(c) crown copyright
Catalogue Reference:CAB/23/2
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Printed
for
the War Cabinet.
May 1917,
SECRET.
31
W A R CABINET,
Minutes
of a Meeting
137.
of the War Cabinet held at 10, Downing
Monday, May 14, 1917, at 11*30 A.M. Street,
S.W., on Present :
The P R I M E MINISTER (in the
The
of
The
Right Hon. the VISCOUNT MILNER,
Right Hon. the E A R L CURZON'
KEDLESTON, K G . , G . O . S . I . , G . G I . E .
Chair).
The R i g h t Hon. A. HENDERSON, M.P.
The R i g h t Hon. A. BONAR L A W , M.P.
G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
The following were also present :—
The R i g h t Hon. LORD R. CECIL, K G , M.P.,
Acting Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs.
The Right Hon. the LORD HARDINGE OF
PENSHURST, K G . , G.C.B.,
G.C.S.I.,
G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., I.S.O.,
Permanent Under-Secretary of S t a t e
for Foreign Affairs.
General S I R W . R.
ROBERTSON, G . C . B . ,
K.C.V.O., D.S.O., Chief of the Imperial
General Staff.
The Right Hon. S I R E. CABSON, K . C . ,
M.P., First Lord of the A d m i r a l t y (for
Minute If).
Admiral S I R J . R. JELLICOE, G.C.B., O.M.,
G.C.V.O., First Sea Lord
of the
Admiralty.
Lieutenant-General the R i g h t Hon. J . C.
SMUTS, K G , Minister for Defence, Union
of South Africa (for Minute 11).
Colonel E . D . SWINTON, C.B., D . S . O . , Assistant
Captain L. S . A M E R Y , M . P . , Assistant
Russia and
Roumania.
Secretary.
Secretary.
1. T H E Chief of t h e Imperial General Staff stated that,
according to information received by him, the situation in Russia
w a s v e r y serious, and t h a t he h a d heard that German officer
prisoners were walking about in freedom in Moscow. It was also
reported t h a t the Officer Commanding the Russian 9th A r m y in
Roumania had been removed from his Command and t h a t his Chief
of Staff had been placed under arrest.
Other information w i t h regard to t h e lack of discipline and the
spread of the extremist movement to Moscow and Odessa w a s
communicated by Lord Robert Cecil.
India.
2. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff stated t h a t the
Commander-in-Chief in India had telegraphed to say t h a t , owing
to the recent trouble on t h e N o r t h - W e s t Frontier and t h e necessity
for maintaining a force adequate to administer punishment to the
tribesmen concerned, and to meet a n y eventualities a t w h a t appeared
to be a somewhat precarious time, he considered it necessary to keep
in India the seven battalions of Territorials which had been destined
for Egypt, and the three battalions of Native troops which were to
have been sent to East Africa, in exchange for three battalions there
which needed to be relieved.
Salonica.
3. J . reference to W a r Cabinet 128, Minute 5, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff stated t h a t General Milne had reported t h a t when the two cavalry brigades and one division were withdrawn he would have withdrawn a portion of his line from the Struma River, and had requested t h a t one regiment of the two Mounted Brigades which were to be withdrawn should be left behind. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff had agreed that one regiment should be the last unit to leave of those to be sent away. Though the Serbians h a d effected something, the recent offensive of the Salonica Force had resulted in no material advance. -fjo-e Western Front.
4. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff informed the W a r
Cabinet t h a t out of the original 4 9 reserve divisions which the
Germans had had on the W e s t e r n front, all except five had now been
thrown into the fight, but t h a t they still had a total of 63 divisions
which had not y e t been used in the fight, though several of these
were of indifferent quality.
German divisions were undoubtedly
being transferred from the Eastern to the W e s t e r n front, but the
figure
of 40 divisions given in a recent report was wholly
exaggerated.
French Military
^'
5 The subject of the military policy of the French came under
discdssion in connection with a letter written b y General Sir H . Wilson
to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, which showed t h a t the
question of t h e Chief Command of the French Armies had not been
finally settled, and t h a t consequently t h e nature of the co-operation
between the French and British Armies w a s not as definite as it
should be, notwithstanding the decision reached a t the Conference
in Paris on the 3 r d - 4 t h M a y , 1 9 1 7 . It was obvious that the
uncertainty of' the situation was due to political causes.
0
1C
*%
n
The Prime Minister undertook to allude to this m a t t e r in a
letter which he was about to send b y special messenger to
M. Ribot.
Egypt.?
6. In reference to telegram No. 1 9 0 2 , dated the 1 2 t h May, 1 9 1 7 ,
from the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Egypt, the Chief of
t h e Imperial General Staff stated that t h e only obstacle to sending
out the 9,000 men asked for w a s the question of shipping. A s a
matter of fact, 7,500 of them were actually waiting at Marseilles.
Submarines.?
7. The First Sea Lord detailed the losses from submarine attack
during the previous three days.
J)
1 bb
Destruction of
"
8. The First Sea Lord reported t h a t the Zeppelin " L 22 " had
been destroyed by British Naval Forces on the morning of the
14th May, near Terschelling.
Coal for Italy.
9. The First Sea Lord informed the W a r Cabinet t h a t Admiral
Sims had received instructions from the United S t a t e s of America to
make enquiries iuto the coal supply of Italy, which, according to the
information received in America, was very low. The First Sea Lord
stated t h a t a recent Foreign Office telegram had specified t h a t it
would be better if American ships were sent to "England to
load the coal lying there. He himself, however, was not sure if this
was the r i g h t course to pursue. Though t h e distance from Cardiff
to Gibraltar was only 1,850 miles as compared with 3,300 from
Hampton Boads to Gibraltar, the latter Oas by far the safer route of
the two. H e thought, on the whole, t h a t the best course would be
to send the coal direct from the United States to I t a l y .
It was decided t h a t —
L -
r
2 2 ­
;
This matter should be dealt with later, in conjunction with the
Shipping Controller.
Restriction of
Shipping to the
Atlantic.
10. In reference to three Memoranda b y Sir Leo Chiozza Money,
M . P . (Papers G.T.-660, dated the 4th May, 1 9 1 7 ; G.T.-698, dated
the 7 t h May, 1 9 1 7 ; G . T . - 7 1 1 , dated the 1 1 t h M a y , 1 9 1 7 ) and a
Memorandum (Paper G..T.-697, dated the 1 0 t h May, 1 9 1 7 ) by the
Shipping Controller, detailing a suggested system of restricting the
British mercantile marine to the Atlantic routes and maintaining a
reserve of ships, it appeared t h a t the A d m i r a l t y and the Ministry of
Shipping were in favour of the adoption of some such scheme.
The W a r Cabinet decided—
The matter should be investigated by a small Joint Committee,
to be summoned by the First Sea Lord, composed of
representatives of—
The
The
The
The
Board of
Board of
Shipping
Ministry
Admiralty, Trade, Controller, and of Munitions, which should report as early as possible to the W a r Cabinet.
Russia Possible
Defection.
1 1 . In reference to the Report on " P o l i c y in view of Russian
Developments," b y Lord Curzon (Paper G . T . - 7 0 3 ) , dated the
1 2 t h May, 1 9 1 7 ( W a r Cabinet 1 3 4 , Minute 4), a discussion took
place on t h e Russian question and its bearings on the general
situation.
Lord Robert Cecil w a s instructed to send a telegram to Sir E.
Howard, a t Stockholm, requesting him to clear up t h e
position as regards the various proposed Socialistic
Conferences.
2 , Whitehall
Gardens,
S.W.,
May 14, 1917.