''Never Surrender'' is a novel by Michael Dobbs, based on historical events of the first few weeks of May 1940. It is a sequel to Dobbs's novel, ''

Winston's War ''Winston's War'' is a 2002 novel by Michael Dobbs that presents a fictional account of the struggle of Winston Churchill to combat the appeasement policies of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Plot summary The story starts with Chamberlain's ...

,'' which is based on the events surrounding the demise of Neville Chamberlain and the appointment of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. “Churchill… is the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street”. So concludes Roy Jenkins in his definitive biography of the great wartime leader. Michael Dobbs, the author of this novel, states in an after note, “the world will never know the full debt of gratitude it owes to Winston Spencer Churchill”. ''Never Surrender'' begins with Europe in turmoil. The date is May 10, 1940. Germany has just completed its conquest of Denmark and Norway and has turned its attack to the west by invading France, Belgium, the Netherlands and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. The government of the United Kingdom is in chaos. Neville Chamberlain has stepped down or been forced from the Prime Minister's office. And the man nobody really wants, the highly unpopular Winston Churchill, has been chosen to succeed him. Within days of his taking office, the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

have been overrun and the mighty French army is crumbling to crushing defeat in the face of Germany’s blitzkrieg. The governments of France and Belgium are about to capitulate. The British Expeditionary Force, transported to the continent during the months of “Phoney War”, have been cut off from their French allies and are scattered and stranded along the Channel coastline. Pummelled by the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

air superiority and pounded by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

’s

Panzer This article deals with the tanks (german: panzer) serving in the German Army (''Deutsches Heer'') throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht ...

s, it faces total annihilation.

References

2003 British novels British historical novels Novels set during World War II Novels by Michael Dobbs Fiction set in 1940 HarperCollins books {{2000s-WWII-novel-stub