Assassinations Anthology

Adrian Gilbert, Nigel West, Dan Mills, Peter G. Tsouras, Andy Saunders, John Grehan

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781848326972
• eBook ISBN: 9781526700292
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

A fascinating look at what might have happened had historical assassination attempts succeeded.
 
If Hitler had died at any stage in the Second World War, would Germany have immediately sued for peace, or would the generals have taken over and fought a far more practical war than the obdurate Führer? Equally intriguing is the possible failed assassination attempt on General de Gaulle on British soil. Who, one wonders, was behind that scheme, and how would Anglo-French relations have developed if he had been killed?
 
In Assassinations Anthology, a number of well-known authors and historians look at past events where key individuals were involved in either attempts on their lives, or strange incidents occurred which, had they led to their deaths, might have radically affected the outcome of the war. Events surrounding Hitler and Operation Valkyrie, Stalin and Jan Smuts are investigated, as well as the peculiar circumstances relating to the theft of a valuable Gainsborough painting. Just how great a role did the Government's Chief Whip, David Margesson, play in persuading the MPs to accept the unpopular Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, and what would have happened if Margesson had been killed when the Gainsborough disappeared? It is fascinating stuff. Grounded in actual events, the various scenarios portrayed in this collection examine the likely chain of events that would have followed if the assassination attempts had succeeded. A few inches, a few minutes—that was all the difference between life and death, and between the past that we know and one that we can only imagine.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Contributors
• Chapter 1 Killing the Red Tsar: The Assassination of Joseph Stalin, 1937: Peter G. Tsouras
• Chapter 2 The Shooting of the Chief Whip: The Death of David Margesson, May 1940: Nigel West
• Chapter 3 The Mussolini Murder: The Death of Il Duce, May 1940: Robert Mitchell
• Chapter 4 Bullets in Birdcage Walk: The Assassination of Winston Churchill, July 1940: Adrian Gilbert
• Chapter 5 The Assassination of Jan Smuts: Weissdorn, January 1942: Nigel West
• Chapter 6 Mahatma Murdered: The Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, August 1942: James Luto
• Chapter 7 ‘Hitler Dead!’: Foxley, SOE and the Assassination of the Führer, March 1943: John Grehan
• Chapter 8 A Mysterious Death: General De Gaulle, April 1943: Martin Mace
• Chapter 9 Crash of the Condor: The Death of Hitler, May 1943: Andy Saunders
• Chapter 10 The Last Flight of the Bulldog: Winston Churchill and the Bay of Biscay Mystery, June 1943: Dan Mills
• Chapter 11 Foul Play in the Philippines: The Assassination of José Laurel García, June 1943: Alexander Nicoll
• Chapter 12 Target Tito: Operation Knight’s Move: Killing the Leader of the Yugoslav Partisans, January 1944: John Grehan
• Chapter 13 Death in the Wolf’s Lair: The Plot is Successful, July 1944: John Grehan
• Chapter 14 The Emperor is Dead: The Killing of Hirohito, August 1945: James Luto
• Select Bibliography and Sources
• Plate section