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THIS DOCUMENT
IS T H E P R O P E R T Y
Printed
OP HIS BRITANNIC
for the War Cabinet.
MAJESTY'S
GOVERNMENT
June 1944.
S E C R E T .
Copy No.
W . M . (44)
72nd Conclusions.
W A R C A B I N E T 72 (44).
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing
S.W. 1, on Monday, 5th June, 1944, at 6-30 p.m.
Street,
Present:
The Right Hon. W I N S T O N S. CHURCHILL, M.P., Prime Minister (in the Chair).
The R i g h t Hon. C. R. ATTLEE, M.P., The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P.,
Secretary of State for Foreign
Lord President of the Council.
I Affairs.
The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON, The Right Hon. E R N E S T BEVIN, M.P.,
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Minister of Labour and National
I Service.
The Right Hon. OLIVEH LYTTELTON, The Right Hon. HERBERT MORRISON,
M.P., Minister of Production. M.P., Secretary of State for the
Home Department and Minister of
Home Security.
The Right Hon. LORD WOOLTON,
Minister of Reconstruction.
The following were also present:
Field-Marshal the Right Hon. J . C. Lieutenant-General H i s Highness the
MAHARAJA OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR,
SMUTS, M.P., Prime Minister of the
Representative of the. Government of
Union of South Africa.
India.
The Hon. Sir FIROZ KHAN NOON, Repre- The Right Hon. VISCOUNT CRANBORNE,
sentative of the Government of India.
Secretary of State for Dominion
Affairs.
The R i g h t Hon. LORD BEAVERBROOK, The Right Hon. L. S. AMERY, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India and
Lord Privy Seal.
Secretary of State for Burma.
The Right Hon. A. V . ALEXANDER.. The Right Hon. Sir J A M E S GRIGG,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.
M.P., Secretary of State for War.'
:
The
Right
SINCLAIR,
Hon.
Bt.,
Sir
M.P.,
ARCHIBALD
Secretary
of
State for Air.
The Right Hon. BRENDAN BRACKEN,
M.P., Minister of Information.
The
Hon..
Sir
ALEXANDER
CADOGAN,
The Right Hon. Sir STAFFORD C R I P P S ,
K.C., M.P., Minister of Aircraft
Production.
The Right Hon. LORD CHERWELL,
Paymaster-General.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir ANDREV
CUNNINGHAM, First Sea Lord and
Chief of Naval Staff.
Field-Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, Chief
of the Imperial General Staff.
Permanent Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs.
Marshal of the Royal A i r Force
Sir CHARLES F. A. PORTAL, Chief of
the A i r Staff.
Secretariat :
Sir
EDWARD BRIDGES. General Sir HASTINGS L. ISMAY. Mr. L. F. BURGIS.
[27614-4]
WAR
CABINET
72 (44).
CONTENTS.
Minute
No.
1
Subject.
Occupation of Rome
....
T e l e g r a m to General Alexander.
2
Naval, Military and Air Operations
Air O p e r a t i o n s : H o m e Theatre. Mediterranean. N a v a l Operations. Military O p e r a t i o n s : Italy. 3
4
France ....
Portugal....
Wolfram.
5
Proposed International Monetary F u n d
....
6
Refugees
....
....
....
....
....
P r o p o s e d E s t a b l i s h m e n t of a c a m p i n Tripolitania.
7
Constituent Republics of the Soviet Union
73
Occupation
of Rome.
Telegram to
General
Alexander.
W.M. 72 ( M ) . 1. The Prime Minister said that he thought the occupation
of Rome by the Allied Forces was an opportune moment for him to
express to General Alexander, on behalf of the W a r Cabinet, their
admiration for the skill, judgment, tenacity and moral courage with
which he had conducted the Italian campaign, and for the victory
which he had won. If the Cabinet approved, he also proposed to
make a statement in the House of Commons on the following day.
The W a r C a b i n e t Warmly endorsed the action proposed by the
Minister.
Prime
Naval, Military
2. The Chiefs of Staff reported the events of the previous
and Air
six days.
Operations.
Bomber Command had carried out operations on each of the
(Previous
Reference:
W.M.(44)69th
Conclusions,
Minute 1.)
Air Operations.
H o m e Theatre.
Mediterranean.
Naval
Operations.
Military
Operations.
Italy.
France.
(Previous
Reference:
W.M.(44)71st
Conclusions,
Minute 6.)
six nights on " Overlord " targets. 2,550 sorties had been flown and
7,700 tons of bombs dropped.
United States bombers had flown 4,900 sorties and dropped
nearly 11,000 tons of bombs, mostly on targets in Occupied
Territory. I n addition, some targets in Germany had been bombed.
The Allied Expeditionary Air Force and the Tactical Air Force had
flown 13,000 sorties, dropping 3,500 tons of bombs on Occupied
Territory.
" Crossbow " targets had been attacked.
