Posted on 05/18/2024 10:39:34 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Winston Churchill will always be one of the vital figures in British history, remembered largely for his wartime leadership.
But few have heard of ‘Operation Unthinkable’, one of Churchill’s most top secret war plans during his time in office. It was nothing to do with fighting the Nazis or Italy - but about invading Soviet controlled territories.
The Soviet Union - or USSR, the name of the communist regime in Russia between 1922 and 1991 - controlled eastern Germany and large swathes of eastern Europe by 1945, after the Nazis were crushed. And Churchill became concerned about the communist threat in Europe, drafting up ‘Operation Unthinkable’ with his closest military advisers.
The plan aimed to prevent East Germany and Poland living under Soviet domination - allegedly, Churchill felt especially guilty about the Poles who fought for the allies during the war, but would now be ruled by Stalin.
At the time, the United States were ready to move their military to fight out the rest of the war in mainland Japan - which meant Western Europe would be facing Stalin alone in the early months and years of the Cold War. When VE day came along, the British army would drastically reduce in size - which meant the plan would have to be conducted soon, according to The History Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
Yes, I seem to recall as well that Patton was gung-ho to push the Soviets out of eastern Europe. I’ve often wondered whether his fatal auto “accident” was a hit coordinated by the NKVD or similar.
The wish is father to the act.
There are some who would make the case that his accident was engineered by communist symps in the western intelligence services (OSS/SOE).
Little did Churchill know that his own country and the US were to become just like the USSR.
I wonder if he also had a plan to invade his own country ?
The Royal Navy command on the scene was equally responsible for not executing the plan in an aggressive fashion. Due to their dilatory behavior the element of surprise was lost giving the Turks time to prepare defenses. Admiral Sackville Carden had a mental breakdown which caused delay and confusion. One ship hit a mine and sank. A fatal flaw was that the minesweepers were under civilian control and refused to clear the channel while operating under fire of the shore batteries.
Going to war with the Soviets would have required a “1984” style reversal of all the people involved. Suddenly, we had always been allied with Northestalia (or whatever he called it) and had always been at war with Eastasia. After spending countless millions on pro Stalin propaganda, the Allies couldn’t suddenly reverse course and stay if office. The Allies had just won, yet Churchill was voted out of office. Not because he wasn’t popular, he was, but because the voters wanted to turn the page and put the war behind them and that’s what they did. Probably FDR wouldn’t have been reelected after the war had he lived for the same reason. Also, the US and Brittain were maritime powers and Russia had the largest land army the world had ever seen. We would have gotten our clocks cleaned on land and probably lost the rest of Europe to the Soviets. As horrible as the abandonment of what became the Warsaw Pact countries was by the West, I don’t see that they could have done anything about it. The West even turned over citizens who had escaped the Soviets along with countless captured soldiers who had surrendered to the West to escape the Soviets.
Everyone who saw the movie knows Patton had a plan to start a war with the Russians and make it look like they started it.
except none of the conspiracy theories offer a reasonable explanation as to how Patton's driver that day lived to be an old man?
Patton was a pain for the establishment.
From what I saw in the Air Force, it appears to me, that we have contingency plans to attack every country on earth. Like Libya and Iran. Friends today, enemies tomorrow.
It looks like it was an absolute comedy of errors, except it wasn’t a comedy.
Yes, the outcome would have been much, much different.
It was a very close thing. The Brits were ready to capitulate. It was Churchill who made the difference.
However, it did not happen. If it had, perhaps Pearl Harbor would not have happened. We can never know.
That goes back to intermixing with many Royals marrying into German/Prussian aristocracy. Many British Royals agreed with Hitler..
It wasn’t a hair-brained idea. The execution was the problem. See Martin Gilbert’s biography of Churchill.
Hold out one end, ie VE/VJ then switch to victory in Russia? The promise of the end of psychological screw that was wwll for everyone everywhere would have precipitated a violent backlash to such a bait and switch. The unceremonious dismissal of Churchill would have been even quicker if he’d tried his unthinkable.
No big deal. We have invasion plans for Canada, Iceland and other small nations. One never knows who will turn bad.
“The Mouse that Roared.”
I agree. There are just some people around who pretend they don't. :^)
(So did the founder of pro-abortion organizations.)
Canada is actually America's worst enemy. We have fought six wars with Canada--more than we fought with any other country. These were the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697), the Waer of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), the Third Silesian War (1754-1763), the War of the American Revolution and the War of 1812. However, in four of these wars, we were English and Canada was French.
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