape of Africa to the Middle East, calling in at Lüderitz in South-West Africa (Namibia) for supplies halfway. This force was decimated by the British navy in the southern ocean off Cape Town and chased up the east coast of Africa. Only eighteen out of the original fleet of thirty vessels made it through to the Persian Gulf. It was the faster ships that made it. There was only one battleship among them, the other two having been sunk.

Once near the Persian Gulf, the remaining ships gained air cover, as Rommel had control of that area and aircraft had been deployed to the captured British air bases. A few months later, Germany had control of the Suez Canal. It ousted the British using part of Rommel’s force with the help of the Egyptians, and the German, French, and Turkish navies. There were one hundred and fifty thousand British prisoners from the fighting in the Persian Gulf. Later, a further fifty thousand were added from the Suez Canal. These were put to good use on infrastructure work in those areas.

Germany could now concentrate on the isolation and then the invasion of this small, aggressive island country off the Atlantic coast of Europe. After all, the UK had declared war on Germany. Stalin had no need to be friendly with the British; German Europe was his biggest trading partner. So Hitler had the Russians on his side when the invasion of Ireland and then the United Kingdom was being considered.

CHAPTER 4

THE INVASION

In the time since Germany’s invasion of France, they had been covertly building up and practising for an invasion of Ireland and then the whole of the United Kingdom. One key part of this strategy was the development of heavy transport aircraft. Two German companies were commissioned to develop these aircraft: Messerschmitt and Heinkel. One hundred of each make was ordered. The Messerschmitt was thought the better.

In the event, there wasn’t too much fighting to be undertaken in Ireland. After its fall, the Americans withdrew their support from the United Kingdom completely, saying the British should negotiate surrender as there wasn’t any chance they could survive against the whole of Europe. The Americans thought the United Kingdom and its extended empire were on their last legs.

In June of 1942, after using a diversionary ploy to evade the British navy and air force, Germany landed a joint European force of fifty thousand crack fighting troops and engineers with equipment on the southern side of Ireland. Many of these troops were transported in submarines, the balance being flown in. This transportation occurred at night. They had practised many times. The task of the first to land, the elite, was to secure landing strips and places where submarines could quickly discharge further transported troops. There was limited local opposition, as there had already been collusion in Ireland against Britain. A presence was rapidly established, and many more troops and equipment were flown in. Although there was desperate opposition from the RAF and Royal Navy, and some German losses, within three weeks the whole of Ireland was overrun—including Northern Ireland, where many thousands of British troops were captured. The remaining part of the United Kingdom—England, Wales, and Scotland—was completely surrounded.

The Germans were using a wonder weapon: a recently developed guided missile, which could be launched from a medium bomber and guided to its target. This wreaked havoc with the Royal Navy, keeping them away from the larger merchant ships transporting the tanks and field guns to Ireland. This wonder weapon also had a smaller version for use in the field against tanks and the like.

Soon after the invasion of Ireland, the British stepped up their bombing of German cities, using new long-range fighters to protect the bombers. Hitler started to suggest an armistice would be feasible under certain conditions; in this way, further bloodshed would be avoided. Two weeks after the invasion of Ireland, Winston Churchill mysteriously died. Some said he had been poisoned.

The British appeasers who headed up the armistice negotiations were completely out of their depth. They shouldn’t have been so naive as to think this agreement was going to be honoured when no other similar agreement had been. The agreement negotiated gave the mainland United Kingdom control over its own affairs. Its empire was to be run in partnership with the Germans. There would be no further armed action between the two countries as long as the ceasefire and surrender agreement was implemented in full. Upon the signing of the armistice, hostilities ceased at midnight on 23 July 1942. The following morning, at first light, the Luftwaffe attacked the RAF and other strategic facilities with more than two thousand aircraft, destroying or neutralising more than half of the RAF planes, most still on the ground. At the same time, crack fighting troops were flown to strategic locations in Scotland by heavy transport planes. These heavy transports had been designed for short take-off and landing on rough terrain. After three days, there were sixty thousand German troops on the ground. Over the same period, a further forty thousand troops were landed by submarines at remote locations around the coast. A further, similar invasion of Wales was successfully achieved around Cardigan Bay.

