(c) crown copyright
Catalogue Reference:CAB/65/1/28
Image Reference:0001
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11
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CONCLUSIONS of m Meeting of the Wat Cabinet-Meld
S.W.1, m Tuesday, September 28; 1989 1
:
wreei
:
The Eight Hon. NEVILLE - CHAMBERLAIN, M.P., Prime-Minister (in the Chair).
! Hon. I^ISCOUJNT -HAMFAX,­
The Eight Hon. Sir - JOHN SIMON, K.G., T h e B i ght:
;
- M.P.; Chancellor - of the' Exchequer.
Admiral of the Fleet The -Bight Hon.
LORD CHATFIELD, Minister for Co-
ordination ..'of I Defehce.;
The
Right
Hon.
L.
KORE-BELISHA,
CHUB
for
Foreign
51^ J^
lLWLUA
"' Adnt.
The
:
E.P., S
- -Md^^Secretary ,of State; for\War.;
HOAMS,
:
Tjae ; ; R i g h t -.- jHpn.: ',. - WINSTON,
:
Th^;illgf^^
- of;, State
St
The
Ih. XVtW
The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON, I The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P.,
:
;;;;li2g;0
[:;'; -Secretary, -­of\ - estate; for; iDdMhilis^
: ;
':a;iiltf^^
'-vSfilile^^
Sir HORACE
-: ;ASai%y ^^£LLV^
J . WILSON,
Permanent
Secretary to the Treasury.
Admiral
of
the
Pr,tr,- " * ^ a f
Fleet
DUDLEY
Sir
:d aac Chief off
1
'
Air
Chief Marshal Sir CYRIL L . N .
MEWALL, Chief of the A i r Staff.
General
"a- ajaaoa
filtill^
llistft^^
^^^^^^^^SHSI -;C/F*T^I;VF?^^^
BS " 33r!S
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:
Sir
W . EDMUND
IRONSIDE,
Chie"-of tba Irao- IPI Ge^ei
,.,33.
CoKRTSMS.
Page.
Minute No.
1
;The/Air;
2
215
Dropping of Lsaflels. om Germany
^teV;;/
Eire
The Military Situation in France
Staff Conversations with Belgium
1
Sino-Japanese Hostilities
.8
Policy of Soviet Russia
...
;218
The setting up of a Polish Government.
10
Armament Supplies to Poland
11
Evacuation of Government Departments
12
Facilities to enable Members of Partial
-.: ; :5isMajesty s
?
....
:
.t serving in;
rliamentary
r
:
218.
fXSidada
M M
SaiftSS:
liMdtdfa
,
- had
$ffifL
,
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J .
'baa..
jriJHflflp
had retarded to France. A i n ^ ^ h a d - ale6. left early that morning
to carry out a reconnaisaainos -of the Uerinah Fleet. Three Of our
Brcrc. L I c a
^ . w uj. c o .y o^aadi" cn. - a. a a
. Cda;
l i e 'p a^ac day ^atnwit etaaia ladso uo oddieu skd Jntd9:a;oa3e
reports describes certain activity 1- i'he Fraidtfart area, l a d ding
the presence of transport aineiaid, which mighio iadicste a fcrancfer ;
Minute, 1.).
1
1
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v
Io?illn^
'raai-;l)^
: ' " : /TdbeSWdife^
-aldi^vMat^etf.::';.;;--;.
a 2.,' T i g LordyBrivy Seal questioned the wisdom of announcing
WL^0i&f04-the-;
d dropping of leaflets-dyer: Germany at a moment when W a r s a w
;
:
toidd^''- ,d.
was.',being so heavily attacked.,.,;:; .
(Previous
Reference:
W . M . (39) 26th
Conclusions,-'--'­
,Miniife. . 1 . ) - "­
The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs said that opinion
in.the..Dominions took thei sameIview.d'-'
::
,
/
aa The 'Chancellor of the, Exchequer doubted whether. the reports;
of the dropping of leaflets were of as great news value as formerly,
and,-'suggested that too much attention was being devoted to them,
-- in particular by the;B.B.Gb ;- - - . ; .-'.
