I read several, certainly not all, of Churchill's efforts. If I'm not mistaken, this was prominent in The Gathering Storm.
I always found Churchill to be the most compelling character in the 20th Century because he stepped into a void and held back the tide for 2+ years when there was no one there to help, he had zero chance to win and there wasn't anyone to go see about it.
I read somewhere that he was having dinner when an aide came and whispered to him that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. The gist of the story was that was the first good night's sleep he had in 2 years.
“...he stepped into a void and held back the tide for 2+ years when there was no one there to help, he had zero chance to win and there wasn’t anyone to go see about it.”
My mother is English. She is 89 now, so lived through WWII in England, the Blitz and all.
She said that there was never a feeling of doom, even “in their darkest hours.” She said there was a stubborn belief that — though it would be a hard, hard fight, with countless setbacks and sorrows — England would somehow not just survive, but would prevail. She said Churchill would never surrender, and the Brits loved that.
The Brits are a warrior people. True, they have become somewhat emasculated lately; but there is a core there that are true warriors. I always want that core of Brits on my side in a fight. Because they WILL fight, and they WILL unleash hell on the foe.