And the dominant thought in Chamberlain's mind was the memory of this the First World War.The bloodiest war in British history.And the worst killing fields were here,in the valley of the River Somme.On 1st July 1916,the first day of the Battle of the Somme,nearly 20,000 British soldiers lost their lives,more than on any other single day in the history of the British Army.Surely,thought Chamberlain, "no leader of a major European state wanted something like this to happen again.But British leaders already had an idea of Hitler's true character,because Lord Halifax had met Hitler the year before,in November 1937, at Berchtesgaden.During the meeting, Hitler had said the British could solve any problems they had in India by shooting the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.And, if that didn't work,they should shoot a dozen members of his Congress party,and if there were still problems, shoot 200 more and so on until order was established.
张伯伦脑海里最深刻的记忆来自于第一次世界大战。英史上最血腥的战争。死伤最惨重的战役发生于此索姆河山谷。1916年7月1日,索姆河战役的首日,接近两万英军阵亡,超过英军史上任何单日阵亡人数。张伯伦想,当然没有一位 欧盟领导人想这一幕重现。但英方领袖早已看出希特勒的真面目,因为哈利法克斯于1937年11月在贝希特斯加登与希特勒会晤。会晤期间,希特勒曾说,英国可通过枪毙印度圣雄甘地来解决所有问题。若然无效就应该枪毙一打国会众议员,依旧解决不了的话,枪毙两百个或更多,直至达到目的。
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