Winston Churchill discussed ordering nuclear strikes on the Soviet Union in 1951

Winston Churchill said he would consider bombing Russia and China if USSR dictator Joseph Stalin didn’t back down in the Cold War, a newly-discovered memo has revealed.

A meeting took place between Churchill and former-US army officer Julius Ochs Adler in the wartime leader’s Kent home on April 29, 1951 – when Churchill was the leader of the opposition between his two terms as Prime Minister.

A memo from the meeting has revealed that Churchill, then-76, said he would give the Soviet Union ‘an ultimatum’ if he was Prime Minister.

It would lay down certain conditions he would want the communist super-power to obey and, if they didn’t, Churchill said he would threaten to ‘atom bomb one of 20 or 30 cities’. 

If they still didn’t comply, one of their targets would be hit ‘and if necessary, additional ones’, he said.

He also ’embraced the possibility of adopting confrontational tactics such as bombing bases in China’.

The pair did not discuss exactly why Churchill wanted to bomb the two communist superpowers, but his disdain for the spread of communism was already widely known following his 1946 speech about an ‘iron curtain’ having descended across Europe. 

Their meeting also came in the midst of the Korean war where North Korean forces – backed by the USSR and China – engaged in battle with the US.

The conflict stemmed from fears of communist expansion in Asia after Stalin already consolidated his grip on the eastern half of Europe after the end of World War II.

Churchill became Prime Minister for the second time on October 26, 1951, and remained in the role until April 5, 1955.

After he returned to power, a nuclear attack against the USSR was never mentioned again. 

In the memo, seen by The Times, then-general manager of the New York Times Adler said the Churchill asked him how many atom bombs the US had stored away, and how many they guessed the Soviet Union had. 

When Adler said he didn’t know, Churchill went on.

Adler said: ‘He then startled us a second time by stating that if he were prime minister and could secure the agreement of our government, he would lay down conditions to Russia … an ultimatum. 

‘Upon their refusal, the Kremlin should be informed that unless they reconsidered, we would atom bomb one of 20 or 30 cities.’

Churchill explained that he thought Russia would still not consider agreeing with the requirements outlined. 

Adler said Churchill told him that when this happens ‘we should bomb one of their targets, and if necessary, additional ones’. 

The New York Times Company documents  – uncovered by historian Professor Richard Toye – also discussed China and Hong Kong, The Daily Express reports.

The files read: ‘Churchill embraced the possibility of adopting confrontational tactics such as bombing bases in China and troop concentrations north of the Yulu Rover.

‘Churchill readily assented, but when the proposal of withdrawing from Hong Kong was reached, he said “yes, even Hong Kong, if necessary”. 

The US believed Hong Kong should be given back to China – even though the British regained control of the area in 1945 after it was invaded by Japanese forces.

Churchill was willing to take British troops out of Hong Kong temporarily because if Britain launched an attack on China, the area would become a target in retaliation, Professor Toye said. 

The document is not the first time Churchill’s opinions on Russia in the years between his two terms as PM have been laid bare.

A memorandum from the FBI archives, revealed in 2014, detailed how Britain’s wartime leader urged the United States to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union to win the Cold War.

The document showed how Churchill made his views known to a visiting American politician in 1947. His first term as Prime Minister ended in 1945.

Churchill believed a pre-emptive strike on Stalin’s Russia might be the only way to stop Communism conquering the West.

The note, written by an FBI agent, reports that Churchill urged Right-wing Republican Senator Styles Bridges to persuade President Harry Truman to launch a nuclear attack which would ‘wipe out’ the Kremlin and make the Soviet Union a ‘very easy problem’ to deal with. 

The Russians would have been defenceless against a nuclear attack at that time – they did not successfully test their own atomic bomb until 1949.  

Britain and the Soviet Union had been allies in the Second World War until 1945, the year Churchill lost office as Prime Minister. 

But he was one of the first international statesmen to recognise the post-war threat posed by the USSR, and in 1946 made a famous speech in Fulton, Missouri, about an ‘iron curtain’ having descended across Europe as Stalin consolidated his grip on the eastern half of the continent.