Their Finest Hour (87 page)

Prime Minister to Minister of Supply.

22.XII.40.

I learn that the Central Priority Department has been conducting a special investigation into the requirements of materials likely to be short.

I am told that much the most serious case is that of drop-forgings, on which the production of airplanes, tanks, guns, and transport all depend. Requirements for 1941 are estimated at 441,000 tons. Home production is now at the rate of 208,000. I am informed that there are orders in the United States for 7000 tons, and that these are likely to rise to an annual rate of 25,000 by the end of 1941. Even if the requirements are considerably overstated, the deficiency is very serious.

Some moderate rate of expansion at home is expected, but we need to double the output. There are 14,000 workers in the industry, but it is reported that only 300 recruits have been received since August, that the industry alleges that it cannot absorb more than a thousand new workers in each quarter, and that it is difficult to get recruits. All this needs looking into.

Meanwhile, the only possible immediate action seems to be to increase purchases of drop-forgings in America, if necessary sending a special expert there for this purpose.

Prime Minister to Minister of Works and Buildings.

22.XII.40.

I understand that there is a serious shortage of accommodation for welfare services of all kinds to meet the needs of the homeless as well as of the evacuation schemes, and that you, in conjunction with the Minister of Health, have undertaken to seek for premises.

I hope that you will use your utmost endeavours to press on with this work.

I should be glad if you would let me have a return of commandeered premises which have not yet been used for war purposes, and which might be suitable for use in this way.

Prime Minister to Lord Chatfield.

22.XII.40.

I am grieved to find how very few George Medals have been issued. I had hoped there would be ten times as many. The idea was that you would go about and get into touch with local authorities where there has been heavy bombing, and make sure that recommendations were sent forward which could be sifted, and that you would stir the departments on the subject. Can you not do something more in this direction? You ought by now to have a number of typical cases which could be circulated to the authorities and departments concerned, who would thereafter be asked to match them from their experience.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Prime Minister to First Sea Lord.

22.XII.40.

Very soon the Baltic will be frozen. Let me know its state and future prospects.

What has been happening to the Swedish ore during this summer? The Naval Staff should make the necessary inquiries.

What traffic has been moving down the Leads?

How has the position of German ore supplies been affected by the events of the last eight months? Is there any reason why we should not sow magnetic mines in the Leads, even if we do not lay a regular minefield? We seem to have forgotten all about this story.

I should be glad to have a note upon this, and whether anything can be done.

Prime Minister to General Ismay.

22.XII.40.

The work of the Joint Planners divides itself naturally into two parts:
(a)
all the current work they do for the C.O.S. Committee, and
(b)
the long-term future projects which are indicated to them, and on which they are already at work. It is to these latter that I now turn. I think it would be well to appoint a Director of Future Schemes, or some other suitable title, who would guide and concert the preparation of the special schemes, preside over any meetings of the Joint Planners engaged upon them, and have direct access to me as Minister of Defence. I think Major Oliver Stanley (the former Secretary of State for War), with his experience of foreign politics and Cabinet government, would be able to impart to all this work a liveliness which I cannot supply except at rare intervals. He would have to be given a temporary Army rank to make him senior.

Pray make me proposals for giving effect to this idea.

Prime Minister to Minister of Aircraft Production.

22.XII.40.

I am disturbed to see from reports sent to me by the Minister of Sup ply that deliveries to the Royal Air Force of bombs and containers charged with gas have dropped very noticeably during the past month, the total during the four weeks from November 11 to December 9 being:

I understand that the reason for this decline is that factories have been bombed, and that difficulties have been encountered in the supply of certain component parts.

Nevertheless, it is of vital importance that we should have the largest possible supply of aircraft gas-containers for immediate retaliation if need be, and I should be glad to know what steps are being taken to improve the delivery of these containers and what is the forecast of these deliveries over the next three months.

I was concerned at the grave affronts to the rights and liberties of the individual which the safety of the State had required. Having been brought up on the Bill of Rights,
habeas corpus,
and trial by jury conceptions, I grieved to become responsible, even with the constant assent of Parliament, for their breach. In June, July, August, and September our plight had seemed so grievous that no limits could be put upon the action of the State. Now that we had for the time being got our heads again above water, a further refinement in the treatment of internes seemed obligatory. We had already set up an elaborate sifting process, and many persons who had been arrested in the crisis were released by the Home Secretary, who presided over this field.

Prime Minister to Home Secretary.

22.XII.40.

It must be remembered that these political
détenus
are not persons against whom any offence is alleged, or who are awaiting trial or on remand. They are persons who cannot be proved to have committed any offence known to the law, but who because of the public danger and the conditions of war have to be held in custody. Naturally I feel distressed at having to be responsible for action so utterly at variance with all the fundamental principles of British liberty,
habeas corpus and
the like. The public danger justifies the action taken, but that danger is now receding.

