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Catalogue Reference:CAB/65/1/23
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]fV4?iie£
for the Wa Vebtom.
Septe^Usi 2039.
SECRET
smsl
ess
TO.BB
KEPT
UNDER
LOCK
A N D KEY;
It Is requested that special care may b& taken ii
ensure the secrecy of this document.
M A R CABIMSST 23 (39).
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street,
S.W.1, on Friday, September 22, 1939, at 6 P.M.
Present:
The Right Hon. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN, M.P., Prime Minister (in the Chair).
The Right Hon. Sir JOHN SIMON, K.C.,
The Right Hon. VISCOUNT HALIFAX,
Admiral of the Fleet the Right Hon.
The
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
LORD CHATFIELD, Minister for Co-
ordination of Defence.
The
Right
Hon.
L.
HORE-BELISHA,
M.P., Secretary of State for War.
The Right Hon. Sir SAMUEL HOARE,
Bt., M.P., Lord Privy Seal.
Secretary
Affairs.
of
Right
State
Hon.
for
Foreign
WINSTON
S.
CHURCHILL, M.P., First Lord of the
Admiralty.
The Right Hon. Sir KINGSLEY WOOD,
M.P., Secretary of State for Air.
The
Right
Hon.
LORD
Minister without Portfolio.
HANKEY,
The following were also present
The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON,
The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P.,
The
The Right Hon. ERNEST BROWN, M.P.,
M.P., Secretary of State for the
Home Department and Minister of
Home Security.
Right
Hon.
OLIVER
STANLEY,
M.P., President of the Board of
Trade (Item. 6).
The Right Hon. LESLIE BURGIN, M.P.,
Minister of Supply (Item G).
Air Chief Marshal Sir CYRIL L. N .
NEWALL, Chief of the Air Staff.
.. General r Sir
W.
Secretary of State for Dominion
Affairs.
Minister of Labour and National
Service (Item 6).
Sir
HORACE
J. WILSON,
EDMUND
IRONSIDE,
" Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
Secretariat.
r Sir - EDWARD -BRIDGES. ,
Major-General EL L. ISMAY.
'
i
CrAszii A. D:
Permanent
Secretary to the Treasury.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir DUDLEY
-POUND, First Sea Lord and Chief of
Naval Staff.
KicHOii,
-
CONTENTS.
Subject.
Statement by the Prime Minister on the Second Meeting
of the Supreme W a r Council ...
......
...
Pai
181
Situation in the Balkans.
Production.
British Troops in France.
Air, Operations...
...
...
......
......
182
Naval Operations
...
...
...
. . . . . . . . .
182
Military Situation
...
, ...
....
...
...
.182
Conversations with M. Daladier and General Gamelin
..
v
182
Land Forces
...
183
...
...
...
Second Beport of the Committee.
...
...
...
2CS. OS;
. **IMJ^*M^S^
. ,:epan-expedition some ."t$bh
./OUi
TLX
LIST
at the brdejr wa, R
IVEN,
Lo a ^ 0 , oa-d i 2 " 2
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by
:
' a Ol
; ihaa
' WLF
aser
- a - C :
a-aa
"
- -' ' - " ' - - .
T i e Prime Minister caid that he had aac b h H M ; to the
:
:
L
:
v/eV^r. -id fcka-occupation by Bessie- of
. ,
s
\,
j ,
, 'j, -,.cj^ ML - a a a a a a f cafa.
Further light migM
fes;te'Sf5Soa,
foreign Minister had rcajanoa S I W
' - Mcbeow.''.-'.p;''a:
a-..: d-VL
-. -, ' \ '
a"--p:- .'.' ; .-' a a ;
' It-had beenagreed- ihas iie Turkish Government snoiaapas
:.soaaded on-this matter after the -return.or- the Turkisn i^OI-eiga
Minister f i a a Moseeaa
.
.. The second point dealt with.-had been, a Fra:aa i a c a : : ? L tnat
OV
e-wlaoe on She aooling m
sc a :
a^-pa
^^^BIP
a
:
T
w
k
i
s
i
l
:
T
a.
-z ^
i '. Iao-i a,
cca
f
.
Frebch represeritatives to England, was remaining in London for a
atscnased had been various aa
.
; P, a a
The French \ .
-'
A $ k
o he frontier as soon as possible, In order to
.
.
i
a
a-b
- JPiaehVaai ahiaaake
i
observed that there i
sees anae
:
.a.,'
-aa a
'
'-£hbuldhold, -and that we wfere aniious to move our troops-forward,
l
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p
foe,
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air-,-
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.
;'.to ^ T ^ ^ ^
'to\toto-to:
(i)tooT-noieofShe Prams Ministers ctotonaentastotie Eseuto:
(ii) a^eed that ihe French GoveEamemlto letpiafc £to too
to :toto^ :K/c^
:
' to '"" -alseftssiialfe
\to to : " tlSafe^
the matte? should be referred to the W a r Cabinet.
l:;
m
-
-
m
&
t
o
*
*
::
;
' 2.
