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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY"S GOVERNMENT
Printed
for the War Cabinet.
December 1944.
Copy No.,
SECRET.
W . M . (44)
170th Conclusions.
WAR CABINET 170 ( 4 4 ) .
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 1 0 Downing
S.W. 1, on Monday, 18th December, 1 9 4 4 , at 1 2 noon.
Street,
Present:
The Right Hon. C. R. ATTLEE, M.P., Deputy Prime Minister (in the Chair).
The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P.,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
(Items 5 - 7 ) .
The Right Hon. ERNEST BEVIN, M.P.,
Minister of Labour and National
Service.
The Right Hon. HERBERT MORRISON,
M.P., Secretary of State for the
Home Department and Minister of
Home Security.
The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON,
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Right Hon. OLIVER LYTTELTON,
M.P., Minister of Production.
The Right Hon. LORD WOOLTON,
Minister of Reconstruction.
The following were also present:
The Right Hon. VISCOUNT CRANBORNE,
Secretary of State for Dominion
Affairs.
The Right Hon. A. V . ALEXANDER,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.
The Right Hon. Sir ARCHIBALD/SiNCLAIR, Bt., M.P., Secretary of State
for Air.
The Right Hon. LORD
Paymaster-General.
CHERWELL,
The Right Hon. W . WHITELEY,. M.P.,
Joint
Parliamentary
Treasury (Item 5).
Secretary,
The Right Hon. L. S. AMERY, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India and
Secretary of State for Burma.
The Right Hon. Sir JAMES GRIGG,
M.P., Secretary o f State for War.
The Right Hon. Sir STAFFORD C R I P P S ,
K.C., M.P., Minister of Aircraft
Production.
The Right Hon. J A M E S STUART, M.P.,
Joint
Parliamentary
Secretary,
Treasury (Item 5 ) .
The
Hon.' Sir
ALEXANDER CADOGAN,
Permanent Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs (Items 5 - 7 ) .
Admiral of the Fleet Sir ANDREW Marshal of the Royal A i r Force Sir
CHARLES F. A. PORTAL, Chief of the
CUNNINGHAM, First Sea Lord and
Air Staff (Items 1 - 4 ) .
,
Chief of Naval Staff (Items 1 - 4 ) .
Field-Marshal Sir ALAN BROOKE, Chief
of the Imperial General Staff (Items
1-4).
Secretariat :
Sir EDWARD BRIDGES.
General Sir HASTINGS L . ISMAY.
Sir GILBERT LAITHWAITE.Mr. L . F. BURGIS.
[28910-2]
B
WAR CABINET 170 (44).
c
CONTENTS.
'
Minute
No.
Subject.
1
Naval, Military and Air Operations....
....
....
....
Page
321
....
321
Air Operations: Home Theatre. Mediterranean. . Pacific. Naval Operations.
Military Operations: Western Front. Italy. Burma. . Pacific. 2
Attacks by Rockets and Flying Bombs
....
3
Egypt
....
....
....
322
....
....
....
322
....
322
....
....
:..
....
Use of Tear Gas.
4
Greece
....
....
. Tear Gas.
5
Select Committee on National Expenditure
Eleventh Report.
6
Foreign Affairs
Poland.
7
....
........
323
­
Consultation with the European Allied Governments on
the Instrument of Surrender.of Germany .....
....
324
321
Naval, MUltai-y
:
and Air
r
.s f . - T h e Chiefs ofStaff, ^recorded' the -principal events ofrthe
--jprevious -week,-' ,
Operations;
(Previous
Reference:
W.M. (44) 163rd
Conclusions,
Minute 1.)
A^n- Operations.
Home Theatre.i
'.Mediterranean.
' ----Pacific.
Naval
Operations.
,
Military
Operations.
Western Front,
. ""
Italy.
Burma.
Pacific.
W . M . 170 (44): ;' i : v
.
- j.£ / j
Bomber Command had dropped 7;340 tons and flown 2,280
sorties for the loss of lftv aircraft. Their targets had included
railway communications, Essen and LudwigshavenD
United States bombers had; dropped 9,760 tons of bombs on
railway bridges and the oil refinery at Leuna for the loss of
28 aircraft.
: .
