I offer no general opinion on Sherry M. Fowler's views on the failings or otherwise of Tory leaders and their policies toward Europe over the past seven decades (letters, June 26).
However, I would make a small plea for historical accuracy.
Many might think that it hardly matters whether Hitler is misrepresented but, for the record, it was not Poland into which he sent his tanks five months after Neville Chamberlain waved his
famous bit of paper in October 1938. The agreement made at Munich was shattered in March of the following year when, on a snowy day, he rolled, without opposition, into Prague and established what was cyncially called a "protectorate" over Bohemia and Moravia (the present-day Czech Republic).
Following this, and during the summer of 1939, pressure over Danzig and the Polish Corridor was ratcheted up.
By this time the government led by Mr Chamberlain was determined not to be out-smarted again and, possibly to the surprise of the Nazi leadership, a full-scale shooting war started in September – the consequences of which we still live with.
Chamberlain has received a bad press from historians but, in the end, he did stand up to the dictators and his belated rearmanent programme in the late 1930s probably just enabled the country to survive during the Battle of Britain.
I would suggest that his epitaph should reflect on an honourable man.
Richard Crockett
Ladhope Drive
Galashiels
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