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THIS D O C U M E N T IS T H E P R O P E R T Y OF H I S B R I T A N N I C M A J E S T Y ' S
Printed
for the War Cabinet.
GOVERNMENT
December 1941.
SECRET.
Copy No.
W.M. ( M ) .
128th Conclusions.
TO
BE KEPT
UNDER
LOCK
A N D KEY.
It is requested that special care may be taken to
ensure the secrecy of this document.
WAR CABINET 128 ( 4 1 ) .
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing
S.W. 1, on Monday, December 15, 1941, at 5 P . M .
Street,
Present: The Right Hon. C. R. A T T L E E , M.P., Lord Privy Seal (in the Chair). The Right Hon. Sir J O H N A N D E R S O N , The Right Hon. A. G R E E N W O O D , M.P., M.P., Lord President of the Council.
Minister without Portfolio.
The Right Hon. Sir K I N G S L E Y W O O D , The Right Hon. E R N E S T B E V I N , M.P.,
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Minister of Labour and National
Service.
The following were also present:
The Right Hon. Sir E A R L E P A G E ,
Special Envoy from the Government
of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Right Hon. H E R B E R T M O R R I S O N ,
M.P., Secretary of State for the
Home Department and Minister of
Home Security.
The Right Hon. L. S. A M E R Y , M.P.,
Secretary of State for India and
Secretary of State for Burma.
The Right Hon. A . V. A L E X A N D E R ,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.
Hon. Sir A R C H I B A L D
SINCLAIR,
Bt., M.P., Secretary of
State for Air.
The Right Hon. R. A. B U T L E R , M.P.,
President
of
the Board
of
Education.
Sir O R M E . S A R G E N T , Deputy UnderSecretary of State, Foreign Office.
Air Chief Marshal Sir W I L F R I D
FREEMAN.
Vice-Chief of the A i r
Staff.
The
Right
The Right Hon. V I S C O U N T C R A N B O R N E ,
Secretary of State for Dominion
Affairs.
The Right Hon. L O R D M O Y N E , Secretary
of State for the Colonies.
Captain
the
MARGESSON,
Right Hon. H. D.
M.P., Secretary of State
for War.
The Right Hon. B R E N D A N B R A C K E N ,
M.P., Minister of Information.
The Right Hon. J A M E S S T U A R T , M.P.,
Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the
Treasury.
General Sir A L A N B R O O K E , Chief of the
Imperial General Staff.
Vice-Admiral H. R. M O O R E , Vice-Chief
of Naval Staff.
Secretariat :
Sir
EDWARD
BRIDGES.
Major-General Sir
[23259]
Mr.
W.
Mr.
L.
D.
F.
HASTINGS
ISMAY.
WILKINSON.
BURGIS.
B
WAR CABINET 128 (41).
CONTENTS.
Minute
No.
1
Subject.
Official Histories
....
The Present War.
2
....
Page
223
''*
Parliament
223
Proposed Secret Session.
3
Parliament
....
....
223
A r r a n g e m e n t s for t h e R e c e s s .
4
Parliament
....
....
....
....
....
223
P o w e r s of t h e H o u s e of C o m m o n s i n t h e e v e n t of M r . S p e a k e r s
death.
5
Naval, Military,and Air Operations....
....
....
....
224
....
225
Air Operations.
Naval Operations:
Shipping Losses.
Military Operations:
Libya.
Par East: Malaya.
U.S.S.R.
6
The Allies
Inter-Allied Co-ordination.
7
The Empire
225
P l a n n i n g of P r o d u c t i o n .
8
U.S.S.R
226
Official
Histories.
The P r e s e n t
War.
1. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
President of the Board of Education (W.P. (G) (41) 140).
The War C a b i n e t (i) Took note, with approval, of the preparatory work in hand
for the work of writing official histories of the war.
(ii) Approved the proposed public announcement of the estab­
lishment of the Advisory Committee of university
historians, and of the Editorial Board of the Medical
History.
Parliament.
2. The Lord Privy Seal said that several Members of Parliament were pressing for a Debate before the recess. The subjects
which they desired to discuss were—
Proposed Secret
Session.
(a) The circumstances attending the loss of the Prince of Wales
and the Repulse.
(b) The machinery for inter-Allied co-ordination.
Neither subject could well be discussed except in Secret Session,
and there were reasons why it would be difficult to agree to a
discussion in Secret Session on any day earlier than Friday, the
19th December. This, however, might well involve a further sitting
on Saturday, the 20th December, on which date the House would
adjourn.
After discussion, the War Cabinet—
Agreed that the Members concerned should be informed
that the Government were willing that the matters in
question should be discussed at a Secret Session on Friday,
the 19th December, though this might involve a further
Meeting of the House on Saturday, the 20th December; but
that they could not agree to the Secret Session being held
on an earlier date.
Parliament.
Arrangements
for t h e E e c e s s .
3. The War Cabinet were informed that in the previous year
Parliament had adjonrned on the 19th December and had
reassembled on the 21st January. It was desired to have a recess
of about the same length this year. The Motion passed in each
House would, of course, contain the usual provision for the
immediate recall of the House if the need arose.
The War C a b i n e t Authorised the Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the
Treasury to make arrangements on the basis that the House
would adjourn at the end of the week until Tuesday, the
20th January.
Parliament.
P o w e r s of t h e
H o u s e of
Commons in t h e
e v e n t of
Mr. Speaker's
death.
[23259] 4.
The War Cabinet—
Authorised the Lord Privy Seal to make the necessary
arrangements for the drafting of a Bill, on the lines set
out in W.P. (G) (41) 145, dealing with the powers of the
House of Commons in the event of Mr. Speaker's death.
