A collection of photographs taken by one of Winston Churchill’s staff is coming to auction. 

Brenda Hart worked as secretary to Churchill’s chief of staff General Hastings Ismay from 1943 until the end of the war.

This photographs show Churchill during and after the war

She was present at many key moments during and after the war, including the 1943 Casablanca conference – where the allies agreed to fight until they had secured “unconditional surrender” from the axis powers – and the 1945 Potsdam conference that divided up post-war Germany.

There are also a number of letters where Hart describes her experience of events.

In one she writes of seeing Churchill and Stalin shaking hand during a performance of the Bolshoi ballet: “At the first interval when the lights went up I had my first view of Stalin. He was shaking hands with the P.M and the other members of the Royal Box.

“After the audience gave them a truly terrific ovation. The orchestra struck up with the national anthem and then the Russian hymn. I felt very proud to have witnessed such a historical scene.”

We have an extraordinary signed photograph of Churchill taken at the first meeting of the Council of Europe in 1949.  

The lot will cross the block at C&T Auctions on March 15 with an estimate of £1,200 ($1,457).

The auction will also include a photograph album featuring candid shots of Adolf Hitler found in Eva Braun’s bedside table in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin.

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