Friendly Fire: The Secret War Between The Allies

by Lynn Picknett, Lynn Picknet

Friendly Fire explores the intrigue and treachery between - and within - the nations that were ostensibly allies during the Second World War. It demonstrates the extent to which the Allied war effort was driven by vested interests primarily concerned with the balance of power in the post-war world rather than the defeat of Germany and Japan. These machinations prolonged the duration of the war by as much as two years and the end results were a Europe divided between East and West, and the onset of the Cold War. Among the many revelations, we learn how, for its own economic ends, the Roosevelt administration actively encouraged the hostilities war between Britain and Germany, and how Anglo-American relations during the Second World War were characterised by suspicion, mistrust and a struggle for future supremacy. The authors detail how British agents tricked Hitler into declaring war on the US in order to bring America into the European conflict and how, under the guise of war aid, the

Genres: History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2004

Reviews

[Matt]

It is a brilliant and well-researched book that challenges the mainstream historical narrative on the motives and relationship between the Allies during WW2.

Here are a few interesting things I was surprised to learn:
- British intelligence ran deep operations in the USA to control newspapers, gallop, and the RNC to influence the 1940 election heavily
- Leading up to the war, despite being an isolationist to the public, FDR, behind the scenes did everything in his power to provoke Japan & Germany in hopes of getting the USA into the Second World War.
- Rudolf Hess flew over the channel to Scotland in 1941 on a mission to make peace with the British
- FDR deliberately slowed down the Allied advance towards Berlin to let the Soviets take German territory
- The USA shipped 1/2 of its Uranium supply, along with other A-Bomb materials to the Soviet Union in the last year of the war as part of the Lend-Lease program.