"
The Allied Expeditionary Air Force had flown 12,000 sorties
n d claimed to have destroyed 900 enemy vehicles, and to have shot
jown some 49 German aircraft for the loss of 7 bombers and
50 fighters and fighter-bombers.
Full reports of air operations in connection with the German
attack on the previous day had not yet been received, but some
I l l enemy aircraft and 362 vehicles were claimed to have been
destroyed.
Bad weather had restricted operations, but 11,200 sorties had
been flown and 4,280 tons of bombs dropped for the loss of
88 aircraft.
Forty-eight Super-Fortresses had attacked Bangkok railway,
inflicting considerable damage.
The shipping losses, for the previous seven days due to enemy
action had been 7,128 tons. The total confirmed losses for the month
of December so far were 34,873 tons.
Twenty-nine ships had arrived i n this country from Russian
ports without loss.
On the previous Saturday the Germans had launched a serious
offensive on the American Front between Cologne and Trier, one
thrust being towards Malmedy and the other in the neighbourhood
of Bithburg. The offensive had made some progress and advance
German elements were reported to be within 3 miles of Malmedy,
It was estimated that the Germans were employing' some
20 Divisions (equalling 12 at full strength) and between 450 and
500 tanks. The position was rather obscure, but this offensive would
certainly retard American operations in the Cologne area and in
the South.
The Canadian Corps on the right and the New Zealand
Division and the Poles on the left had made considerable headway
and i t was probable that Faenza was now in our hands.
Considerable progress had been made on most of the Front.
Bhamo had been cleared of Japanese. The American attack on Mindoro seemed to be going well. 1
a
The War C a b i n e t Took note of these statements.
Attaoks by
Rockets and
Flying Bombs.
2. The HomeSecretary
andV Minister-of Home Security said
that during the previous seven days there had been 20 incidents
from long-range rockets, 10 of them in the Greater London area.
In the same period there had been flying-bomb activity on three
(Previous
nights, 81 being launched, 60 of them on the previous night.
Reference: ;
W.M.(44) 163rd Twenty-four.had been destroyed. Casualties in the period had been :-— Conclusions, ....
Min,u'te*2-.); ,
Killed.
Scrims.
Slight. Missing. ^ '
Rockets .:.
...
50
185
219
1
Flying-bombs
5
15
190
' r
-Total
...
50
The War C a b i n e t - .
. Took note of this statement
f28910-2]
1
Pgypt.- .
;,
" 3 . The War -Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the:
Use of Tear Gas. Secretary of State for War (W.P. (44). ;717/) r ^ / v wing, in theligfht
' of Lord Killearn's views, the position as regards the use of tear gas
- by the police^and miHtary, as a means of dispersing mobs in Egyptv
The Ambassador; was of opinion that British -forces iir. Egypt
should be prepared to use tear-gas in the streets Or in driving people
. from barricaded houses, but should not actually employ i t until the
British military authorities had been informed that the Egyptian
authorities had given their consent or, at any rate, had no objection.
If British troops were compelled to take action to quell civil
disobedience without the assistance of the Egyptian police or armed
forces, or even in opposition to them, its use should, in the
Ambassador's view, be decided on purely military considerations.
-.The Foreign Office endorsed Lord Killearn's views, but cou­
sidered that the British military authorities in Egypt should, in
any circumstances, consult the Embassy before tear gas was used.
The Secretary of State for War invited the War Cabinet to
take note of the views of Lord Killearn and of the Foreign Office on
the use of tear gas to quell civil disobedience in Egypt. He was
instructing the Commander-in-Chief accordingly.
In discussion, it was suggested that it would be preferable that
the term tear smoke should be used rather than tear gas.
The War
Took
War
W.P.
Cabinetnote of the statement by the Secretary of State for
and approved the action proposed by him in
(44) 717.
/ . ,
;
- ,. .
;
x Arising out of discussion on the previous minute, enquiry
was made as to why tear smoke should not be used, i n Greece. The
Tear Gas.
^ T c ^ e t were informed that the matter had been under
consideration, but that the view; had been taken that m a dispute
of so political a nature it would be dangerous to make use of this
_ ; - weapon.
.
The War C a b i n e t ­
v
C
M
t
Endorsed this view.
Select
Committee on
National
Expenditure.
Eleventh
Report.
