Winston Churchill: The Unknown Story 4/6 - Path To Victory

winston churchill a giant of history famous for his inspiring leadership advanced britannia long live the cause of freedom but behind the legend lies a complicated character people tend to see churchill the icon churchill the bulldog warrior and of course that's not the whole story he was an aristocrat and a man of the people it says a lot for his charisma and his humility that he was accepted and liked a trailblazer who also had questionable beliefs he is an old-school imperialist he calls indian people the dusky nation this is the story of the man behind the myth using rarely seen footage personal photographs and told by those who knew him well when my grandfather was at home everything revolved around him seemed to be a natural way of life this is the real churchill this time we'll discover how churchill tries to seal his place in history as britain's greatest ever war leader churchill sees this as being the role that he was born to perform from the powerful alliances he makes with roosevelt and stalin churchill could be unbelievably charming and persuasive and persistent to the huge personal risks he takes there is a real possibility that he might die for victory in the second world war [Music] it's winston churchill's second christmas as prime minister and he's just arrived in america [Music] after more than two years of blackouts in britain the festive lights of washington dc are a welcome sight but churchill's not here on holiday he's here to change the course of the second world war when it's announced churchill's in town it's like a movie star has arrived an adoring american public sends him thousands of presents he received boxes of cigars i mean he couldn't possibly have smoked them all he received this giant v sign in flowers churchill wasn't very tall he was five foot six and this v would have dwarfed him the way that britain stood alone with churchill as its figurehead when they themselves remained in isolation was something that most americans greatly admired but there's one man churchill needs to impress president franklin d roosevelt despite all the rhetoric of we shall never surrender and that the british would ultimately be victorious over nazi germany churchill really doesn't have much of a plan as to how he is going to be able to achieve victory without the united states churchill has been invited to stay at the white house it will be his home for the next three weeks he took one look at this room and said no no he didn't like it and he just started wandering the halls of the white house trying to find a bedroom that he thought was more to his liking much to the horror of the first lady churchill of course eventually chose a bedroom that was directly opposite the president's and he did so of course because he wanted to be as close as possible to roosevelt [Music] setting up camp as close to the president as possible is all part of churchill's plan he wants to get roosevelt to back him in his struggle against the nazis he needs to act quickly america is still reeling from the japanese attack on pearl harbor just two weeks ago an attack that forced them to declare war on japan and its allied germany churchill needs to ensure that the americans filled with rage about the japanese surprise attack are not going to pursue a war purely against japan and leave germany to a struggling britain to do that churchill plans to begin by building a personal relationship with the president i often think it's misunderstood how important personal chemistry is at this very high level diplomacy and that's certainly the case here and and churchill could be unbelievably charming and persuasive and persistent and i think initially roosevelt was slightly starstruck by churchill churchill insisted on setting up what he called his map room in the white house so he could track the course of the war it had an immediate impact on roosevelt who set up his own map room which eventually became the situation room in the white house which is still there today churchill wheels the wheelchair-bound president around the white house they walk in out of each other's bedrooms the whole time they have conversations late into the night at one stage roosevelt is wheeled into churchill's quarters justice church was emerging naked from his bathroom and at least one account of it has him saying you see mr president the british prime minister has nothing to hide from the american president and they genuinely began to like each other [Music] having enjoyed christmas dinner with the roosevelts on boxing day churchill makes his way to capitol hill he's about to make what will be one of his most important speeches of the war he's been invited to address a joint meeting of congress there had only been two joint meetings of congress ever in american history before churchill spoke to them so this is a massive honor there was a great deal of anticipation and excitement people were desperate to try to get into the senate chamber to be able to listen to churchill's speech it was absolutely packed churchill's chances of victory in europe rest on what he says next after pearl harbor there remains a strong section of american public opinion that does not want to see the united states embroiled in the war in europe and believes that the proper response to pearl harbor should be a concentration on the war against japan so while there is huge