Remember -Reflect – Re-examine.

Alvechurch Bugle 3 – 115. ( 11-11-13 )

Remember - Reflect – Re-examine.

In April 1945, the Allied armies were moving rapidly east, while the Soviet Red Army was moving even more rapidly west, and they met at the River Elbe. The Red Army swung north, and by May had taken Berlin, World War Two was at an end.

We in Britain had survived the biggest conflict in history, badly bruised, near exhaustion and still bleeding, but our institutions had stood the test, and our sovereignty was not only intact, but stronger than at any time since the Norman Invasion.

A very significant factor in the Allied victory, was the contribution made to the war effort, by our long established and unshakeable ties, with the English speaking Commonwealth, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, and many more.

But peace it was in name only, as the challenges facing all of Europe were colossal, and though we had won the war in military terms, thanks to valiant soldiers under high calibre officers, we would be less fortunate in those politicians to whom we entrusted the peace .

We were to learn, that our success in Empire, had insulated us from events elsewhere, cocooning us in our Britishness, and our sense of fair play, which had permeated right through our society, even though the social and financial gulf between classes was huge.

We played the game, at cricket and soccer, and we believed in our national invincibility, but we had little concept of nations and individuals who didn’t play the game, - - we had moved ahead too quickly in social terms, and a strength had become a weakness.

The defeat of Nazi Germany was not an end at all, but the sinister beginning of a secretive organisation, the brainchild of a set of able yet devious individuals, some close to the levers of power in France but unknown largely in Westminster.

Even more sinister, was the fact that German and French Intelligence knew a great deal about many of our leading political figures, and Heath was on their radar from the late 1930s for all manner of reasons.

His private life made him vulnerable, and immensely useful as a route to the heart of our government before he became Prime Minister, and even more so afterwards.

Marshall Aid empowered French and German post war politicians,

less so Britain’s, and the likes of Monnet and Robert Schumann planned for a rapid and devious re-emergence of Europe from the effects of Germanys defeat.

The culmination, was Heaths signing of the Treaty of Rome, which severed those cherished ties to Commonwealth, an act of betrayal which rankles even now, when Commonwealth veterans assemble at the Cenotaph on the eleventh day at the eleventh hour .

Why our politicians attend ( are allowed to attend ) is less clear.

Ed. - - - - Bromsgrovia.