Enemy losses claimed for the previous six days had been
101 aircraft destroyed; our losses amounted to 97 aircraft. This
figure included 28 British and 21 American bombers.
I n the Mediterranean theatre nearly 16,000 sorties had been
flown as against 1,000 by the enemy. 9,000 tons of bombs had been
dropped, 3,600 on battle targets in Italy and the remainder on
targets in Austria and the Balkans. Enemy losses amounted to
194 aircraft as against 56 Allied.
The total sinkings by enemy action during May amounted to
20,653 tons. So far, there had been no shipping losses,by enemy
action during June.
During May 10 U-boats had been destroyed and 8 probably
destroyed.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff described the progress
of the battle in Italy.
The two main centres of fighting had been on the German
defensive line south of Rome and on Highway Six. South of Rome
the 5th Army had had a bitter struggle and two new United States
divisions had fought splendidly when forcing the German positions
on the Colle Laziali. West of Rome elements of our forces had now
reached the River Tiber.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff added that the support
given by the Royal Air Force had played a great p a r t in impeding
the movement of the enemy forces. He hoped that the Prime
Minister would consider referring to this in his statement in
Parliament.
The War C a b i n e t Took note of these statements.
3. The W a r Cabinet had a further discussion about General
de Gaulle's visit to this country. A record of the discussion is
contained in the Secretary's Standard File of War Cabinet
Conclusions.
[27614-41]
B
2
Portugal.
4. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs informed the
War Cabinet that Dr. Salazar had now agreed to put on a total
embargo on the export of wolfram, but regarded himself as
committed by previous engagements to allowing 98 tons to go to
Germany. H e felt himself that it would be wise to close with the
Portuguese on this basis, since, if we did not do so, much larger
quantities would be exported while discussion continued. There
was, however, some risk that the United States Government would
raise difficulties. He suggested that he should now send a strong
telegram to Washington, urging the United States Government to
agree with us in this matter.
Wolfram.
(Previous
Reference:
W.M.(44)67th
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 3.) '
The W a r C a b i n e t Approved the course proposed by the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.
5. The War Cabinet were informed that it would be necessary
Proposed
to
settle,
in the course of the next few days, the composition of our
International
Monetary Fund. Delegation to the Conference on the International Monetary Fund
to be held at Bretton Woods.
(Previous
Reference:
W.M.(44)62nd
Conclusions,
Minute 1.1
Refugees.
Proposed
Establishment
of a Camp m
Tnpolitania.
(Previous
Reference:
W.M.(43)77th
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 6.)
The W a r C a b i n e t Agreed that the composition of the Delegation should be
settled by the Prime Minister, on a submission made to him
by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
6. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (W.P. (44) 257).
The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs explained that he
h i f l t bound to bring this matter before the War Cabinet in view.
f the difficulties of a military character which had, at an earlier
stage, been seen by the Secretary of State for W a r to the establish­
ment of the refugee camp in question. He recognised the force of
these difficulties, but felt that they were outweighed by considera­
tions of general policy, and the importance of maintaining equal
co-operation between His Majesty's Government and the United
States Government in questions affecting refugees. The camp was'
badly needed. I t was important to keep our bargain with the
United States, who had performed their part.
ac
e
0
The Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security supported
the view taken by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Refusal on our part to establish the camp would be open to
misconstruction.
The Secretary of State for War said that when this matter had
come up for consideration the W a r Office had not been aware of the
personal correspondence which had passed between the Prime
Minister and the President, and that in the circumstances they no
longer pressed their objection.
The War C a b i n e t Endorsed the proposal by the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs that a refugee camp should be set up in
Tripolitania.
7. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
Constituent
Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs (W.P. (44) 284) examining
Republics of the
the
recent
Soviet constitutional changes which had resulted in the
Soviet Union.
appointment of Commissars for Foreign Affairs for the Ukraine,
Byelo-Russia and others of the constituent Republics of the Soviet
Union. There was a risk that we should be faced with a request
from the Soviet Government to appoint a separate representative
to the Ukraine. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs felt
that we should find it difficult indefinitely to withhold recognition
of the international status of the sixteen constituent republics, but,
at the same time, he saw nothing to be gained by hastening such
recognition. H i s present inclination was to try to postpone the
whole question of the recognition of the independent status of the
sixteen constituent republics until the peace settlement.
He
suggested that, if this view was accepted by the W a r Cabinet, the
Dominion Governments should be so informed and their views
ascertained. If they concurred, it would be well to keep each other
informed of any Russian move bearing .on this matter, and the
United States Government should also be informed and asked to
keep in contact with us on this,subject. The various representatives
in Moscow should also be instructed to exchange information
upon it.
. The War C a b i n e t Approved the proposals of the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs at " X , " and agreed that the Dominion
Governments should be consulted as proposed by him.
Offices of the War Cabinet, S.W. 1, 5th June, 1944.