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T H I S pOepWHBNT^ I S T H E P R O P E R T Y O F H I S B R I T A N N I C M A J E S T Y ' S G O ^ E R N M S W T
Printed for the Mar Cabinet.
W.M. (43)
.
May 1 9 4 3 ,
.
TO B E K E P T UNDER
LOCK A N D KEY
It is requested that special care may be taken to
ensure the secrecy of this document
WAR CABINET 6 9 ( 4 3 ) .
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 1 0 Downing
S.W. 1 , on Monday, May 1 7 , 1 9 4 3 , at 5 - 3 0 P.M.
Street,
Present:
The Right Hon. C. R. ATTLEE, M.P., Deputy Prime Minister (in the Chair).
The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P., The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON,
Secretary of State for. Foreign
M.P., Lord President of the Council.
Affairs.
The Right Hon. ERNEST BEVIN, M.P., The Right Hon. OLIVER LVTTELTON,
Minister of Labour and National
M.P., Minister of Production.
Service.
The Right Hon. HERBERT MORRISON,
M.P., Secretary of State for the
Home Department and Minister of
Home Security.
The following v re also present:
The Right Hon. S. M. BRUCE, Repre- Sir RAMASWAMI MUDALIAR, Represen­
sentative of the Government of the
tative of India (Items 1 - 3 ) .
Commonwealth of Australia (Items
1-3)*
;.:
The Right Hon. Sir KINGSLEY WOOD,
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Right Hon. VISCOUNT CRANBORNE,
Lord Privy Seal!
The Right Hon. L. S. AMERY, M.P.,
The Right Hon. A- V . ALEXANDER,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.
Secretary of State for India and
Secretary of State for Burma.
The Right Hon. Sir JAMES GRIGG,
M.P., Secretary of State for War.
The
Right
Hon.
SINCLAIR, B t ,
Sir
M.P.,
ARCHIBALD
Secretary of
State for Air.
The Right Hon. Sir STAFFORD CRIPPS,
K.C., M.P., Minister of Aircraft
Production.
The Right Hon. ERNEST BROWN, M.P.,
Minister of Health (Items 3 - 5 ) .
The Right Hon. BRENDAN BRACKEN,
M p . , Mihistef of Iriformation.
The Right Hon. JAMES STUART, M R ,
joint
Parliamentary
Secretary,
I Treasury (Items 3 - 5 ) .
.
^
[25456]
.
.
:
'
The Right Hon. Wl,;WjHif^EY,vM,'P.;
The ^Hoife, Sir £^EXANDER CADOGAN,
Joint
Parliamentary
Secretary,
Permanent Uh(Jer-Secretary of State
Treasury (items 3-^5).
;
' f Foreign Affairs (Items 1-3).
A i r Marshal Sir DOUGLAS EVILL, j Vice-Admiral Sir HENRY MOORE, ViceYiCeiOhief of the Air Staff (Items
Chief of Naval Staff (Items 1-3).
i-3).
' -;- .;"/ '.' ;
'
' "
" ""
Lieutenant-General A. E . N Y E , Vice7f
Chief of the Imperial General Staff
'
(Items 1-3)./
,-' "
^
Qr
!
;
;t
k
Secretariat:
Sir EDWARD BRIDGES.
Mr. NORMAN BROOK.
Brigadier L. C. HOLLIS.
Mr. L. F. BURGIS.
WAR CABINET 6 9 ( 4 3 ) .
CONTENTS.
No.
1.
Subject.
Naval, Military and Air Operations....
Air Operations:
* Home Theatre.
Mediterranean. Naval Operations. Military Operations: Tunisia.
Burma.
2
3
....
....
Page
33
..
....
33
:,
Russo-Polish Relations
The Daily Worker.
North Africa ....
....
....
....
....
34
National Service of Thanksgiving.
Resolution of Thanks to be moved in Parliament. .
4
5
Electoral Machinery ....
Refugees
....
,
....
