Even those who don’t claim an intimate knowledge of World War II will be familiar with Winston Churchill’s relentless refusal to entertain the notion of surrender, even in Britain’s darkest hours --- or, more accurately, four months.

For all but the most avid reader of the period, NEVER SURRENDER provides an intense and often surprising account of what it was like for the leaders, soldiers and citizens of Britain during the period from May to September 1940. With much of Europe overrun by German troops and France teetering after the fall of Belgium, Graham Greene’s description of that summer as being “sweet with the smell of doom” seemed apt. Churchill himself echoed the foreboding when he told his War Cabinet visitors that “If this long island story of ours is to end, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.”

"For all but the most avid reader of the period, NEVER SURRENDER provides an intense and often surprising account of what it was like for the leaders, soldiers and citizens of Britain during the period from May to September 1940."

The first third of the book sets the scene for the “Fateful Summer,” leading the reader through the aftermath of World War I, into the beginnings of a new war that few thought imaginable. When Germany moved into Norway, and a series of tactical errors forced allied troops to abandon their defenses in early May, the British were shocked by their lack of preparedness. The Mass Observation, a survey created in 1937 to track the country’s mood,noted: “For the first time there is a real clear doubt about whether we have not underestimated [Hitler] and overestimated ourselves.” 

The humiliation in Norway began a process that would lead to Neville Chamberlain’s resignation and Churchill’s ascension, though Churchill himself was one of those culpable of overestimating Britain’s capabilities. But there was more humiliation and culpability to come, and the book details the routings on every page, in an almost day-by-day account. By the end of May, a general disillusionment had set in, described by the New Yorker’s Mollie Panter-Downes as a “horrifying sense of living the same old nightmare again.” In early June, troops were evacuated following the Battle of Dunkirk, and Churchill delivered his “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds” speech, ending with “…until, in God’s good time, the new world, in all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the old.” But, he adds, “At any rate that is what we are going to try to do.” On June 18th, France surrendered, forcing Britain to attack their ships if their captains refused to turn them over to the Royal Navy.

By August 13th and the Battle of Britain, a glimmer of hope had surfaced; by the end of the summer, the tide had begun to turn. There would be many more years of war, but none as seemingly hopeless as that summer.

John Kelly, who has written about a range of subjects from the Irish famine to the Black Death, is adept at entertaining his readers as he weaves descriptions of events and characters together. No fan of Churchill’s predecessor, he writes that “Like the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Neville Chamberlain’s ego was a wonder of the world.” He calls Air Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding “A tall, thin man with an unconvincing mustache and a lugubrious manner,” with a reputation as “the oddest of ducks.”

Drawing from newly declassified War Cabinet papers and contemporary descriptions, along with excerpts from Churchill’s and others’ books, Kelly brings the Fateful Summer alive in all its fear and trembling.