The Grand Alliance (158 page)

2. This gives me the opportunity to say that all air
force ground personnel at aerodromes have got to
undergo sharp, effective, and severe military training in
the use of their weapons, and in all manoeuvres
necessary for the defence of the aerodromes. Every
single man must be accounted for in the defence, and
every effort should be made to reach a high standard of
nimbleness and efficiency.

The Grand Alliance

950

Will you kindly let me have a report on this?

Prime Minister to General de

19.VI.41.

Gaulle

Thank you for your message to me of June 13. I
value your views highly. They have been specially
helpful in the light of most recent events in Syria. You
may be sure that I always cherish the interests of the
Free French Movement, so vital to the rebirth of France.

Best wishes.

Prime Minister to General

20.VI.41.

Ismay

Please focus clearly in writing: (a) The arrangements
now proposed for more intimate association of the
Army and the co-operating air force squadrons; and (b)
the responsibility for airfields in the United Kingdom in
the event of invasion.

Prime Minister to General

23.VI.41.

Ismay, for C.O.S. Committee

The success which has attended the admirable
offensive of the R.A.F. over the Pas de Calais should
encourage this to be pressed day after day as long as it
proves profitable. The number of bombers going by day
should be increased as much as possible, so as to take
full advantage by daylight of the various targets presented. For this purpose the Cabinet should be asked
to agree to the bombing of any important factories
which are being used on a large scale for the repair or
manufacture of enemy aircraft, and any important
objectives in the area dominated should be subjected to
the

heaviest

daylight

bombing

and

effectively

destroyed. The French workmen should at the right
moment be warned to keep away from the factories,
though this should not prevent our beginning before
they have notice.

2. On the assumption that our domination of the air
over this area will be successfully established, the
Staffs should consider whether a serious operation in
the form of a large raid should not be launched under
The Grand Alliance

951

full air protection. I have in mind something on the scale
of twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand men –

perhaps the Commandos plus one of the Canadian
divisions. It would be necessary to create a force
exactly adapted to the tactical plan rather than to
adhere to the conventional establishments of divisions.

As long as we can keep air domination over the Channel and the Pas de Calais, it ought to be possible to
achieve a considerable result.

3. Among the other objectives, the destruction of the
guns and batteries, of all shipping (though there is not
much there now), of all stores, and the killing and
capturing of a large number of Germans present
themselves. The blocking of the harbours of Calais and
Boulogne might also be attempted.

4. I should like to have a preliminary discussion this
evening at 9.45 P.M., and if the principle is approved
the plans should be perfected as soon as possible, in
case the air domination should be achieved. Now the
enemy is busy in Russia is the time to “Make hell while
the sun shines.”

Prime Minister to General

27.VI.41.

Ismay, for C.O.S. Committee,

Controller, Admiralty, and

others concerned

British amphibious attacks overseas are begun
usually in the dark hours, during which it is hoped to get
a certain number of Bofors guns ashore, but these will
be quite inadequate to cover the landing-places from
the dive-bomber attack, which must be expected almost
anywhere at dawn or shortly after. The guns will have
taken up positions in the dark, and cannot possibly
have their predictors and combined control effective in
so short a time.

2. To bridge the gap between the first landing and
the seizure of airfields, with consequent establishment
of British fighter squadrons and air protection, it is
necessary that effective A.A. artillery support, at least in
low-ceiling fire, should be provided. How is this to be
done? It can only be done by the provision of floating
The Grand Alliance

952

batteries which can take their stations in the dark hours
of the first attack and be ready to protect the landing-places from daylight onward.

3. One hundred and seventy tank-landing-craft are
now rapidly coming out month by month. At least one
dozen of these should be fitted as floating batteries.

They should be armed either with Bofors or with
multiple U.P. projectors with A.D. or P.E. fuze. The
large-size Tank Landing Craft are well suited to this. Let
a plan be made of the best possible arrangement of the
guns or projectors, or both mixed. The best forms of fire-control and the principle of the four-cornered ship, so
as to fire at attacks from various quarters simultaneously, should be developed. This is a task for gunnery and
U.P. experts, who should be given the dimensions of
the deck space available, and should work out a full
scheme in technical appliances and personnel required.

The Controller should report what alterations would be
necessary in the ships. One ship should be so fitted at
once, and a nucleus of officers trained in the fighting of
a floating battery under these conditions. It would not
be necessary to arm more than one ship at the present
time, and it could be used for training and experimental
purposes, but the remaining eleven should be got
ready, with any improvements which may suggest
themselves, to receive their guns or projectors. All the
base fittings should be made and built in so that the
weapons can be rapidly mounted. Meanwhile, the guns
and projectors can continue to play their part in A.D.G.

