The Grand Alliance (173 page)

I send you a note which the Minister of Agriculture
has furnished on his side of the problem.

Will you please give me a very short statement of
your plans and policy.

Prime Minister to Minister of

6.XII.41.

Supply

I hope to be able to go to Shoeburyness on the
afternoon of Thursday, December 11, and would be
grateful if you would arrange for a demonstration of the
following types of U.P. weapons:
35
(1) Type K; (2)
Apparatus A.D., Type L; (3) Apparatus A.D., Type J; (4)
Rocket U, 5-inch; (5) Rocket U, 3-inch.

Before coming to a decision on the priority proposals
set out in your minute of December 2, it is desirable, I
think, to see these various weapons and decide their
relative merits. I hope therefore that you will be able to
accompany me.

Of course, if cloudy it must be cancelled.

Prime Minister to General

7.XII.41.

Ismay

What has been done with the Italian rifles which
have been captured in Abyssinia, Gondar, and elsewhere? How many of them were there, and how much
ammunition?

Prime Minister to Secretary of
9.XII.41.

State for War (Personal)

I have considered carefully your minute to me about
the A.T.S., and I am willing that the principles you
The Grand Alliance

1039

propose should have a trial. It is up to you to make
these batteries attractive to the best elements in the A.

T.S. and those who are now being compelled to join the
A.T.S. I fear there is a complex against women being
connected with lethal work. We must get rid of this.

Also there is an idea prevalent among the ladies
managing the A.T.S. that nothing must conflict with
loyalty to the A.T.S. and that battery esprit de corps is
counter to their interest or theme. No tolerance can be
shown to this. The prime sphere of the women commanders is welfare, and this should occupy their main
endeavours.

The conditions are very bad and rough, and I expect
will get worse now that large numbers are being
brought into the War Office grip by compulsion or the
shadow of compulsion. A great responsibility rests upon
you as Secretary of State to see that all these young
women are not treated roughly. Mrs. Knox and her
assistants should be admirable in all this, but do not let
them get in the way of the happy active life of the
batteries or deprive women of their incentives to join
the batteries and to care as much about the batteries
as they do about the A.T.S.

I shall be very glad to have a further report from you
on how the principles enunciated in your minute are in
fact being applied. Every kind of minor compliment and
ornament should be accorded to those who render
good service in the batteries.

Prime Minister to Chairman of

9.XII.41.

the Forestry Commission

I see reports in the papers that timber-felling companies are ruthlessly denuding for profit many of our
woodlands. What arrangements have you got to make
sure that some of the finest trees are left and that due
consideration is given to the appearance of the countryside? I know we have got to cut down very severely,
but there is no reason why a certain number of trees
should not be left.

The Grand Alliance

1040

Let me know in a few lines what you are doing to
replant. Surely you are replanting two or three trees for
every large one you cut down.

Prime Minister to Minister of

9.XII.4I.

Food

You say that you would have preferred to bring
sweets and chocolates within the points scheme, and
hope to do so subsequently. Would it not be better to
postpone rationing of them until you are able to do so?

If you introduce a sweets ration now all the forces of
conservatism and arguments of administrative economy
will be arrayed against any subsequent proposal to
alter matters.

I gather that it was admitted in the Lord President’s
Committee that a sweets ration would lend itself to
irregularities more easily than our other rations. Anything which diminishes respect for the rationing regulations is objectionable. If we create artificial illegalities
that are neither enforceable nor condemned by public
opinion the habit of evasion may spread to cases where
it would be injurious.

We have done without a sweets and chocolate
ration for so long that a small further delay may be
tolerated. We should avoid allowing exceptions to the
principle that any rationing of the secondary foods
which you feel compelled to introduce should be
incorporated in the points system.

(Action this day.) Prime

10.XII.41.

Minister to Minister of Labour
I see it reported that you say Members of Parliament
are liable to be called up equally with others. The rule I
have made, which was followed in the last war and
must be followed in this, was that service in the House
of Commons ranks with the highest service in the State.

Any Member of Parliament or Peer of Parliament has a
right to decide at his discretion whether he will fulfil that
service or give some other form. Members of either
House are free, if at any time they consider their
political duties require it, and reasonable notice is
The Grand Alliance

1041

given, to withdraw from the armed forces or any other
form of service in order to attend Parliament.

I could not possibly agree to any smirching of this
principle.

Prime Minister to Lord Privy

12.XII.41.