interest in churchill personally he is aware that he doesn't yet have all of the united states public opinion behind him [Music] churchill knows that popular support is critical if he's going to get the americans to fully back britain against the nazis members of the senate and guests of the senate prime minister of great britain as churchill approaches the microphones his eyes fill with tears [Music] one of the interesting things about churchill as a leader and as a public figure in this time is that he wasn't afraid or ashamed to show his emotions this is a moment that he had been working towards and hoping for since he became prime minister in 1940 churchill's post-war secretary lady williams often saw his emotional side i remember he would sit there with tears pouring down his face and he would say to me you've just got to get used to it seeing a man cry i don't want to suggest that this was just purely image making because he didn't just summon up tears but i think that the fact that he was seen to be deeply moved was something which was of benefit to his image even though churchill knows how much is riding on this speech he begins with a joke here i am an englishman welcomed in your midst makes this experience one of the most moving and thrilling in my life which is already long and has not been entirely uneventful i think there's no doubt that churchill relished the big occasions this was someone who liked nothing better to be at the center of events and you don't get more central than this i wish indeed that my mother whose memory i cherish across the veil of earth could have been here to see it's got all the hallmarks of a great church of speech he talks of the ties of blood on his mother's side his mother was an american heiress who came over and married a british aristocrat so churchill knows immediately that's how to plug into these people churchill makes it clear that britain and america share a common goal a desire to do the right thing here we are together facing a group of mighty foes who seek our ruin here we are together defending all that to free men is dear what kind of a people do they think we are is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget [Music] [Applause] he was aware as an orator that you need your speech to build you can see him playing with the audience using his rhetorical tricks and building towards the climax still i avow my hope and faith sure and in violet that in the days to come the british and american people will for their own safety and for the good of all walk together in majesty in justice and in peace after just 30 minutes churchill has his audience in the palm of his hand the applause at the end of that speech is absolutely extraordinary it goes on for minute after minute afternoon it's quite moving it really gives one the sense that there's this special relationship between the united states and great britain that in many respects is still with us to this day a few days later churchill gets the best christmas present of all the americans commit to backing him completely against nazi germany later that evening churchill is in his room at the white house churchill is understandably elated but he's also exhausted a huge amount of physical effort goes into these rations he goes to open a window suddenly he becomes short of breath he feels pains in his chest the pressure that he's under is intense he's also someone who doesn't live healthy he smokes all those cigars he drinks champagne he takes no exercise whatsoever churchill calls his personal doctor lord morin lord [ __ ] said to him these are signs of coronary insufficiency and you've been overdoing things churchill replied to him instantly you're not going to tell me to rest i can't i won't nobody else can do this job having achieved his mission churchill sets off on the journey home britain was glad to have winston churchill back and grateful for the job he'd done [Music] back in britain churchill should now be taking it easy but he doesn't instead he sets off on another exhausting journey that he feels he has to make and he's determined to do it even if it kills him it's six months since winston churchill's successful trip to washington dc and his relationship with president roosevelt is going from strength to strength with roosevelt was a genuine affection and he says i love that man the american chiefs of staff have come to london to discuss how the two allies are going to take on hitler together after three years of war most of europe has fallen to the nazis france is under german control the american generals want to liberate europe by sending their troops into northern france as soon as possible they had argued that having entered the war and having agreed to fight in europe the most obvious thing to do is to launch an attack into france and then moving on if adolf hitler is in berlin that's where you should be going [Applause] [Music] but churchill is worried that sending british troops across the channel into france now could end in disaster this is the battleground where almost a million british soldiers died in the first world war something that still haunts churchill to this day he felt having spent time on the western front in the first world war and just seeing them stuck pointlessly losing lives made him realize it needed to be a cautious attack you needed to be super ready [Music] churchill believes the allies need more time to prepare for an