:
*
r
T
M
-(Previous'
V a r i e d odt
Keferenee:
r ^fflfiy^p^
W.Mto(39):2M-^
S e c r e t a r y
o f
S t a t e
:
es^ih^vmm^swismB
f o r . . A - i r
over Korth-West Germany had
:
to'.
The W a r - Cabinet took note-. of this rstatememt.'..
Conclusions,
Mmute 1.)
;
^otsi! - '
totoS.
-f&g F w M , : L m d ' . 0 / : ' : * ^
4teas&Mi.
received that am attack om a British merchant bMo was ma pro^sss,
(PrevioW." a - t ^ i t h e v r e
:
:
WmTw M
and the Dover tewage was neaiiy complete. Apart m
esrpin
reconnaissances, no nival operations of importance had taken place.
Cofcius!!
Minute; 3.)
. - . ' p v - -,.
; ^lil'vtoltoto
;
Oitototoii,
. '"(Pirevioii3
Bo£oj."'?iios:
W . M . (39) 22nd
sxt S. 5.)
, 4 Tft* C W */
l i f t o f f
to
M "Teasing &:, ? rrddtotoeeitoo
t i ^ ^
Afermajriy. ' ntoo cto
btoeyln-totoic^Sofeu,toeioT
&to .
to
totoWestern
- 1 o"to
-
- - Come.tato'io,
Miautoo 4
^ ^ - j ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ i : ' , . , [ , ;'.'.
r?A*2
:
toto?
sea apitoto^d -to.la 3 otoi n / ' g ' v
!£to;"to;^to;^
TJhc ?Jau Ctozaiito I;,:
to"
^ ­
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.
se&
SPtotoitmto
;
LUILY^EREAI^
fo"il2 b j J ^ D ^ S L ! ,
i,s, akciffik ^ . ^ 6 fawiEnxMo;
foresc i, A e m ^ k m e ^ - C ^ of
apply, foif A s Ifiiy-i.ve s I v M c d s s
IEETDIFT
propose
....
, ,,.
F I
;
M
;
' M D M ^
Piogiaw&e, woiirid involve ds im veiiy eeiioTie (ffiMsuiilfefes
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emphasised £haft the Treasimw '
however, that his colleagues should realise the feameial. impffieaftidms
-0*' vW$8P-..K*1BP0*!aiS,-.
WiMCa JUffiSfc 03 £apt OOffilHI
prppc
am
T^e Minister of Supply emphasised that while i
FOMMETIIOII ­
.:fj03fll^
C O U N T R Y , T H E W H O L E 5&-olHisioa P R O G R A M M E
w o t M I
MDITDOMEDL,
, Toy FILE D O L L A R
AND
PLILSIEES
AVAILABLE
FOR^THE G S R O M S E O F
NINE
TEOTE
R A W MATERIALS.
TNE;
following points emerged :— ',
women would be necessary if the full programmes were
to be exiled, ijmav^h
(i& ihis,
c i m m s i h m
5Q3 Mkiisiar
of l i f h o w i
N ;d
iLfriancl got vice empferiicc.:
dicotucriop of diteiOion BHJG£ fie loffi i S she i i
COXLL .^,J
C v i en mo r^coimi , D I I T I D D rzar
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that
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might we'
-ftlimlk that t proposals should^rejected because? of their financial
implications. ItWas certaih^hat we i n ^
and by planning he meant not only the preparation of schemes, but
the siting, erection and equipment of lactories and the provision
of materials and labour. This would ,cost a certain amount of
money and effort, but would not ,'iopmiiotit-.us to carry out the
programme to its full extent at any; particular time, or, indeed,
at all. On the other hand, unless the plans were initiated how,
it might prove to be too late. He had therefore reached the general
conclusion that the recommendations of the Committee, as set out
on page 2 of their Report, should be accepted.
;
(
The W a r Cabinet agreed : ­
(a) to authorise the Minister of Supply to initiate the necessary'
plans (including the erection and equipment of factories
and the provision of materials) for the supply on the
full British Army Scale within a period of two years
of fifty-five divisions, it being understood that there
would be the usual consultation with the Treasury on
the various stages of the plans :
(6) that the supply programmes of the Army on the scale in
(a) above, of the Royal Air Force for an output of
2,550 aircraft per month, and of the Royal Navy and
Mercantile Marine oh the existing approved basis, should
be subject^­
(i) to the necessary financial examination;
(ii) to an immediate statistical investigation under the
segis of the Minister ofdLafcour and National
Service, with a view to determining more exactly
the labour demands in various categories which
would arise, and - to defining/the resultant
problems, e.g., of dilution and so forth, which
would have to be surihOudted; thereafter the
examination should be extended to investigating
the possibility ofmating labour demands for still
'' further expansion of the programmes:."
(c) to invite the Chancellor pj j theiF^chequer tolay before the
W a r Cabinet a mou^^
;bVd;rJ'db:-j^
;
/ position:
\d)tooinvite the Minister of Supply to consult with theMinister
. - for Homed
for