Seal and Minister of Food

It would be a mistake, in my opinion, to announce
these restrictions of rations now. It would savour of
panic. Our position has immeasurably improved by the
full involvement of the United States. The reserves are
good. We are all in it together, and they are eating
better meals than we are.

I trust no announcements of this character will be
made in the immediate future, and I hope I may be
consulted before any final decision is taken by the War
Cabinet.

Prime Minister to C.I.G.S.

18.XII.4I.

(Sir Alan Brooke)

[Your minute about the possibility of forming a Polish
Armoured Division.]

I do not consider that the issue of tanks to the Poles
should be delayed until all the British armoured
divisions have not only been completed but have a
large reserve of tanks standing behind them. I thought it
was agreed that in the first place the divisions were to
be given their initial equipment, and the reserve built up
afterwards as more tanks come to hand. The Poles
should be treated on this footing equally with the British
divisions. I do not see how the date of April 1, 1943,
could possibly be accepted as a fair treatment of the
problem by General Sikorski. I hope therefore you will
let me have proposals on the basis I have indicated.

2. It should surely be possible to give a good outfit of
tanks to the Poles and yet enable them to work
together as a corps. It is convenient, but not indispensable, that every unit in the Army should have exactly
the same organisation. It is not necessary that the
Poles should have the identical equipment, i.e., the
whole thirty-five hundred vehicles to which the British
The Grand Alliance

1042

armoured divisions have been expanded. A practical
solution would be to let them have a couple of hundred
more tanks during the next six months, and work up to
the full usual formation later. It should surely be
possible to use the Polish force together, and not to
separate the tank component from the rest.

I hope you will let me have further proposals.

Prime Minister to Secretary

21.XII.11.

of State for War

Your minute about the Beveridge report.

The memorandum to be published by the War Office
at the same time as the Beveridge report on the use of
skilled men in the Services must be both more effective
and more precise than that at present proposed.

2. The War Office should also take their stand on
the grounds that it is their duty to make an efficient
fighting machine rather than a well-conducted industrial
establishment. Nothing must therefore be done seriously to break the cohesion of section, platoon, and company, and no general disturbance of the Army system
in home ports can be tolerated in view of the danger of
invasion.

3. It must however be clearly shown how skilled men
in units, as they at present exist, are being used, and
how still better use will be made of them. The memorandum should thus firmly rebut those suggestions in
the Beveridge report which would affect the cohesion
and military efficiency of the Army.

4. This does not mean that the War Office can use
the excuse of military efficiency to cover over the grave
defects brought to light by the report. The memorandum should not appear merely to be a whitewashing
document, but should show that a really serious effort is
being made to rectify shortcomings. Parliament and the
public will only be reassured if the War Office can state
in concrete, rather than in abstract, how amendment is
being made. The memorandum should therefore deal
specifically and in a manner readily understood by the
layman with the main points in the report.

The Grand Alliance

1043

5. These are: (a) That the reservoir of unused skill in
the Army is sufficient to cover all future demands for
skilled men, except armament artificers. (b) That
economy in skilled men could be secured by review of
the establishment of many field units, (c) That more
effective steps could be taken to utilise the skill of those
men whose units will be required at the front but which
at present are not engaged, (d) That great improvements are possible in the machinery for testing, re-muster, and transfer of skilled men. (e)That a special
corps of mechanised engineers should be formed to put
an end to present duplication. (f) That men should be
enlisted into the Army as a whole and not into specific
corps or units.

6. The War Office reply will have to be carefully
drafted if it is to be effective. You should set up a small
committee, which I suggest might consist of the Financial Secretary, Sir James Grigg, and the Adjutant-General, to prepare it. I should like the reply to be
submitted to me about January 10, so that the matter
can, if necessary, be brought before the Cabinet in
good time.

Prime Minister to

22.XII.31.

Commander-in-Chief Home

Forces(General Paget)

This is a most admirable paper [on the training of
infantry by General Utterson-Kelso], and I agree with
every word of it. I am glad to think that in your new
great sphere you will have an opportunity of putting into
force the many wise and stimulating principles it contains. You may count on my assistance in every way. I
have already done all in my power to prevent sections
and platoons from being disturbed needlessly, or the
infantry used for civil purposes other than in emergencies or the harvest. While I greatly admire the conception of a well-armed infantry battalion working with the
élan and combined individualism of a pack of hounds, I
am also anxious about the smart side of things. I hope
there are going to be no fussy changes in the manual
The Grand Alliance

1044