The Grand Alliance (154 page)

Prime Minister to Colonel

16.IV.41.

Jacob

Let me have on one sheet of paper lists showing at
present time and in September last the strength of
British Home Forces in (a) rifles and S.A.A.; (b) artillery

– including all types of field and medium guns under
one head, and also coast-defence batteries, and also A.

A., both heavy and light; (c) number of “I” tanks and
cruiser tanks in the hands of the troops; (d) ration and
rifle strength of the fighting formations; (e) number of
divisions and brigade groups; (i) on the beaches, (ii)
behind the beaches in Army or G.H.Q. Reserve or
otherwise; (f) strength of fighter aircraft available for
action at the two dates; (g) strength and weight of
discharge of bomber aircraft at the two dates; (h)
strength of flotillas in home waters at the two dates.

Very general and round figures will do. Don’t go too
much into details.

(Action this day.) Prime

17.IV.41.

Minister to C.A.S.

It must be recognised that the inability of Bomber
Command to hit the enemy cruisers in Brest constitutes
a very definite failure of this arm. No serious low-level
daylight attack has been attempted. The policy of the
Air Ministry in neglecting the dive-bomber type of
aircraft is shown by all experience to have been a very
grievous error, and one for which we are paying dearly
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both in lack of offensive power and by the fear of injury
which is so prevalent afloat.

2. The German battle-cruisers are two of the most
important vessels in the war, as we have nothing that
can both catch and kill them. I have never asked that
you should try to fight weather at the same time as the
enemy, but good weather may increasingly be expected. I do not think this target ought to be abandoned. On
the contrary, efforts ought to be made to overcome the
causes of failure. Let the following be examined with
the Admiralty: Take Victorious in her unworked-up
condition and let her mount twenty Hurricane fighters
on her upper deck. Would this degree of fighter protection suffice to enable a dawn attack to be made by
daylight by, say, a dozen bombers with the beat aiming
bomb-sight we have been able to develop? Let this be
studied forthwith and a report made to me.

3. Naturally, I sympathise with the desire to attack
Germany, to use the heaviest bombs and to give Berlin
a severe dose, and I agree that the bulk of Bomber
Command should be used against German targets; but
photographs should be taken every day of the battle-cruisers and frequent attacks made upon them, by
smaller numbers when weather is suitable or by larger
forces when any movement is observable, during dark
hours, apart altogether from the special daylight operations suggested above.
10

(Action this day.) Prime

18.VI.41.

Minister to C.I.G.S.

After the capture of Benghazi on February 6, the 7th
Armoured Division, which had done so much good hard
service, was ordered back to Cairo to refit. This
involved a journey of over four hundred miles, and must
have completed the wearing-out of the tracks of many
of the tanks. It was an act of improvidence to send the
whole division all this way back, in view of the fact that
German elements were already re ported in Tripoli. The
whole of the tanks in this division could not have been
all simultaneously in a condition of needing prolonged
heavy

repairs.

Workshops

should

have

been

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improvised at the front for lighter repairs, and servicing
personnel sent forward. Thus, besides the 3d Armoured
Brigade, there would have been a considerable proportion of the armoured brigades in the 7th Division.

General Wavell and his officers seem however to have
thought that no trouble could arise before the end of
May. This was a very serious miscalculation, from
which vexatious consequences have flowed.

2. After their journey back, at least 114 cruisers and
48 infantry tanks, total 162, entered the workshops in
Egypt, and are still there, and are not expected to come
out faster than 40 by May 15 and 41 by May 30. It
seems incredible that machines that could have made
their journey back under their own power should all
have taken this enormous time, and that only the
handful of tanks in Tobruk have emerged from the
workshops. Let me have a return showing exactly on
what dates the cruiser and infantry tanks entered the
Egyptian workshops, and on which dates any came out
and the rest are expected to come out. There seems to
be a degree of slackness and mismanagement about
this repair work which is serious.

3. What exactly are the sixty cruisers M.3, said to be
arriving from the United States by the end of April? We
have not heard about these so far.

Prime Minister to Secretary

20.IV.41.

of State for War

In Libya some German tanks are now in our possession. Even if these were damaged, we should take all
possible steps to get them examined by a skilful designer of British tanks or some other suitable engineering
expert.

If circumstances permit, a German tank, or suitable
parts of one, could be sent home in due course. Meanwhile, if there is no adequate expert already in the
Middle East, one should be sent out immediately to
conduct an examination on the spot.

I am sending a similar minute to the Minister of
Supply.

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Prime Minister to General

21.IV.41.

