The Grand Alliance (155 page)

24.IV.41.

of State for War andMinister

of Supply

I propose to hold periodical meetings to consider
tank and anti-tank questions, the first of which will be at
10 Downing Street on Monday, May 5, at 11 A.M.

These meetings would be attended by yourselves,
accompanied by appropriate officers. From the War
Office I would propose that the C.I.G.S., A.C.I.G.S. and
General Pope should come, and General Martel and
his Armoured Divisional Commanders should also be
invited. On the Supply side I should like Mr. Burton,
Admiral Brown, and General Crawford to be present.

2. I am particularly anxious that all officers attending
the meeting should be encouraged to send in their
suggestions as to the points which should be
discussed, and to express their individual views with
complete freedom. I contemplate, in fact, a “Tank
Parliament.”

3. An agenda will be prepared for each meeting by
my Defence Office, and it will include any points which
you wish to place upon it, and any suggestions or
questions which the Tank Commanders wish to put
forward. I myself should like to discuss the organisation
of armoured divisions, and the present state of their
mechanical efficiency, as well as the larger questions
which govern 1943.

Prime Minister to Viscount

28.IV.41.

Halifax

Do not discourage the President from posing his
questions direct to me or allow any of the Naval Staff to
do so. My personal relations with him are of importance, and it would be a pity if they were superseded by
ordinary staff routine.

Prime Minister to General

28.IV.41.

Ismay

Let me have this day the minute
11
which I wrote in
the summer of last year directing that five thousand
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parachute troops were to be prepared, together with all
the minutes of the departments concerned which led to
my afterwards agreeing to reduce this number to five
hundred. I shall expect to receive the office files before
midnight.

2. Let me have all the present proposals for increasing the parachute and glider force, together with a time-table of expected results.

Prime Minister to C.I.G.S.

28.IV.41.

The Director of Military Operations yesterday spoke
of plans which had been prepared in certain eventualities for the evacuation of Egypt.

Let me see these plans, and any material bearing
upon them.

Prime Minister to First Lord

28.IV.41.

and First Sea Lord

The C.-in-C. Mediterranean has been fully occupied
in the successful conduct of the evacuation, but now he
must resume his efforts to blockade Cyrenaican ports
and to catch these ships or as many of them as possible. It ought to be far easier to blockade Cyrenaican
ports than Tripoli. Both must be attempted, but failure to
achieve the second would be specially lamentable.

Prime Minister to General

29.IV.41.

Ismay, for C.O.S. Committee

Is it not rather strange that, when we announced
that the port of Benghazi while in our occupation was of
no use, and, secondly, that on our evacuation we had
completely blocked it, the enemy are using it freely?

Prime Minister to General

29.IV.41.

Ismay

I noticed that the parachutists who landed on
Saturday several times had their knuckles terribly cut.

Has the question of protecting their hands and [also
giving them] knee-caps been considered?

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M
AY

Prime Minister to General

4.V.41.

Ismay

Let me have a report on the efficiency of the
gunners and personnel managing the fifteen-inch
batteries and searchlights at Singapore. Are they fitted
with radar?

Prime Minister to Secretary of
4.V.41.

State for Air

This [draft telegram to President Roosevelt about
expansion of bomber production in U.S.A.] should
surely be put forward through the regular channels. I do
not like to send telegrams to the President about the
general programme, which ought to be thrashed out by
the very elaborate machinery provided for the purpose.

Prime Minister to Chancellor of
4.V.41.

the Exchequer

Is it true that the widow of a Service man killed by
enemy action on leave gets only half the pension she
would if her husband were killed on duty?

Prime Minister to Chancellor

10.V.41.

of the Exchequer

Do you think this distinction is justifiable? Is there
much money in it? I was told of a case of a sailor who
was drunk on duty and drowned in consequence, his
widow getting full pension; while another sailor on well-earned leave, killed by enemy action, was far worse
treated in respect of his wife. I doubt very much
whether treating leave earned by service as equivalent
to service for these purposes would cost you much, and
it would remove what seems to be a well-founded
grievance.

Prime Minister to Chancellor

16.V.41.

of the Exchequer

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I draw a clear distinction between deaths arising
from the fire of the enemy and ordinary accidents. This
is the line of demarcation which we have successfully
maintained in the Bill dealing with compensation for war
injuries. The air attack on this country is novel and
sporadic, and can also quite safely be kept in a compartment by itself. Therefore, I reject the arguments
about the concessions spreading to ordinary accidents,
and from the armed forces to persons in employ on a
part-time system, such as air-raid wardens and the like.