B., the necessary number being earmarked for a
speedy transfer should an amphibious operation
become imminent.

Pray let me have a report in one week, showing the
proposed action and the time-table.
15

Prime Minister to General

27.VI.41.

Ismay

Let me have a note of the number of Commanders-in-Chief, and the names, who have visited the room at
the Ministry of Defence for the purpose of reading the
files each week, so that I can see who take advantage
The Grand Alliance

953

of it. Let me also see the first specimen file available for
their scrutiny.

(Action this day.) Prime

27.VI.41.

Minister to Secretary of State
for War and C.I.G.S.

Some time ago I formed the opinion that it would be
far better to give names to the various marks of tanks.

These could be kept readily in mind, and would avoid
the confusing titles by marks and numbers. This idea
did not find favour at the time, but it is evident that a
real need for it exists, because the “I” tank, Mark II, is
widely known as “Matilda,” and one of the other infantry
tanks is called “Valentine.” Moreover, the existing
denominations are changed and varied. A.22 has an
alias, I think. Pray therefore set out a list of existing
official titles of all the tanks by types and marks now
existing or under construction or design in our service
and in the American service, together with suggested
names for them, in order that these may be considered
and discussed.

(Action this day.) Prime

28.VI.41.

Minister to Foreign

Secretary, First Lord, and

First Sea Lord

Who has been responsible for starting this idea
among the Americans that we should like their
destroyer forces to operate on their own side of the
Atlantic rather than upon ours? Whoever has put this
about has done great disservice, and should be immediately removed from all American contacts. I am in
entire agreement with Mr. Stimson. May I ask that this
should be accepted at once as a decision of policy, and
that it should be referred, if necessary, to the Cabinet
on Monday?

Prime Minister to Secretary

28.VI.41.

of State for Air

I understand that little or no provision is made for the
defence of aerodromes between the date at which they
The Grand Alliance

954

are fit for operational use and the date at which they
are actually taken over, and that this interval is often a
long one, especially if some minor adjustments have to
be made after the main work is completed. This
appears to be a serious gap in our defences. Pray let
me know what the position is.

Prime Minister to Secretary

29.VI.41.

of State for Air and Chief of

the Air Staff

Further to my minute of June 20, about the responsibility of the air force for the local and static defence of
aerodromes. Every man in air force uniform ought to be
armed with something – a rifle, a tommy-gun, a pistol, a
pike, or a mace; and everyone, without exception,
should do at least one hour’s drill and practice every
day. Every airman should have his place in the defence
scheme. At least once a week an alarm should be
given as an exercise (stated clearly beforehand in the
signal that it is an exercise), and every man should be
at his post. Ninety per cent should be at their fighting
stations in five minutes at the most. It must be understood by all ranks that they are expected to fight and
die in the defence of their airfields. Every building which
fits in with the scheme of defence should be prepared,
so that each has to be conquered one by one by the
enemy’s parachute or glider troops. Each of these
posts should have its leader appointed. In two or three
hours the troops will arrive; meanwhile, every post
should resist and must be maintained – be it only a
cottage or a mess – so that the enemy has to master
each one. This is a slow and expensive process for him.

2. The enormous mass of non-combatant personnel
who look after the very few heroic pilots, who alone in
ordinary circumstances do all the fighting, is an inherent
difficulty in the organisation of the air force. Here is the
chance for this great mass to add a fighting quality to
the necessary services they perform. Every airfield
should be a stronghold of fighting air-groundmen, and
not the abode of uniformed civilians in the prime of life
protected by detachments of soldiers.

The Grand Alliance

955

3. In order that I may study this matter in detail, let
me have the exact field state of Northolt Aerodrome,
showing every class of airman, the work he does, the
weapons he has, and his part in the scheme of
defence. We simply cannot afford to have the best part
of half a million uniformed men, with all the prestige of
the Royal Air Force attaching to them, who have not got
a definite fighting value quite apart from the indispensable services they perform for the pilots.

Prime Minister to Secretary

29.VI.41.

of State for War and C.I.G.S.

We have to contemplate the descent from the air of
perhaps a quarter of a million parachutists, glider-borne
or crash-landed aeroplane troops. Everyone in uniform,
and anyone else who likes, must fall upon these
wherever they find them and attack them with the
utmost alacrity –