December 7, 2013

Churchill and New Zealand (and Canada and the Netherlands)

Finest Hour number 161 will be published in January 2014. The long-awaited “New Zealand Number” is finally here! As Editor Richard M. Langworth notes, issues of Finest Hour with contents themed to each of the Great Dominions were envisioned long ago. But while Canada and Australia have received their treatment, only now has New Zealand received the attention it has long deserved. Mike Groves, who leads “Churchill’s Dining Club” in Auckland, writes the lead story about “A State of Mutual Affection: Churchill & New Zealand.” Gerald Hensley examines two war-time prime ministers in “Fraser & Churchill: A Working Partnership.” Intrinsic to his story is the illustrious Lt. Gen Sir Bernard Freyberg, whom Churchill greeted after the first battle of El Alamein with the words, “thank God you are here” and recommended for the Garter to go along with his Victoria Cross.

There are three features relating to Churchill’s doings with the Netherlands, incidentally the second largest source of immigrants to New Zealand after the United Kingdom. Staying with the Dominion theme, Terry Reardon looks at “How Churchill Saw Canada (and Vice Versa)”, while returning to the mother country Robert Courts, of The Churchill Centre UK, writes about “Bladon Today: Sir Winston Lies Where He Wished.”

Lt. Gen. Sir Bernard FreybergOf particular interest to readers is a new entry in The Churchill Centre’s catalog of “Leading Churchill Myths” responding to the charge that “Churchill Was Silent About the Bombing of Monte Cassino.” This analysis about the controversial episode from the war in Italy, which also involed Gen. Freyberg, raises the importance of distinguishing between what is known now and what was known then. The entire article may already be read on The Churchill Centre Website.