Galley proofs of a chapter of the fifth volume of 'The Second World War' ['Vol. V - Bk. II - Chap. XVIII - On the Eve'].

Thirteen pages, paginated [i] + 1-12, on one side each of thirteen leaves, each roughly 37.5 x 16.5 cm. Each page laid out for 55 lines in the text point size (the point size for quotations is smaller). Unbound and attached by a staple in the upper inner corner. Good, with first and last leaves a little grubby and upper two corners dogeared. The first page, headed 'SEPTEMBER 4, 1951 | VOLUME V - BOOK II', is unpaginated, and carries the chapter title and sixteen-line synopsis. The following twelve pages, paginated 1-12, are each headed 'Vol. V - Bk. II - Chap. XVIII - On the Eve'. Not annotated. Page 9 has a printed vertical bar in the left-hand margin, spanning a five line paragraph from a letter from Churchill to Roosevelt (4 June 1944) but the passage about regimes one might dislike. "I do not know whether there is more freedom in Stalin's Russia than in Franco's Spain. I have no intention to seek a quarrel with either.' The penultimate paragraph begins 'Here then we reach what the Western Powers may justly regard as the supreme climax of the war.' The last paragraph reads 'The Hitler tyranny was doomed. Here then we might pause in thankfulness and take hope, not only for victory on all fronts and in all three elements, but also for a safe and happy future for tormented mankind.' This is the galley-proof of vol.V, chap. XXXv (not chap. XVII as the proof has it on every page but the first), entitled "On the Eve" (meaning D-Day), pp.542-558. There are several changes (minor omissions and changes) to the summary of contents at the beginning of the proof/printed chapter, including changing "Smuts' Reminiscences" to "Memories". No significant change were found in the rest of the text. The fifth volume of the English edition of Churchill's history, 'Closing the Ring', was published by Cassell & Co. in 1952.