My latest book, THE STALIN AFFAIR, is now published in the UK.
American publication: 3 September 2024.
Stalin. Churchill. Roosevelt. The remarkable story of the Anglo-American team who worked in the Kremlin throughout WW2.
@johnmurrays
@HenryHolt
@rcwlitagency
@casarottoramsay
#DDAY80
The best ever riposte to General de Gaulle...
De Gaulle had just told US President, Lyndon B Johnson, that he was leaving NATO and wanted all American servicemen off French soil.
Johnson asked: "Does that include those buried in it?"
This morning I rediscovered (in the back of a cupboard) our family collection of newspapers.
It was started by my great-grandfather during the Boer War.
There are hundreds, but I thought I'd share some of the more interesting ones.
1/13
An 1882 guide to English found on the shelves of the French gîte where I’m staying.
Helpful phrases include:
“The duke’s park is large”
“I hate these rogues”
“Wealth shall not save men from death”
Since everyone's talking about
#Shogun
, a quick thread about the fictional John Blackthorne - who was based on a real character.
He was called William Adams, hence the title of my book, Samurai William... 1/12
The greatest ever April Fools Day hoax...
In 1957, BBC Panorama broadcast their famous three-minute report on the annual spaghetti harvest in Italy.
With a voice-over by Richard Dimbleby, it fooled millions.
Just re-stumbled across the wonderful line delivered by SOE operative, Nancy Wake, after landing (by parachute) into a tree.
French resistance leader:
"I hope that all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year"
Nancy Wake:
"Don't give me that French shit."
The curious things you stumble across while researching a book.
This is Andras Toma, the last WW2 prisoner-of-war to be released by Russia... in the year 2000!
He was discovered by chance in a remote psychiatric hospital.
From a friend in Moscow - well worth reading, I think, for the opinion on the streets. [translated]
"There are few reasons to find solace in such dreadful times as these, but I think I have found at least one: Russians are not fooled.
"I arrived last Tuesday in Moscow... 1/7
Fake History – a short thread.
One of the perennially best-selling books about D-Day is called D-Day Through German Eyes, by Holger Eckhertz. It contains graphic accounts from Germans in the frontline of battle. 1/10
Love this account of a 1942 bath time meeting with Churchill, from one of his aides.
"Under his skimpy vest, penis and a pair of crinkled, creamy buttocks protruded."
And, to help his reader imagine the scene, he supplied a picture.
#ForgottenPeople
Eliane Plewman - 'Agent Dean' - was parachuted into France in Aug 1943.
A skilled and courageous guerrilla, she destroyed 30 locomotives in one spectacular sabotage operation. Interrogated & executed at Dachau, she deserves wider recognition as a WW2 heroine.
BREAKING NEWS: In Boris Johnson’s constituency, Lord Buckethead has urged his supporters put Monster Raving Loony loyalties aside and vote tactically, because “some things are more important than electing an intergalactic space lord to parliament”.
And one of my favourites. "Rocks Bounce Like Rubber"
I've sporadically added to the collection over the years - there's everything from Charles and Diana's wedding to the Falklands War.
The collection spans 1809-the present day.
13/13
In the early morning, on this very day 1942, John Colville woke Churchill at Chequers with the best possible news.
Overnight, Nazi Germany had invaded the Soviet Union.
Churchill immediately knew that the war - at long last - was winnable.
Nelson's last diary entry before the Battle of Trafalgar.
"There is sight of the combined fleet of France and Spain, distant about ten miles"
He wrote this in a hastily scrawled codicil to his will.
@thehistoryguy
2/7
#ForgottenPeople
Mikhail Devyatyaev was a Soviet fighter pilot who survived one of the most outlandish POW escapes of WW2.
Captured by the Germans and interred in Sachsenhausen, he was later transferred to the labour camp at Peenemünde, site of the Nazi rocket program. 1/3
A plan of Colditz, drawn - and then printed - by inmate and first successful escapee, Airey Neave (later an MP, and killed by the IRA)
@guywalters
@BenMacintyre1
3/7
And, lastly, the internment papers of P.G Wodehouse.
Best known as the creator of Jeeves and Wooster.
But also a controversial broadcaster on Nazi radio...
Just a few highlights of the millions of documents that are open to anyone with an easily-obtained readers' ticket 7/7
Rymen concludes: 'D-Day Through German Eyes is the biggest hoax I’ve read until now.'