I consider that in a Regular service persons bound by
discipline on permanent engagement have a right to be
considered when on leave as enjoying the same
privileges in regard to pensions for their widows, etc.,
as when they are with their units. Here again is a
frontier which can be effectively maintained.

In a Regular disciplined force leave is regarded as
earned, and is part of the normal system of the force,
and it breeds contempt of the governing machinery
when one man’s widow is left with half the pension of
the other merely because he was hit by the enemy’s
fire while on leave.

Let me know what would be the expense if the
regulations were amended as I have here suggested.

Prime Minister to C.I.G.S.

6.V.41.

Inquiries should be made whether the troops in
Crete have a sufficiency of good maps. Otherwise we
shall soon find that any German arrivals will be better
informed about the island than our men.

Prime Minister to First Sea Lord
6.V.41.

How was it [the Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation] took twelve weeks on passage, and why was
the equipment packed without any relation to its employment? One would have thought a mobile naval
base plant would above all other things have been
stowed so that it could have been taken out and
employed.

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It seems to me an inquiry should be held into this
lapse of staff work

Prime Minister to Foreign

7.V.41.

Secretary

Will you consider whether it would not be a good
thing to publish my letter to Matsuoka. I think it is
important that the people of Japan generally and a
circle wider than the Matsuoka military circle should be
apprised of the direction in which they are moving.

Prime Minister to General

8.V.41.

Ismay

Now that we have taken Bardia, Tobruk, Massawa,
Assab, Kismayu, and other Italian African ports, pray let
me have a report of the exact armament of coastal and
aerial defence found there, and compare this with our
Intelligence estimates beforehand. A fortnight may be
allowed for the preparation of this paper. I want, in the
first instance, the facts, and the Intelligence must not
realise that a comparison will be made with their figures.

Prime Minister to General

8.V.41.

Smuts

I wonder if you would care for me to suggest to the
King your appointment as an Honorary Field-Marshal of
the British Army. It seems to me that [sic] the great part
you are playing in our military affairs and the importance of the South African Army that this would be
appropriate in every way, and I need not say how
pleasing it would be to your old friend and comrade to
pay you this compliment.

Prime Minister to the Belgian

10.V.41.

Prime Minister

On the anniversary of the day when, in violation of
the utmost solemn undertakings, the German Government, without cause or provocation, launched their
armed forces against the territory of Belgium, I wish to
acknowledge in the name of His Majesty’s Government
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the effective help which the Belgian Government, the
Belgian Empire, and the Belgian armed forces and
merchant marine have given to the Allied cause
throughout the past year. We remember also your
soldiers who resisted the invader in the Battle of
Belgium, and who now in their homes oppose the will of
the invader. The sympathy and admiration of His
Majesty’s Government and of the British people go out
in especial measure to the Belgian people now under
the hateful Nazi tyranny, who, by their courage and
endurance, daily contribute to the defence of freedom.

(Action this day.) Prime

10.V.41.

Minister to C.A.S.

The result of the Battle of Egypt now depends more
upon the air reinforcements than upon the tanks. From
every quarter and by every route, including repeated

“Jaguars,” fighter aircraft must be sent. The Takoradi
bottleneck must be opened up and the congestion
relieved. I have asked on other papers for a further
large despatch of Wellingtons, half a dozen additional
squadrons at the least. A regular flying-boat service
should be established to bring back pilots who are
accumulating in Egypt surplus to machines. Advantage
should be taken of the presence of Air Chief Marshal
Longmore in England to make a comprehensive plan of
reinforcements. Speed is essential, as from every side
one gets information of the efforts the enemy are
making.

Prime Minister to Mr.

11.V.41.

Mackenzie King

I am delighted to hear that Mr. Menzies’ visit was so
successful. He was with us here through times of
peculiar stress, and we found him a staunch comrade.

A meeting of the Imperial Conference about July or
August for a month or six weeks would be most desirable if it could be arranged. I hope we shall give a good
account of ourselves in the Middle East. It will not be for
the want of trying. Every good wish. It is splendid the
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way you have carried Canada forward in such perfect
unity.

Former Naval Person to

10.V.41.

President Roosevelt

I expect you are now acquainted with the splendid
offer which General Arnold made to us of one-third of
the rapidly expanding capacity for pilot training in the
United States to be filled with pupils from here. We
have made active preparations, and the first five
hundred and fifty of our young men are KOW ready to
leave, as training was to have begun early next month.