In the case of Mosley and his wife there is much prejudice from the Left, and in the case of the Pandit Nehru from the Right. I particularly asked that the rigorous character of the latter’s imprisonment should be removed. In foreign countries such people are confined in fortresses – at least, they used to be when the world was still civilised.

These reflections led me to look into the details of Mosley’s present confinement, as well as others of that category. Does a bath every week mean a hot bath, and would it be very wrong to allow a bath every day? What facilities are there for regular outdoor exercise and games and recreation under Rule 8? If the correspondence is censored, as it must be, I do not see any reason why it should be limited to two letters a week. What literature is allowed? Is it limited to the prison libraries? Are newspapers allowed? What are the regulations about paper and ink for writing books or studying particular questions? Are they allowed to have a wireless set? What arrangements are permitted to husbands and wives to see each other, and what arrangements have been made for Mosley’s wife to see her baby, from whom she was taken before it was weaned?

I should be grateful if you would let me know your own view upon these matters.

Prime Minister to Prime Minister of Australia.

23.XII.40.

1. I am most grateful for your promised help at Singapore in respect both of troops and of equipment and ammunition, and hope that you will make these available as proposed. If so we will arrange to relieve your troops in May by the equivalent of a division from India.

2. The danger of Japan going to war with the British Empire is in my opinion definitely less than it was in June after the collapse of France. Since then we have beaten off the attacks of the German Air Force, deterred the invader by our ever-growing land strength, and gained a decisive victory in Libya. Since then the Italians have shown their weakness by sea, land, and air, and we no longer doubt our ability to defend the Delta and the Canal until or unless Germany makes her way through Turkey, Syria, and Palestine. This would be a long-term affair. Our position in the Eastern Mediterranean is enormously improved by the possession of Crete, where we are making at Suda Bay a second Scapa, and also by our victories and those of the Greeks, and the facilities we now have for building up strong air bases in Greece from which Italy can be attacked.

3. The naval and military successes in the Mediterranean and our growing advantage there by land, sea, and air will not be lost upon Japan. It is quite impossible for our Fleet to leave the Mediterranean at the present juncture without throwing away irretrievably all that has been gained there and all the prospects of the future. On the other hand, with every weakening of the Italian naval power, the mobility of our Mediterranean Fleet becomes potentially greater, and should the Italian Fleet be knocked out as a factor, and Italy herself broken as a combatant, as she may be, we could send strong naval forces to Singapore without suffering any serious disadvantage. We must try to bear our Eastern anxieties patiently and doggedly until this result is achieved, it always being understood that if Australia is seriously threatened by invasion, we should not hesitate to compromise or sacrifice the Mediterranean position for the sake of our kith and kin.

4. Apart from the Mediterranean, the naval strain has considerably increased. When
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
join the German Fleet, which they may have done already, the Germans will once again be able to form a line of battle. The
King George V
is ready, but we do not get
Prince of Wales
for several months, nor
Duke of York
till midsummer, nor
Anson
till the end of the year 1941. For the next six months we must keep more concentrated at Scapa Flow than has been necessary so far. The appearance of a raiding pocket battleship in the Atlantic has forced us to provide battleship escort again for our convoys, and we are forming hunting-groups for the raiders in the South Atlantic, and if necessary in the Indian Ocean. We have always to consider the possibility of the undamaged portion of the French Fleet being betrayed by Darlan to Germany.

5. For all these reasons we are at the fullest naval strain I have seen either in this or the former war. The only way in which a naval squadron could be found for Singapore would be by ruining the Mediterranean situation. This I am sure you would not wish us to do unless or until the Japanese danger becomes far more menacing than at present. I am also persuaded that if Japan should enter the war, the United States will come in on our side, which will put the naval boot very much on the other leg, and be a deliverance from many perils.

6. As regards air reinforcements for Malaya, the Conference at Singapore recommended the urgent despatch of considerable numbers of aircraft. With the ever-changing situation it is difficult to commit ourselves to the precise number of aircraft which we can make available for Singapore, and we certainly could not spare the flying-boats to lie about idle there on the remote chance of a Japanese attack when they ought to be playing their part in the deadly struggle on the northwestern approaches. Broadly speaking, our policy is to build up as large as possible a fleet, army, and air force in the Middle East, and keep this in a fluid condition, either to prosecute war in Libya, Greece, and presently Thrace, or reinforce Singapore should the Japanese attitude change for the worse. In this way dispersion of forces will be avoided and victory will give its own far-reaching protections in many directions.

7. I must tell you finally that we are sending enormous convoys of troops and munitions to the Middle East, and we shall have nearly 300,000 men there by February. This again entails heavy escort duties. But great objects are at stake, and risks must be run in every quarter of the globe, if we are to emerge from all our dangers, as I am sure we shall.

8. I am arranging for details as regards shipping and equipment, etc., to be taken up direct between the War Office and Army Headquarters, Melbourne.

With all good wishes.

Prime Minister to General Ismay.

23.XII.40.

Please see that I have a good supply of photographs of war places. For instance, Sollum, Barclia, etc.

One of your staff might be told off to give some attention to this.