CHURCHILL, Winston S.

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Typed letter signed, to Lord Beaverbrook, recommending books justifying their decisions as France collapsed. While awaiting the results of the 1945 general election, Churchill writes from France to his old friend, the press magnate Lord Beaverbrook, recommending books which vindicate their conduct during the Fall of France.The election was held on 5 July, but results were not announced until 26 July while military votes were counted. In the interim, Churchill took a fortnight's holiday at the Château Bordaberry, near Hendaye. Writing from the Château, Churchill tells Beaverbrook, a close ally whom he had appointed Minister of Aircraft Production during the war, "You ought to get La Vérité sur L'Armistice by Albert Kammerer, and read especially the part which deals with our visit to Tours". Beaverbrook travelled with Churchill to Tours on 13 June 1940 as part of a delegation seeking to persuade the collapsing French government to continue the war; France surrendered on 22 June.Churchill continues, "This man has written a work designed to make very good relations between Britain and France, and his explanations vindicate our attitude on many of the most painful points". The book, published in 1944, is a day-by-day account of the collapse of France by a senior diplomat attached to the French Foreign Ministry. Lord Moran recorded in his diary on 7 July that Churchill's host had provided him with a copy, which Churchill held up and described as very fair to him (Moran, p. 276).Chu

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