Once again, Thomas is reading a newly released book about politics. This time it is Francis Yeats-Brown’s work entitled ‘The European Jungle’. Yeats-Brown was an interesting character, decorated in the First World War when he served in the Royal Flying Corps, he wrote a number of books based on his experiences in India before the war and during the war when he was captured by Turkish forces. His best known book is ‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’, which was published in 1930 and made into a very popular film in 1935. Interestingly, the film is known to have been one of Hitler’s favourite films. In the 1930s, Yeats-Brown became interested in right-wing politics and was an admirer of both Hitler and Mussolini whilst having a dread of any form of communism. You can find out more about him here.
At this point, Stalin was still in negotiation with Hitler as regards an alliance with Germany and there was some uncertainty as to how the Soviet Union was going to act. A non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was eventually signed in August 1939.
