Moment of Destiny: One Day in Oran - An Alternative History of World War II Book

Moment of Destiny was written to correct a terrible wrong, to heal an old wound. In July 1940, when the European Democracies collapsed before the Nazi war machine, only Britain stood defiant, but alone and vulnerable. Ambassador Kennedy wrote Britain off as a lost cause. Churchill decided to show the world Britain's ruthless determination to fight on. Tragically the issue on which he made his stand was the fate of the French Fleet, then the fourth most powerful in the world. To prevent their falling into fascist hands, Admiral Somerville was ordered to open fire on the French squadron at Mers el-Kébir. 1,300 French sailors died, and a huge opportunity was lost. This book examines the possibility that Admiral Somerville might have acted in a different manner, in the best traditions of the naval commander on the spot. Suddenly the course of the Second World War begins to change, and with it the history of the entire world. Barbarossa begins on schedule, and when the Russian Winter bites, the Wehrmacht is hundreds of miles east of Moscow. Rommel is sent not to North Africa, but to the Caucasus. Pearl Harbour, the Philippines and Malaya are not attacked in 1941, and Japan turns elsewhere. The first atom bomb is not dropped on Japan� Unlike the disparate collection of chapters, each detailing a single hypothesis, all too often found in alternative histories, the Author carries his story through to its logical conclusion. One after another, the dominos fall inexorably in another direction.Read More