In Britain, the Royal Marine General Maurice Hankey had been one of Britain's most civil servants, holding a series of powerful posts from 1908 to 1942 and advised every prime minister from Asquith to Churchill on questions of strategy.[38] Hankey felt very strongly that it been war crimes trials were wrong, not the least because he believed that in the context of the Cold War that Britain might need former Wehrmacht generals to fight against the Soviet Union in a possible Third World War.[38] Hankey also objected to war crimes against Japanese leaders and pressured for Britain to stop trying Japanese war criminals and to free those who had already been convicted.[39] Though Hankey's efforts on behalf of the Wehrmacht generals are little known, he was the leader of a powerful lobbying group in Britain that worked both behind the scenes and in public to end war crimes trials and free the Wehrmacht generals already convicted.[40] Hankey regularly corresponded with Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Douglas MacArthur and Konard Adenauer about the issue.[41] When Adenauer visited London in 1951, he had a private meeting with Hankey to discuss his work on behalf of the Wehrmacht generals.[41]