Yet it continues to be among the biggest selling books on D-Day.
An insult to all who fought and died.
The lesson to be learned? Beware of your sources! 10/10
For all who've enjoyed the last episodes of Empire podcast, a few pics of Smyrna before the catastrophe.
1: The Smyrna Sporting Club, where wealthy Europeans, Levantines, Greeks, Armenians drank pink gin and discussed politics. 1/5
@EmpirePodUK
@DalrympleWill
@tweeter_anita
...in the eyes of his own population. He wants to make the whole world believe that all Russians are like him, belligerent, reckless and "ballsy".
But this is fake. Here, [in Moscow] as in Kiev, nobody wants war." 7/7
A sad but poignant gift from my German mother-in-law: relics from the synagogue of Pforzheim, picked up by her father in the aftermath of Kristallnacht. 9 November, 1938.
80 years before the Kakhovka dam destruction came an even more outrageous Russian denial.
Katyn Massacre, 1943.
Stalin claimed it was done by Nazis.
As "proof", he had fake letters planted on the corpses.
It took years to discover that he, Stalin, ordered the massacre.
"Hold a nutmeg in your hand and you're holding the kernel of the British empire."
Wonder if Joanna Lumley used my book, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, when filming ITV's Spice Trail Adventure?
Wonder if I'll get any credit?
Or payment?
@ITV
@JoannaLumleyUK
@HallieRubenhold
Today marks the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the violent attack on Jewish properties in Nazi Germany.
I have fragments of shattered glass from the synagogue of Pforzheim, collected the following morning by my horrified German in-laws - grim relics of a grim time.
Inside this folder is Churchill's plan to attack Soviet forces in the spring of 1945, just after the defeat of the Nazis.
He was furious when 'Operation Unthinkable' was categorically rejected by his Chiefs of Staff.
#CheckmateInBerlin
- out this May.
"This is especially the case of 100 municipally elected officials.'Citizens: We, as deputies elected by the people, condemn unreservedly the attack of the Russian army against Ukraine.This is an atrocity without precedent, for which there is, and cannot be, any justification.'5/7
#VEDay
Remembering Charley Havlat, the last soldier to die in the European theatre in
#WW2
.
Killed by small arms fire in a German ambush on 7 May.
He died 10 mins before the ceasefire announcement that preceded Germany's unconditional surrender.
He was 34.
#ForgottenPeople
Josephine Garis Cochrane so hated washing-up that she invented the first commercially successful automatic dishwasher, in 1886.
She built it in her Illinois garden shed, patented it then set up the Garis-Cochrane Manufacturing Company. 1/2
"Everyday I meet people who have always supported Putin, but not this time. He has crossed a line in the eyes of the world - obviously - but also... 6/7
"... there has been no great union of patriots. Propaganda has not taken hold this time around.
This time - disbelief, fear and anger have given way to determination.
Every day, Russians go out to protest, alone or in groups... 3/7
My new book…
THE STALIN AFFAIR
The Allies’ Secret Mission to Wartime Russia
Publication: UK, 24 May 2024
USA, autumn 2024
@johnmurrays
@HenryHolt
@rcwlitagency
Now that the
#sasrogueheroes
hype is dying down a bit, does anyone else think that
@GilesMilton1
’s “Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” would make a cracking TV show?
The Shojun liked the idea of trade. He was sick of the Spanish and Portuguese merchants, whose trade came with Christianity .
Better still, those merchants hated William Adams.
Rivalry = Good Business Opportunity.
The Shogun sent King James I a fab present. It still exists. 7/12
Since everyone is talking about
#Shogun
at the moment, a little reminder that the TRUE story is simply incredible.
William Adams was shipwrecked in Japan in 1600.
A few years later, he was a samurai...
Do take a peek
#SamuraiWilliam
"The organisation that fights political persecution - OVD-Info - has recorded more than 6,300 arrests since February 24. Each day, representatives from different professions are publicly condemning the state's action in open letters... 4/7
"...I was able to observe and listen to the reactions of people (my family, my friends, taxi drivers, old ladies on buses, social media) comparing them to the official Russian state media.
"I think the Kremlin's internal communication strategy is a failure. Unlike in 2014...2/7
Ouch!
Lavrov to Truss: "Do you recognise Russia's sovereignty over Rostov and Voronezh oblasts?"
Truss to Lavrov: "Never"
British ambassador, Deborah Bonnert, to Truss: "They are actually Russian regions".