Both in Scotland and Wales, the main task of these forward troops was to secure ports for the landing of equipment like heavy guns and tanks. Of course, these ports were still within range of the Royal Navy, but the British ships were coming under constant attack. There were German losses, but a lot of activity took place at night. The heavy equipment, once landed, was moved inland as soon as possible.

Within a few days, the German army commanded by Rommel had fought over the rolling hills of central Wales into the Midlands of England and onwards. This was the main thrust of three hundred thousand men, which had to neutralise the south-east and the seat of government. Ronstadt with his army, landing in the lowlands of Scotland, had to neutralise that area and then fight down through northern England. Ronstadt had two hundred thousand troops.

When the armistice was signed, a lot of Britons hadn’t thought it would last, but they hadn’t expected it to be broken so soon and so comprehensively. The reason given by the Germans for the invasion was that they were not happy with the terms. The British had been asking for too much, were stubborn, and were not negotiating in good faith.

It took the British a little time before their forces were completely up and running. The British navy didn’t have time to invent a counter to the new German guided missiles, but its ships still did inflict some damage. They could do nothing to help the land forces once the invaders moved inland. The air transports purposely landed where the naval guns couldn’t reach.

One of the major factors from the invasion of Ireland onwards was the deployment of the new guided missile systems en masse against the Royal Navy, and the deployment of a smaller version against the British land forces. This definitely tipped the balance. The British had just developed a new anti-aircraft gun, which was successful—but not enough of them had been manufactured. There was a shortage of components owing to the Atlantic blockade.

The south of England came under relentless bombing by the Luftwaffe from France, Belgium, and Holland. A

gallant rearguard action was fought, but the British were outmanoeuvred, outgunned, and out of practise compared to their German opponents. Towards the end, they were outnumbered also. Hundreds of thousands of extra troops were shipped in by the Germans and met little resistance. Four weeks later, there were eight hundred thousand German and European troops in the country.

The final surrender was unconditional and signed by the head of the armed forces of the United Kingdom on 20 August 1942. The country was in shock. The British head of state, King George VI, broadcast to the nation that they should cease all resistance and follow the reasonable instructions of the German authorities as laid out in the final surrender agreement. This broadcast was made from the battleship the Prince of Wales in the Atlantic 200 miles north of Puerto Rico. It was transporting the king and the extended royal family into exile in Canada.

With this number of German and European troops in the United Kingdom, the harvests that needed to be gathered in Europe were endangered. It was imperative to stabilise the situation and get as many men back home as soon as possible. Half of the invasion force was back home by the beginning of September, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of prisoner slave labourers.

The leaders of the USA were isolationists and didn’t want to get involved. There was no help from that quarter. Japan had decided to cooperate with the USA rather than oppose them. This helped the Japanese gain control of the oil and raw materials they required without going to war. They staged a mock withdrawal from China to show their goodwill.

The balance of power in Europe was much in Germany’s favour. They either occupied or had cooperation from all of Europe to the border of the Soviet Union. They had control of the whole of the Middle East, including the Suez Canal and the oil fields. Now the only part of Europe that had been in opposition, the United Kingdom, was under their control. A time was dawning for the rule of Germany in Europe.

CHAPTER 5

THE KING’S SPEECH

On the evening of the eighth day of fighting under cover of darkness, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, with three destroyer escorts, all fully fuelled up, left Falmouth for Canada. They were carrying the king and extended royal family into exile. Their complement excluded the Duke of Windsor.

Taking a southerly route to avoid U-boats, they met up with two fuel supply ships waiting in a prearranged position north-west of the British Virgin Islands. They took on fuel and other supplies and approached the USA. They opened communication, knowing their position would be conceded. First they asked for permission to enter the non-aggression zone off the coast, which was granted. Then they made contact with the United Kingdom. This was on an intermittent line from a mobile communications unit in the Forest of Dean near southern Wales, one of the last still operating.

It was nearly three weeks into the fighting and a day after opening radio contact that the king gave his address to the nation. It was recorded through the same mobile unit and then broadcast every hour on the hour through the BBC, which still had three local stations operating in Wales and England. He was introduced: ‘This is a broadcast to the peoples of the United Kingdom by your king, His Majesty King George VI.’

Then the king’s voice was heard. ‘Fellow British citizens, I must give you this grave message. The fighting has not gone well for us. German forces are in complete control of the majority of the country, with 90 per