invasion on this scale he knows that it's going to take time to build up forces to launch an effective operation in western europe through france for now churchill would rather use american troops elsewhere [Music] for the past two years britain has not only been at war with the nazis in europe it's also been defending british colonial interests in north africa from invading nazis and italian fascists churchill is determined not to lose control of his beloved colonies the war was about defeating the nazis but it was also about protecting the british empire and churchill had empire riven through his soul he needs to convince the americans to help in north africa before any invasion of france [Music] and churchill has a secret weapon to win this argument his newly built special relationship with president roosevelt roosevelt takes great risks to back churchill roosevelt makes decisions in terms of how america will fight the second world war that are completely counter to what those around him are saying the united states should do and i think that's a great testimony to churchill but roosevelt isn't the only person churchill needs to convince since hitler invaded russia in 1941 britain has been allied with the soviet union led by joseph stalin [Music] stalin is furious that his allies want to delay joining the fight in europe where his red army is struggling against the nazis [Music] russia feels they're bearing the brunt and are bleeding in their hundreds of thousands into their own soil [Music] churchill needs the russians to hold off the nazis in the east but he is not prepared to take the pressure off stalin by taking on the nazis in france just yet it's critical that churchill keeps the russians on side churchill understood this about the russians the possibility of winning the war seemed impossible [Music] churchill cooks up a plan he'll use his charm against starman he sets off for moscow to convince the soviet leader that the delay is necessary [Applause] having just recovered from a near heart attack eight months earlier the journey is fraught with danger you have to remember that if these planes go above a certain altitude you have to have oxygen and churchill of course has his oxygen mask adapted so that he can smoke [Music] churchill arrives at the kremlin to see stalin despite having been allies for two years the two men have never met churchill's determined to make the right first impression churchill in lots of ways was the consummate all-round diplomat he was very sensitive you notice a similarity between the way the two men are dressed churchill is in his siren suit what he's trying to do is to tell stalin that he is one of the people now admittedly his siren suits were tailored and often made of velvet they were a costume after the initial introductions the two men sit down for formal discussions stalin fronts up to him and goes what is it are you scared of the germans why are you going to fight them properly like we are and this really riles churchill and at one point he's on the verge of walking out and going home but churchill can't leave he must get stalin to sign up to his plan and commit russian troops to continue fighting the nazis allowing the allies to delay their invasion of france and instead focus on north africa so he sits up with the soviet leader late into the night churchill was somebody who enjoyed dinner party diplomacy stalin liked to have a drink and churchill was the same albeit vintage champagne as opposed to vodka churchill's ability to consume alcohol it's something that binds them together as the drinks continue to flow churchill seizes his moment churchill makes a passionate defense of his determination to fight the germans in north africa it's said that the translator was so awestruck by the force of churchill's rhetoric and the passion that he stops translating although stalin isn't able to understand most of what churchill is saying it's churchill's fighting spirit that comes through churchill's passion wins the day stalin accepts there will be no immediate attack on the nazis in france churchill leaves moscow with what he came for and a hangover [Music] but he still celebrates with champagne on the flight home three months later instead of invading france british and american troops land on the east coast of north africa in operation torch it is a hugely significant action churchill has managed to accomplish the thing that he's tried the hardest to do he is the one who has argued that american troops would be best placed landing in north africa torch demonstrates that it's his opinion it's his argument that has won the day churchill has an incredible amount personally invested in the success of this mission his only son randolph is among the troops as soon as the action starts then he's going to be there in his map room he's going to be calling key advisors he's going to be issuing minutes and telegrams to the chiefs of staff the whole great show went like magic and general eisenhower himself has attributed much of the success to the assistance given by britain's combined operations and the training and planning by our combined operations was great work [Applause] churchill orders church bells across the nation to ring out for the first time in two and a half years in celebration for churchill himself it is a moment of triumph his strategy has been proven to have been correct his success is even sweeter when he receives