F
1
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:
The Secretary of State, for Foreign A ffdirs mentioned a report
. which had been received from two -non-Nasi- business men, saying
dhat ^
avgood- effect. --a-v
"aa-a'-'
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d
d [The Secretary of: State for Air' said ,that. when previous
attempts had- been made to withhold reports of leaflet-dropping
. /from-the. Press, the news'.' had filtered back.' fromv-abroad; and this
had "provokedoomplainfcs.'' .
.
d . - d ....
,-..-..' ". ... .-,.;.'
The' - War-Cabinet agreed : ..'-.-, .'.....-.'-.,..-a- .av;.-.----a
T o invite;the Lord Privy Seal to ask the Director-Geneial,
' \ ' I d k d t ' / of Infer ma den, to- eapkda. the position to the
Pisac aid a do
;n persuading d u d not IO 5' IZ
prominence to reports of the dropping of leaflets On
. - vGeddddyd''----'
a''a----'-a ;aa. ­
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d a d ' ' . ' a-'
3.
-fj^Kiiai'
l l g H t ' i,
'
"(Previous .- Reference:
H^Sgi
Spjir
:
The First Lord
'
of the Admiralty informed the Way
1
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1,11:'-' * bjSllf!
'damaged; h&dd^
-and was being escorted home. N o '^erphaht :8hip..'-hadl been ;sunk.
28$h: in the previous 24 hours.
;
!
A trawler - had a reported" sighting. a
to'-invest)
. ' ' . - . - been
' limits
Vto^o
. c V / , \A.to. /
viotopoe:
%
G ' w * ? y f* W U ' J A /to
WML (30) 1 3 * E ^ a ^ o r ^ M ^ j i , A d
touto
:AAufe ..7
of E b t o w V ^
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L-
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-to
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t
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i8K
Itotor to A stowlntoen,at once *J-U A u - u ^ ^ to­
totomtote
:
should to made by Cto A t e AaAay afte, he to d.
talen/upillSto^
tot" - ' ; - ; A 4 ^ ^ ^
:
-of tke/nieasures. he was taking to reinforce-the Field Force/wip
2 Infantry Brigades, 2' Machine Gun Battalions,: and- an AntiAircraft' Regiment,
to-toy'/A-'. to ' ^ A A to'toAA-'
(Previous
He had seen'representatives of McAlpmes, and Mad arranged..
Beference
W M w w i 96th for one of their engineers to accompany a senior TSoyal Engineer:
* .w
^,i3Q-- to examine
" W - L A *tu
w ^ n t i r n v of.*Officer
the ^construction
of a diafe-Wawe
-defensive line-invFrance;.
line in France.
Conclusions
'with.-'
mechanmal
In
all,
-10
Field
Companies,
Soyal
Engineers,
Minute 4.)
diggers, would shortly be despatched. These resources would be
over and above anything the Field Force already had.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff. said that, according
to reliable information, there were now the elements of 7 German
Divisions opposite the Dutch frontier, North of the Rhine. South
of the Rhine, there were only 2 Reserve Divisions. The -Rhine­
might be regarded as the boundary between offensive operations
against Holland alone, for which purpose troops would be massed
North of the river, and an invasion of Holland and Belgium which
would take place South of the river. An invasion of Holland--As"
no doubt be resisted, but unfortunately we had no know!
either the Dutch or the Belgian plans.
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!
The ^ a r Cabinet took note of this statement.
-(ErBvious,- /
--Beferenee: Conclusions,
Minute 5.)
In connection with the -preceding -Minute,-discussion ensued ­
hat Mrther^^^
Government to initiate Staff Conversations forthwith.. Reference
was made to Telegram No. 118, dated the 25th September, from
Brussels, from which it appeared that pur Ambassador had been
reluctant to pass on to the Belgian Government our views as to how
the situation might develop and of, toe stoion which we should
probably have fo\ take against German forces passing tto /ugh
Belgium. Further, the Belgian Government still did not j ^ l i s ?
that, if they called on us icfc acsfctones at toe toto s men ­
havipg consented to previous consultation,' we'should not be Able to
help, A . i n . ' ,
-, j
"
.