Invidious, perhaps, to select just one woman for
#InternationalWomensDay
, but Irene Sendler gets my vote. She rescued some 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. Horrifically tortured by the Gestapo, she revealed precisely nothing.
#HistoryWritersDay22
it’s arrived! Over the weekend I’ll be posting stories about some of the more colourful characters who’ve appeared in my 12 history books.
1: Col. Frank ‘Howlin Mad’ Howley, US commandant in Berlin: dynamic, ebullient, he saved Berlin from the Soviets
As the West's interest in Ukraine wanes, it's worth recalling the words of Frank Howley, US commandant of Berlin during the early Cold War:
'Russia will attack us without hesitation when she judges the time and the conditions are right.... ' 1/2
The NKVD did not believe Devyatyaev’s story and he was shunned for years. Not until 1957 did the regime accept that he'd brought back invaluable intelligence about Hitler’s rocket program; they made him a Hero of the Soviet Union. 4/4
Potsdam, July 1945 - Stalin, Churchill and Truman agree to the expulsion of 12 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe - the forgotten aftermath of
#WW2
.
Two million died in the process.
#ForgottenPeople
Colonel Ruby Bradley’s wartime service would save hundreds of lives – and almost claim her own.
Employed at a clinic in the Philippines in 1941, she was taken prisoner by the Japanese just three weeks after Pearl Harbor. 1/3
The tomb was disputed, so...
in 2017, his remains were exhumed and examined.
The DNA strongly suggested they were indeed the remains of William Adams, a man still honoured in Japan.
His story is remarkable - someone who adapted and survived in an alien culture. 11/12
The ending is not a happy one.
When the Shogun died, his successors took a dramatic decision. Expel all foreigners and close Japan to the world.
By which time, Adams had died.
He left a wife in Japan, another in England, and four kids - two in Japan, two in England. 10/12
Today, Berlin, 1945.
Newly-arrived British commandant, Brigadier Looney Hinde, inspects his sector of the city.
To his horror, he discovers the Russians have looted or smashed everything of use.
Responsible for 570,000 Berliners, he has no food, no supplies.
#CheckmateInBerlin
Born in Kent, Adams sailed to the East Indies with a five-ship Dutch fleet in 1598.
But... disaster.
The ships were shipwrecked or captured. And Adams' ship ended up in the Pacific.
No food. No water. Storms & sickness.
But then they sighted Japan.
It was April 1600. 2/12
#ForgottenPeople
Florence Baker had already been orphaned, adopted and abducted when she was sold at an 1859 slave auction in Ottoman Bulgaria. Her buyer – or rescuer - was English explorer Samuel Baker. After bribing the slave-master, he whisked Florence to safety. 1/4
#ForgottenPeople
Lt-Col Edwin Darling was confident he ran the most secure POW camp in Britain.
Camp 198 in South Wales was surrounded by high-wire fences and searchlights and guarded by dogs.
There was good reason for the security... 1/4
The head of the trading post, Mr Cocks, spent all his time collecting prize goldfish.
The other traders spent their time a-whoring.
And wrote letters home describing EXACTLY what they did. A gift for historians.
As for trade... nothing. 9/12
A good moment from 2023: finishing writing The Stalin Affair.
A good moment to look forward to in 2024: publication of The Stalin Affair.
A very Happy New Year to one and all!
Only 12 men were still alive. Among them, William Adams.
He was taken to meet Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun, who was intrigued.
"He viewed me well, and seemed to be wonderfully favourable."
Why? Because Adams had useful shipbuilding skills.
3/12
Adams was showered with gifts and honours.
He eventually married a Japanese wife (did she know he already had a wife and children in England?)
And he rose and rose. Rags to riches.
He was raised to samurai status and given a large estate. 4/12
Remember the English airline entrepreneur Freddie Laker?
In 1948, he was one of the heroic Allied pilots who helped save Berlin from starvation during the Soviet blockade.
#OTD1922
A shy, introverted American pastor named Asa Jennings launches one of the greatest rescue missions of the 20th century.
Sickened by the US and UK doing nothing to save the starving refugees of Smyrna, he commandeers a fleet and evacuates 350,000 people.
#ParadiseLost
The good ship Clove arrived in 1613, bringing English traders.
They settled in Hirado, close to Nagasaki.
But...
They were wastrels and drunkards. And they were horrified to find that William Adams had gone native.
It was a recipe for disaster 8/12