a letter from his son telling him he is safe and well churchill tells his secretary tonight there is sugar on the cake just weeks later there's even more good news for churchill the soviets at last have the german army on the back foot in the east the russian ring closes around the sixth german army at stalingrad the history of warfare has never known such an encirclement and annihilation of so large a number of regular troops with the tide of the war turning churchill heads to the iranian capital tehran for an historic event the three allied war leaders are all meeting together for the first time [Music] from the supreme headquarters of britain the united states and the ussr bring to the capital of persia the leaders of the war against germany churchill believes in face-to-face diplomacy between world leaders this is part of the role that he relishes he believes that these are the moments where you are making history top of the agenda is deciding a date for operation overlord the cross-channel invasion of nazi-occupied northern france an attack that will later become known as d-day it's an action stalin has been demanding for years there are rumors that if he doesn't get a commitment that d-day will happen soon he'll abandon the allies and make a peace deal with hitler but churchill wants to delay d-day for as long as possible he fears the only way that the allies could now lose the war would be an unsuccessful invasion of the continent churchill believes it will take two years to prepare for the invasion of northern france that means delaying until 1945. having got his way with both roosevelt and stalin before he's confident he can get them to agree to his timetable churchill sees himself as being the senior partner in this trio he sees this as being the role that he was born to perform he sends a message to roosevelt who he regards as a friend he asks to meet privately before the official talks begin churchill expects roosevelt to be on board roosevelt had always been very receptive to churchill's thinking roosevelt doesn't respond to his invitation roosevelt was a better politician than churchill in a way he he could be duplicitous when he wanted to be he could be quite scheming he could be ruthless churchill put a much higher value on friendship than roosevelt did roosevelt just saw it as pure politics and what is best for what i want having snubbed churchill roosevelt then goes behind his back he arranges a private meeting with stalin to which churchill is not invited roosevelt wants to develop a personal relationship with stalin roosevelt recognizes that the soviet union is a power that is not going to disappear and that if we're going to talk about maintaining world peace after the war one of the critical factors in doing so is this relationship with the soviets soon after the formal negotiations begin the dynamic between the big free at tehran is really interesting so you've got these three incredibly powerful individuals maneuvering around one another stalin insists d-day should take place in may 1944 just six months away roosevelt is sitting in the room with churchill and stalin he makes it a point to agree with stalin that d-day has to happen and it has to happen in early may 1944 churchill tries to persuade them with his usual charm but this time it doesn't work he'd become the half in an alliance of two and a half the bit part player the small one churchill clearly had an unrealistic belief in the impact of his own personality no matter how many times you meet roosevelt or try and build a personal relationship with the likes of stalin who actually is a deeply untrustworthy man the agendas of the three countries were so very different despite churchill's best efforts the date for d-day is set for may 1944 later that day the three allied war leaders pose for this photograph this is a very telling photograph i think it kind of exemplifies the changed relationship between the three leaders and the three powers when you look at churchill he looks like a man who is dejected he's almost detached from the other two churchill was a very emotional man he took these things to heart the fact that roosevelt was now wooing stalin the same way that church like wood roosevelt in the early stages of the war really bruised churchill's ego churchill found the whole experience at tehran quite wounding eight days later churchill arrives in tunisia with a date for d-day now set he wants to meet with the man who will lead the attack american supreme commander general eisenhower instead churchill wakes up with a temperature of 101 degrees he's diagnosed with pneumonia then churchill's heart starts showing signs of strain his doctor lord moran actually fears for his life his wife clementine churchill is summoned to be at his bedside there is a real possibility that he might die what that illness represents is the huge stress and strain that he's been under churchill is forced to take time out to recover with one of the most important operations of the war just months away churchill's fears about being sidelined look like they're becoming a reality [Music] winston churchill is heading for southampton the troops there are preparing for the most iconic moment of the second world war the d-day landings there was a huge nervous tension for churchill building about d-day and i think this had been building for some time ever since that iran conference in just four days time british