Arrangements for Parliamentary Debate.
....
....
....
....
....
....
34
35
33
W J f . 80 (48).
Naval, Militaey
1. The Vice-Chiefs of Staff reported the principal events of
the week-. ­
Operations.
' BoMber Command had attacked Duisberg, Bochum and Pilseh
(PreVioUs.
with diversionary raids on Berlin. The attack on Bochum had beett^
Befereafee: '
particularly successful. On the previous night an attack, which had
W.M. (43) 67th been planned for Some time, had beeh made on three of the most
'''^pca^t:]Smm
in the Buhr, viz., the MohneDam, the Eder Dam
ConciusiotlSi
and the Dam on the River Sorpe. These attacks had been most
Minute 1.) '
Air Operations; successful.
;:
;
and filpi''';.v'.v -
1
Home Theatre.
The Secretary of State for Air undertook to circulate photo­
graphs of this damage to the War Cabinet.
The War Cabinet asked that their congratulations on this
operation should be conveyed to the squadron concerned, and
to such other persons concerned with the preparations as the-.
"Secretary of State for Air and the Minister of Aircraft
Production, in consultation, might select.
The Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security asked that
his Ministry might have early. information when attacks on such
targets were planned, in order to give ample notice to enable pre­
parations to be made against retaliatory action by the enemy..
United States Air Forces had attacked Kiel, Wilhelmshaveii,
Emden, the Ford factory at Antwerp and the airframe factory at
Meatilte.. The attack on Kiel had been particularly successful.
Enemy activity against this country had increased slightly.
Besides day attacks on the east coast, East Anglia, Sunderland, the
South-Eastern Counties and London had been attacked by night.
Enemy losses had "been 56 destroyed, 13 probably destroyed and
54 damaged. Our losses had been 25 fighter aircraft (our own and
United States), 78 aircraft of Bomber and 6 of Coastal Command.
Me3iterranean.
In the Mediterranean our strategic bombing had increased.
Enemy losses had been 142 (including 46 on the ground). Allied
losses had been 29 aircraft. Twenty-one large and 31 small enemy
vessels had been hit.
NavalShipping losses by enemy action during the previous week,
Operations.
including belated reports, had been 44,165 tons.
A south-bound enemy convoy had been attacked off the Hook of
Holland on the 14th May. Two of the escort of four ships had been
sunk without loss to ourselves.
Military
The last stages of the Tunis Campaign were described. The
Vice-Chief of the Imperial General Staff said that, contrary to
Operations.
press reports, his information was that the Germans had fought well
Tunisia. .
to the end.
s
Burma.
. Our forces in Burma had now withdrawn from Buthidaung and MaungaW. A full report of the reasons for these withdrawals had been asked for. The War C a b i n e t Took note of these statements.
Russo-PoUsb
Relations.
(Previous
Reference:
W.M, (43) 67th
Conclusions,
Minute 3.)
^ , ; w i t h o n e exception, thenewspapers published in this
coS
hadexercised
due discretion
in handling the matter The comments
Da
Worker
w Te
P r
e v e r , / source
£?? UrS ; ^ ?
beeii made that
mijb?
warn^"ha?bV
l ^ i n ^ i n mischievous comment it ran a risk of beiHg again
A
*'
P^SS^f^
254561 h e
S
h
g g e s t i o n
how
h a d
^rrSoTS^S
^me^rSsur^
The Daily
....
The War Cabinet maintained .their v i e w that it Would be
Worker:
inexpedient toi oner any advice to this newspaper: The Minister of
(Previous
Information,^
in replying to
Reference:
iaParliamentary;^
on the.following day, to make it clear
W.M. (43) 67th . that.; facilities. . -for. - the iuexportof the Daily Worker were still
Conclusions,
withheld, and tjiat steps were taken to prevent newspaper represen­
Minute 3.)
tatives from "telegraphing abroad messages which were considered
to be prejudicial to the interests of the' United Nations. This
statement should help to put into proper perspective the comments
made by the Daily Worker on the Russo-Polish dispute.