(Previous'
Reference:
W.M. (43) 107th
Conclusions,
Minute 3.)
,
5. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
Lord President of the Council (W.P. (44) 731) reporting the views
of the Lord Presidents Committee on the Eleventh Report of the
Select Committee on National Expenditures
In this report the Select Committee had recommended(a) that there should be an enquiry by a Select Committee
specially - appointed for, the ,purpose. .into the means of
securing the most effective control by Parliament of
public expenditure;
....... :. (&) that the Select Committee oh National Expenditure
appointed for the present Session should not be limited
in their enquiries.to " services directly connected with
V:
the war ";
(c) that the Select Committee on National Expenditure in any
particular. Session should not be limited, to the considera­
tion of current expenditure incurred in a single financial
year but should be able to examine the expenditure on
any given project as a whole; '
(d) that the Select Committee on National Expenditure should
present to the House of Commons a general and objective
review of the distribution of national expenditure on
war services during the past five years.
SC
323
'
. W ; M . 170
cThe Lord;President' sCommittee' s i n c l u s i o n s - had:'been,LjaS'
foltooiarvr - ,
i
,
:K
'! Eecpmniendatioiii (a), required further, consideration.
Recommendation (6) should be rejected, hamely, that the
y ' Committee'sterms of reference should no longer be limited
to "services directly connected with the war."
As regards Recommendation (c), it should be made clear that
the Select; Committee were not limited to enquiring into
current expenditure, provided that they did not roam over
the sphere of the Public Accounts Committee.
The review referred to in Recommendation (d), if carried out
at all, should be carried out by the Government and not by
the Select Committee.
'*
.
.
General agreement was expressed by the War Cabinet with
these views of the Lord Presidents Committee.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer enquired on what grounds he
should rely when informing the Chairman of-the Committee that
the Government did' not accept Recommendation (b). He thought
it might well be argued, on behalf of the Select Committee, that,
pending the re-establishment of the Estimates Committee (a body
which had not given rise to any of the difficulties which had arisen
as a result of the activities of the Select Committee on National
Expenditure), there were strong grounds for extending the terms of
reference o f the Select Committee to cover services other than those
directly connected with the war. He could hardly disclose to the
Committee that the Government, in rejecting this recommendation,
were influenced by the tendency of the Committee to depart from
their terms of reference.and to deal with matters of policy.
In discussion, it was suggested that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer could use the argument that it would be necessary, in
any event as soon as the war in Europe was over, to give considera­
tion to permanent machinery for enquiry, by Committees of the
House, into current public expenditure, a matter which the Select
. Committee had themselves recognised -as ah appropriate subject
for a special enquiry; and that it would be a mistake to interpose,
for what it was hoped would be a short period, emergency
" machinery designed for the special conditions of war expenditure.
To extend the Committee's scope to cover expenditure not
directly connected with the war was, on any showing, an important
departure which ought not to be dealt with at short notice.
The Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Treasury (Mr. Stuart) said
that he now thought it would be better to wait for a short period
before moving the reconstitution of the Select Committee during
the current Session.
The War C a b i n e t Approved the conclusions of the Lord Presidents Com­
mittee as set out in W.P. (44) 731 and summarised above;
and invited the Chancellor of the Exchequer to notify
those Conclusions to the Chairman of the Committee,
Foreign Affairs.
6. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs informed the
War Cabinet of the latest developments in connection with Poland.
.
.
A record of the discussion and of the conclusions - reached is
previous
contained in the Secretary's Standard File of War Cabinet
Eef erence:
W.M. (44) 169th Conclusions.
Poland.
p
Conclusions.)
Consultation
with the
European
Allied Govem­
ments on the
Instrument of
Surrender of
Germany.
7. The '-W'a*----Cabinet -took 'i note, - wiQi approval, of a
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for. Foreign Affairs about
consultation with; the European Allied Governments on the
instrument of Surrender of Germany (W.P. (44) 723). The effect
of this Memorandum was that in face of the expressed Soviet
objection we should acquiesce, for the present at any rate, in with­
holdine from the present Polish Government in London information
about the Instrument of Surrender, although this course would give
rise to a protest from the Polish Government.
Offices of the War Cabinet, S.W. 1,
18th December, 1944.