commonwealth and american troops will begin their invasion of german occupied france it's an operation that has been more than six months in the planning the outcome will decide which side wins the second world war it could also be a pivotal moment in the relationship between the allies the russians already have germany on the run in the east and soon the number of american soldiers deployed will outnumber the british the reality is as the war moves on churchill's position and power will start to dissipate and weaken he thinks what's britain got to offer we don't have the truth numbers we don't have the resources that these other two powers have but we do have an incredibly charismatic leader who has credibility who's held out and resisted and stayed in the war from the beginning that's churchill himself his wife flemington churchill described him as an egoist there is a vanity there [Music] churchill believes he's found a way to stamp his personality on d-day and make it seem like a british victory he will lead the attack from the front these plans would have seen the prime minister he would have crossed the channel on hms belfast and then transferred to a destroyer [Music] and then landed on the beaches on d-day itself no one else thinks churchill's plan is a good idea especially general eisenhower the american in charge of the whole operation the last thing eisenhower or any of the military commanders want is churchill anywhere near the front on d-day itself it would be a huge added burden and risk but they can't stop him the only person under the british constitution who can order churchill not to go is the king and the interesting thing there is that even then it takes two handwritten letters from the king before churchill finally and grudgingly admits that he has to respect the king's wishes and can't go it's not his turn to be in the limelight in that moment this is about the men on the beaches and it would have been thoroughly responsible [Applause] less than 24 hours before d-day churchill heads back to downing street all he can do now is wait and watch from the sidelines he said to his wife clementine you do realize that by this time tomorrow morning 10 000 men may have been killed you can see how much it would have been praying on his mind the next morning the d-day landings begin a hundred and sixty thousand british commonwealth and american soldiers are put ashore on five beaches in normandy it's the first time british troops have successfully engaged the germans on french soil in four years everything went like clockwork and that's saying something when you consider the size and complication of the plan to liberate europe this was the climax of months of intensive work for this was d-day it's six days later more than 300 000 allied troops have landed in france and have liberated a stretch of coast 50 miles long with the landing zone considered safe churchill at last gets his chance to cross the channel this photograph was taken of churchill as he stepped ashore in france this is one of churchill's happiest moments of the wartime experience he looks extremely contented he looks as if this is the place that he in his mind is very much meant to be and that is going into harm's way potentially going to where the fight is taking place churchill is met by british commander field marshal montgomery who drives him five miles inland to his headquarters it's the first time he's travelled through france since it fell to the nazis four years earlier the return to france is a hugely significant moment for churchill the first few weeks of his premiership in 1940 had been dominated by the fall of france the return to france brings things full circle [Applause] he's fetted in the streets by the french people this is churchill this is the man who has told them that britain will not forget them and that britain will come back and will liberate them and here he is now and it moves him deeply the fascination that exists today with churchill existed then as well the force of personality that exists and the impact that he has on a nation this isn't enough for churchill he can see the smoke from the front line just a few miles away and wants to see the action but no one will let him get any closer he was indignant that during his visit he'd actually not seen any fighting he had not personally felt himself in danger there were so many times in his life where churchill put himself in harm's way in pursuit of what could be described as a surge of excitement a rush of adrenaline what he called daring do later that day crossing the channel home churchill asked the captain of his ship to open fire on german positions the captain agrees to his request churchill compliments him on his sporting spirit there's this huge part of churchill even though it's in a sort of 70 year old body by this stage that you know wants to be a soldier churchill loved nothing more to be in the thick of the action and he would have relished the end of that long day which saw him on board a british warship firing guns at the enemy churchill's had a taste of the action but it's not enough next time he'll make sure nothing stops him from getting to the front line [Music] winston churchill has just arrived in the netherlands he's hot on the heels of british commonwealth and american forces who have fought their way to the river rhine having been prevented from being part of d-day churchill isn't going to