Ismay

I wish to have a conference on tank questions and
future developments, to which the commanders of the
tank divisions should be invited, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Supply. This conference should
be fixed for Monday week – i.e., May 5.

The officers of the tank forces should be encouraged to prepare papers of suggestions, and are to be
free to express their views. An agenda should be
prepared in the same way as is done for the conferences of Commanders-in-Chief.

Pray put this all in train, and let me have a minute in
a suitable form to send to the War Office.

(Action this day.) Prime

22.IV.41.

Minister to C.I.G.S.

I have examined the tank situation with General
Crawford. After the sixty-seven cruiser tanks and their
spares have gone, deliveries in the next three months
should be over 288. Deliveries of “I” tanks may reach
five hundred, and we shall almost certainly have in May
and June a good delivery of the A.22’s. It appears that
the spare parts of the Mark IV’s and the Mark VI’s are
largely identical, except for the steering gear and one or
two minor points. The engines are identical, and there
is a good supply of spares already in the Middle East
on which the Mark VI can draw. Therefore, we only
have to send the parts which are not identical.

Your trouble in the next three months is going to be
finding properly trained units for the tanks which will
reach you.

2. I should be very glad if you would yourself look
into the question of not wearing out too rapidly in
training the eleven hundred tanks now in the hands of
troops. We do not want to be told all of a sudden that
the tanks of a whole division on which we are counting
have to go in for a long refit, like those of the 7th
Armoured Division, just at the moment we need them
most. It seems to me that training should be divided
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into two parts: (a) training in the use of the tank, for
which, even in divisions not yet fully supplied, model
tanks must be provided; and (b) tactical training. In this
field everything possible should be done to spare the
movement of masses of tanks. A great number of
exercises can surely be carried out with Bren-gun
carriers driven at the corresponding speed of the tanks,
and only now and again should the tanks themselves
be made to wear out their tracks. The principle of the

“cover hack” being ridden till you get to the meet should
commend itself to cavalry officers.

Pray give me a report on this.

Prime Minister to C.I.G.S.

23.IV.41.

I fancy your trouble in the near future is going to be
a plethora of tanks [at home]. You speak of the speed
and range of these vehicles. In practice things do not
work out like that. It is only very rarely that a large
homogeneous force has to make a prolonged advance
or manoeuvre. Most times there are many hours
wasted in each action when everyone is standing about
and only a few can get on. Thus there is far more to be
said for a mixed grill, and I cannot think of anything
more foolish than stripping five divisions of cruiser tanks
in order to have one all of a kind. This is one of the
matters which must be discussed at the Tank Parliament about which I am sending you a note. A meeting
must be held in the near future. In England there are
very short distances and enclosed country, and the
differences between cruiser and “I” tanks will tend to
diminish almost to vanishing point. Uniform organisations ought not to be higher than a brigade. The tanks
ought to be more evenly distributed between the units
in this lull.

Prime Minister to Secretary

23.IV.41.

of State for War

All the lessons of this war emphasise the necessity
for good anti-tank weapons and plenty of them. The
number of anti-tank guns that can be produced is
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necessarily limited; all the more need therefore to press
forward with whatever substitutes can do the trick.

I thought that the bombard was distinctly hopeful,
and I was told that you had decided to order two
thousand of these, with three hundred thousand anti-tank projectiles and six hundred thousand anti-personnel projectiles. When can we expect these
weapons to be in the hands of the troops? And at what
rate? Pray let me have a programme.

Prime Minister to Secretary

23.IV.41.

of State for War

There are persistent rumours that the Germans are
constructing tanks with very thick armour – figures of
four to six inches are mentioned. Such armour would
be impervious to any existing anti-tank gun, or indeed
any mobile gun; the tracks and other vulnerable parts
are very small targets.

Tests have shown that plastic explosive applied to
armour plate, as, for instance, in the bombard developed by Colonel Blacker and Colonel Jefferis, has very
great cutting power, and this may be a solution to the
problem. In any event, we must not be caught napping.

I feel sure that the War Office are alive to the threat of
the very thick-skinned tank, and have an antidote in
mind. Pray let me have a report.

Prime Minister to General

24.IV.41.

Wavell

Would not smoke-screens used from different
directions, according to wind, give considerable immunity to ships in Tobruk Harbour? Have you the necessary
materials and appliances?

2. We should be glad to have details about the
German tanks recently captured by the Tobruk
garrison. In particular, are they tropicalised, desert-worthy, and fitted for use in the very hot weather?

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Prime Minister to Secretary