The War C a b i n e t -
Took note of this statement. Horth Africa.
National
Service, of
Thanksgiving.
(Previous,
Reference:, ...
W.M. (43) 68th
Conclusions,
Minute 1.)
Resolution of
Thanks to be
moved in
Parliament.
3. The War Cabinet discussed the arrangements for the
National Service of Thanksgiving to be held on Wednesday, the
19th May. It was explained that strong representations had been
made that some notification should be given to Members of both
Houses of Parliament before the Session on Tuesday, the 18th May.
Notices had accordingly been issued on. Saturday through the post.
There was now reason to believe that the time and place of the
Service might have become fairly widely known.
On security grounds, the risk that the time and place of the
Service would become known to the enemy was not one which ought
to be run. It was therefore decided that the time of the Service
should be altered to the afternoon.
The War Cabinet V Conclusions were as follows :*—
(1) The time of the Service should be altered to the afternoon.
Notification of the altered time of the Service should
be made in Secret Session in Parliament on the
following day.
(2) Should there be an Alert during the Service of Thanks­
giving, the congregation should remain in the Cathedral,
and should not be given an opportunity to leave.
(3) The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should invite
to the Service the Ambassadors of those countries which
had broken off relations, but not of those still in relations,
* with the Axis Powers.
(4) The Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security should
consult the Service Ministers as to whether small
detachments of the Fighting Services should be present
at the Service.
(5) The draft Resolution of Thanks to be moved in Parliament
on the following day in the form circulated by the
Deputy Prime Minister (W.P. (43) 206) was approved.
4. The War Cabinet had before them the Report (W.P.
(43) 201) of the Ministerial Committee appointed to consider the
questions of policy raised by the Report of the Departmental
(Previous
Committee on Electoral Machinery.
Reference:
The Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security said that
W.M. (43) 46th
he was being pressed to make an early statement in Parliament on
Conclusions,
some of the matters dealt with in the Report; but, if the War
Minute 5.)
Cabinet wished that the matter should be deferred until the Prime
Ministers return, he thought that a public statement could be
deferred for some weeks. I f necessary, the Members who had shown
a special interest in these matters might be told privately the reason
why final decisions were being held over.
' The War C a b i n e t ,
'
Decided to defer until after the Prime Ministers return
i I.: consideration of the issues raised i n this Memorandum.
Electoral
Machinery.
1
BeiBgees.
Arrangements
for
Parliamentary
Debate. ;
(Previous .
Reference:
"W.M. (43) 67th
-Conclusions,
Minute 5.)
5. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said that he
was concerned about the statements which were likely to be made;
in the forthcoming rDeDate in the House of Commons on refugees,
about the facilities for refugees to escape from Nazi oppression
through Spain. There had beep some public "discussion of the
proposal to facilitate the transfer of Jewish refugees to Palestine
through Bulgaria,. Apparently as a result of this discussion, the
Germans had now taken ^special steps to prevent refugees from
leaving Bulgaria. If there were now similar discussion about
Spain, there was a danger that the Germans might take, similar
action to close the Spanish channels through which refugees and
others escaped.
The War Cabinet considered whether it would be expedient in
these circumstances that the Debate on refugees should be held in
Secret Session. It was thought, however, that the preferable course
would be for the Secretary of State'for' Foreign Affairs to take the
opportunity, when the House went into Secret Session on the
following day for the purpose of the announcement regarding the
National Service of Thanksgiving for the-victory in Africa, to
inform the House of the action taken by the Germans in respect of
the transfer of refugees through Bulgaria, and to warn Members
of the importance of avoiding any statement in the course of the
forthcoming Debate on refugees which might lead to similar action
being taken in respect of Spain.
.
The War C a b i n e t Invited the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to deal
with the matter on these lines in the course of his statement
on Business while the House was in Secret Session on the
following day.
Offices of the War Cabinet, S.W. 1, May 17, 1943.