Telegram — Prime Minister King to Lord Halifax, 31 January 1941
Canada was not consulted. Canadian troops were in the field. This telegram arrived in London the morning after the BBC announced the war was over.
era-1940s
The Announcement
Birmingham, 30 January 1941. A woman hears the BBC announce the armistice. Her brother was killed over France four months ago. Her husband is still in North Africa.
BBC Home Service Announcement, 30 January 1941, 9 PM
The BBC Home Service announcement of the Peace of Lisbon, 9 PM, 30 January 1941. Five months earlier, the BBC refused to carry the Windsor Broadcast. Now it announced the consequence.
War Cabinet Minutes — Item 7, 11 January 1941
War Cabinet minutes, 11 January 1941. Item 7. The vote that ended the war: four to one in favour of opening armistice contact through the Lisbon channel. Churchill's dissent recorded in a single line.
The Windsor Broadcast — BBC Monitoring Service Transcript, 24 August 1940
Transcript of Edward's broadcast from Madrid, 24 August 1940 — as relayed by American networks the BBC refused to carry. An estimated six to nine million American listeners. The text that split the War Cabinet.
Churchill to Windsor — Personal and Private, 24 August 1940
Winston Churchill's final personal appeal to the Duke of Windsor, written the morning of 24 August 1940. The broadcast went out at 11 o'clock. The letter was never sent.
Ministry of Information — Direction to the BBC, 24 August 1940
Ministry of Information directive to the BBC Director-General, morning of 24 August 1940. The government knew the broadcast was coming — and moved to suppress it before the country could hear it.
Schellenberg's Report — Operation Willi, Final Assessment
SD intelligence report, 5 August 1940. Schellenberg documents the Cascais meetings and the three commitments secured from Edward and Wallis. The operational document at the centre of every subsequent reckoning. Authenticated by British intelligence, 1946.