, T t o ^totoato A-CAto A A t o t o / v A t o A t o t o ? to"" / " \"t
would be in our- interest:that we should press the Belgiap Govero­
Atot A '
to
' ii
'
that; the suE' facts'-shauid-:ber.put.ue^
-Ss^hn^t:
1
1
1
v
tfldll, il to
tol^SKS^Sdf
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;
(I? aVc^n .
!
/-ii Oaf- d ii, "u
iines set -out iu-Telej
' to. * aotod Ijd i t s cr^dii, toe Guis-.: of
Bpferpp^:
iu' til !: Ci ddtopeaecs LI ddtoes. llaeln^in eonetosioas which ikey
Y/.M, (30) Sitoh dadroaciaefdw r e as follows
Conclusions,
^
he present time there was no ground for anticipating
1
Minute 7.)
;
id mi Jtoi \y iw" ^ U i ' i. 3d d c b -.ac." d: ^ to 3 &i tuition jf&: 3L d
a
t
:
t
so-dddjgdal;^^
- -toegientiato
d-- - - "relisoM:itdf^
: df ;Kto
naval point of view) were serious. On the other hand,
I t :wasdiftporta^
:, to,an:';' extent^,;which. : imigkt exasperate',":'thed Jafjahese.,'
.GdverBnieBt,imto;,taking--action against.us :.
dd'dd"
(c): from the strictly-military -point of - view, the prolongation
of - the:. Sino-Japanese- doM-i^ was to
this country.'
;
:
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:
:
;
;
-..' in::;,tne course of the subsequent discussion the - following
considerations were stressed :.­
(i) from the political point of view- i t was important to
remember, that after .the establishment on the 10th
October next of the new Government under Wang ChingW e i there was a danger that civil war might break out
"
, , in China with possibly serious: embarrassments to. us.
Moreover, if our -relations' with-Japan deteriorated-too
'.':-.'"much,' she might thereby, be forced -into' the hahds-of the
enemy, with consequent danger -to- the. Netherlands East
,Indies^anol,elsewhere., in- thedPacificd; - , .
. ..d.-d ' tod­
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^igaijasi/ ciflis,. in, was-pointed put, that,, even,it hostilities
were to cease-in China, the. Japanese would- be-faced
with a toe/aendous task in that country, and would be
- by- no means freed from their entanglement.
digram No. Id to da tod tos toatf Ci, atotor, 103$
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12.:, - S A t o & A A ^
Wm&$k.Z: to
be asked in the , House of Commons that afternoon by
Mr. Henderson Stewart, M.P., as to the facilities which would be
granted to Members of Parliament serving with His Majesty's
Lena to attend meetings of Parliament and to
Gfestoto './.,;;,/
iscies. I t had been decided that Officers serving
attendfoj£feafe oveirseas dkomilci oMafe leave once every sis months. H e thought
that difficulties would arise if Members"of Parliament were treated
im a gpeelall f i i e i r . H e was therefore disposed to answer the
Question to" the: effect; that mo special^facilities' could hetgraiMefe; H
:
IM fflhe discussion which ensued, The First Lord of the
last War, when Members
of; Parilaimesit had. frequently returned from their units ' to take
jsgjift in important; IJehaSes.
;
:
:
v
The Chaneeilorofthe
E&ekeqmer said that
given a
tke^efiesS that. the. facilities:;; for free
railway fcrayel -. at. -present; accorded to ;M
of Parliament
travelling to;:W^S3Miiiisfeff from their bdnstltuencies tor'..Mei5gl^^i;(.
T^KEM Brs -ejstemdsd to" Members.of Parliament,se rving with the
Forces and travelling to Westminster - from the piace' w h ^ g l l ^ l i :
were training.
-.
FDiiMnBg m
^ - T s s m m j r ^ '
:
:
IM tike dEnuise off discussion, general agjreemenl was expressed
-Jks view &s&felkeA g M procedure was not to raise the question
-tok x&r EfciraBs^ci- PaeMament .,.were jentltled. -to:/.any"tops0%i;.
touts to toie toe btotoi line that the precedent of the
:
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dllBlllfllf^^
tofttoto
atoltoiji P?rlio362$$lllf
no
officials,were prseentywiis held at Etou I Q i IJoWiag
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a;ya^a-^v. ;a a
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