Hitler could have been put in electric chair

Sir Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime Prime Minister, planned to execute Adolf Hitler in the electric chair if the Nazi leader fell into Allied hands.

Official documents declassified at the turn of the year reveal that Churchill was opposed to Allied plans for war crimes trials and wanted summarily to execute leading Nazi figures including Hitler who he regarded as "the mainspring of evil'" and a "gangster".

They also show that he was willing, against the advice of his Cabinet colleagues, to "wipe out" defenceless German villages in retaliation for Nazi atrocities in Czechoslovakia.

The disclosures are contained in notebooks kept by Sir Norman Brook, the former wartime deputy cabinet secretary, who kept an account of proceedings in a form of shorthand. On July 6, 1942, according to his notes, the Prime Minister said: "Contemplate tht. If Hitler falls into our hands we shall certainly put him to death. Not a Sovereign who cd be said to be in hands of Ministers, like Kaiser. This man is the mainspring of evil. Instrument electric chair, for gangsters no doubt available on lend-lease."

Churchill's choice of the electric chair was despite the fact that it was never used in Britain before the final abolition of the death penalty in 1965.

Sir Norman's notebooks, which are being made public by the National Archives at Kew, reveal Churchill to be a ruthless commander who was prepared to override moral and legal considerations to defeat Germany.

On July 7, 1943, Churchill argued passionately that leading Nazis who fell into British hands should be treated as "outlaws" and shot rather than put on trial.

"I suggested that UN to draw up a list of 50 or so wd. be declared as outlaws by the 33 Nations. [Those not on the list might be induced to rat!] If any of these found by advancing troops, nearest offr. of brigade rank shd. call a military court to establish identity and shd. then execute w'out higher authority."

The papers also show that he was willing to "bump off" Himmler and shoot German prisoners of war should Germany begin doing the same to British prisoners.

Equally controversial will be the revelation in the notebooks, that Churchill wanted the RAF to wipe out German villages in retaliation for the massacre of civilians in Lidice, a Czech village, which was razed to the ground by the SS. The Prime Minister abandoned his plan only in the face of opposition from Cabinet colleagues.

Telegraph Group Limited London 2006