Naval, Military
and Air
Operations.
5. The Chiefs of Staff gave the following information in
amplification of Cabinet War Room Records Nos. 828-834 :
(Previous
Reference:
W M . (41) 1 2 5 t h Conclusions, M i n u t e 3.)
Air Operations.
Summary of aircraft losses since the 8th December : Home Theatre Enemy—r
6 destroyed. 8 damaged.
Our Own—*
13 fighters.
6 bombers.
7 Coastal Command aircraft.
Middle East (mainly in the Libyan Battle)—
Enemy—
70 destroyed.
Our Own—
61 destroyed.
'
Far East (on the basis of incomplete information)—
Enemy—
7 destroyed.
Our Own—
11 destroyed.
1
Naval
Operations.
Shipping Losses.
Military
Operations. Libya. Far Bast.
Malaya. In addition to the above, we had destroyed one Vichy French
aircraft near Freetown.
In Home Waters eight enemy merchant vessels had been hit;
in Mediterranean waters two enemy merchant vessels had been hit.
The cruiser Galatea had been sunk by a U-boat on the previous
night off Alexandria. The sloop Flamingo had been bombed and
damaged, but had made harbour. The destroyer Puckeridge had
been disabled by bombs west of Milford Haven, but had been towed
into port. Four trawlers had been sunk, two off Gibraltar and two
off the East Coast.
Four of our destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean had sunk
two Italian cruisers and damaged a torpedo boat. A U-boat had
been sunk off Bardia and prisoners taken. Another U-boat had been
shelled and, it was hoped, sunk. The submarine Urge had obtained
two hits on an Italian battleship near Messina.
In the previous week we had lost 30,000 tons of shipping from
enemy action and 6,000 from marine casualties. Another 13,000 tons
of shipping had been damaged.
51,000 tons of shipping had been reported sunk so far this
month. Belated reports of substantial sinkings in the Pacific must
be anticipated.
On the 10th December enemy forces had started withdrawing to
their present position, which extended from Gazala to some
25 miles to the south. There were indications that they would
endeavour to withdraw further to the Mechili-Derna line. On the
13th December the 4th Indian Division had destroyed 16 enemy
tanks out of 50, which was believed to be the total number left to the
enemy.
^
In north-east Malaya the brigade holding the Kota Bahru area
had fallen back some 25 miles. In north-west Malaya a line was
now held about 22 miles south of Alor Star. A t Krohcol our forces
had withdrawn to 4 miles west of Kroh. In Burma there had been
heavy air attacks on Tavoy, Mergui and Victoria Point aerodromes,
which were all out of action. A t Hong Kong our forces had with­
drawn to the Island, which was being heavily shelled. In the
Philippines three landings had been effected in Luzon.
I: '
U . S . S . R .
The Allies.
Inter-Allied Co-ordination. The Japanese intentions appeared to be—­
(a) A major attack on Singapore with a simultaneous, but less
powerful, attack on Luzon;
(b) An attack on Hong Kong;
(c) A n advance on Rangoon and/or Lashio with a view to
stopping our supplies to China.
The Russians had had marked successes against the northern
and southern arms of the German pincer movements to envelop
Moscow. In the Klin and Tula areas the Germans had been forced
back with heavy casualties and large losses of equipment. The
depth of the withdrawal in the Tula area was as much as 50 miles.
It seemed that, after attempting to capture Moscow, the
Germans had decided to withdraw to a shorter line during the
winter, and this withdrawal had been hastened by the Russian
offensive. The Russians were still attacking along this part of the
front.
The War Cabinet took note of the above statements.
6. The Lord President of the Council referred to telegram
5805 from Washington. There were other indications that we
might be pressed to introduce some rather elaborate form of InterAllied co-ordination. In his view the circumstances of the present
war were wholly different from those of the last war, and it would
be rash to assume that the machinery for a Supreme War Council
set up in the last war was applicable in the present circumstances.
Sir Earle Page said that he felt sure that opinion in Australia
would be that the British Empire, by virtue of its being a world­
wide Power, was best fitted to retain the leadership in this matter
and not relinquish it to any other country.
The Lord Privy Seal referred to the fact that this matter was
likely to be raised in the Secret Session on Thursday. He thought
it would be useful that a statement should be prepared as to the
machinery of Inter-Allied co-ordination which at present existed,
and a study undertaken of such developments as would appear likely
to be required in the future.
The War C a b i n e t Expressed agreement with this view, and instructed the
Secretary to arrange for the preparation of a statement on
the lines proposed.
The E m p i r e .
P l a n n i n g of
Production.
7. I connection with the preceding item, the Minister of
Labour and National Service thought that it would be desirable, at
some stage, that there should be an Inquiry into the man-power
position on a wider basis than the resources of the United Kingdom.
The Secretary of State for India suggested that more could be done
to increase production facilities in India.
n
I t was pointed out that any such increase would mean sending
some skilled labour overseas. The First Lord of the
Admiralty
mentioned that he was already finding it difficult to get labour to
send to Admiralty yards overseas.
The view was expressed that it would be an advantage if this
latter problem could he dealt with as part of some general scheme
for the co-ordination of Empire production rather than as a
separate issue. But the problem raised by the First Lord was an
immediate one, which could not await the result of any long Inquiry.
The War Cabinet took note of these statements.
U.S.S.B.
(Previous
Eeference:
W . M . (41) 1 2 4 t h
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 3.)
8. The War Cabinet had a further discussion on a point
arising out of the forthcoming discussions with the Soviet
Government.
A record of the discussion is contained in the Secretary's
Standard File of War Cabinet Conclusions.
Great George Street, S.W. 1,
December 15, 1941.