Marie Belcredi's Reviews > The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion

I heard Peter Hitchens talk about this book on the radio and thought it sounded interesting. My parents are Czech and Austrian and it was always something hinted at home about the nefariousness of Churchill, being betrayed at Yalta and, of course, the fire bombing of German civilians in cities - many more than just Dresden.
My own brother-in-law was not born until after WW2 had ended but his mother pregnant with him and two other children in tow, fled east Germany and was on a train bound for Dresden. Luckily the train broke down before it got to Dresden and she missed the firestorm.
Peter Hitchens examines many myths about the second world war starting with a quote from a speech from the Prince of Wales in 2016

"I was born in 1948 -just after the end of World War II in which my parents' generation had fought and died in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and an inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe"

Hitchens then examines every one of those items in the Prince's speech. This was the myth of the Good War that the British had to believe.
The British were also almost bankrupt at the beginning of the WWII. They had defaulted on their WWI debts, had an old insufficient navy and the American would only deal with them on a cash or in kind basis giving away what was left of their Empire. After WWII, the British were no longer a big power as they thought. Churchill the bombastic and verbose Prime Minister managed to hide Britain's desperate straits but after WWII, rationing continued and while Germany rebuilt a new economy, British industry remained in the 19th century.

"In return for these decrepit vessels, the USA received land in the Bahamas, St Lucia, Trinidad, Antigua and British Guiana on 99 year leases rent free. "

An excellent book showing that in war there are no goodies and baddies (Sorry Tony Abbott you were simplistic and naive). There was never a "Special Relationship" between the Americans and the British. The Americans were only there for what was good for the USA .