miss out on the moment british troops enter the heartlands of germany churchill sees this as being the finale this is the final push across this last barrier that he recognized as being the defensive position that germany's relied upon throughout his history and the last time an invading army had actually crossed the rhine by boat was napoleon the king noticed in his diary churchill was utterly determined to be part of it he's very restless nowadays and cannot bear to be out of things but churchill doesn't just want to witness this historic moment he needs to make his presence felt he has a hard time accepting that britain is playing a junior role now in this great struggle against the axis and part of the way he can make up for that is to go to the battlefield he borrows a plane to get a look at the front from the air flying at just 500 feet he could be brought down by a slingshot church is like a kind of child in a sweet shop he's going to want the biggest piece of bubble gum he's going to want to be right there where the action is this is just such a giant ego he romanticized the idea of dying in battle and possibly thought that if he were to die after this supreme struggle which he had led britain through so successfully this would be a rather fitting end to his life almost like nelson dying at the battle of trafalgar when he returns to hq churchill discovers his private secretary covered in blood a shell exploded just meters away from his jeep churchill tells him i'm jealous the prime minister goes to bed determined that tomorrow nothing will stop him from getting to the front line [Music] the next morning churchill heads straight for the banks of the river rhine here he meets american commander general eisenhower he has a great line for him he says my dear general the german is whipped we've got him he is all through he looks sprightly he looks energized he looks a man in his element [Music] churchill insists on going to the most shelled bit of the bank and that is of course a massive headache it's not going to look too good for the military command if they lose britain's key figurehead and apparently he says well i'm an old man and i've worked hard why shouldn't i have a little fun and that's exactly what churchill intends to do churchill actually notices a motor launch that's parked on the river and suggests to montgomery that they jump in and head across and montgomery very happily says sure why not [Music] it's at this moment that churchill appears to be those two almost contradictory parts of his character both supreme war leader and naughty schoolboy churchill is now crossing the 400 yards of the river rhine headed for the heart of enemy territory he is clearly delighted germany really was hitler's fortress the reich which had meant to last for a thousand years and here is churchill entering the fortress churchill knows that even in this moment he's reliant on the support of his allies just check in the motorboat how many men are chewing garment most of those men surrounding churchill are americans and that really is this kind of subliminal message about where the power really lay it lies with america and with russia and that's the future this is churchill's attempt to make up for that loss of power he puts himself very deliberately at the heart of the story he is sort of instinctively aware of where the cameras are he is aware of the impact of his own appearance you have to ask at this point why was our prime minister in a military uniform this constant cigar that he waggles about and plays with and fiddles with and puffs on i refuse to believe he was that dependent on nicotine he was a man who understood the power of the prop the cigar i think made him greater than the sum of his parts and he knew it imagine churchill without the cigar and the costume he's a slightly undersized bald man of 70. [Music] on the eastern bank of the rhine churchill takes in his defeated enemy this was still the front [Music] [Music] [Music] the line of the war filled with danger there are snipers all around in front of him and at that moment shells began to hit the general explains that he can no longer accept responsibility for churchill being there and that he must leave the look on winston's face was just like that of a small boy being called away from his sandcastles on the beach by his nurse it was a sad wrench for him he was enjoying himself immensely [Music] this crossing of the rhine is incredibly emotional for him it's a tremendous moment of history and he recognizes that when he went to inspect the bomb damage during the blitz he famously promised the people who were standing amongst the rubble and the ruins that he would give it him back as he crossed the rhine he would have seen that moment as a fulfillment of that promise churchill could sense that all his hard work was finally paying off just days after he became prime minister he pledged he would give his blood his toil and tears and sweat and that's what it's taken to get to the stage where victory's just a few weeks away [Music] next time having won the war churchill asks voters for another five years at number 10. he's absolutely desperate to carry on and doesn't believe that anyone could do what he could do he calls a general election expecting to win it never crossed their mind that the election was going to be lost but churchill is in for a shock [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you