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(c) crown copyright Catalogue Reference:CAB/65/18/32 Image Reference:0001 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT Printed for the War Cabinet. May 1941. SECRET. Copy No. W.M. (-11) 53rd Conclusions. TO BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY. It is requested that special care may be taken to ensure the secrecy of this document. WAR CABINET 53 (41). CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, S.W. 1, on Monday, May 26, 1941, at 5 P.M. Present: The Right Hon. WINSTON S. CHURCHILL, M.P., Prime Minister (in the Chair). The Right Hon. C. R. ATTLEE, M.P., The Right Hon. Sir JOHN ANDERSON, Lord Privy Seal. M.P., Lord President of the Council. The Right Hon. ANTHONY EDEN, M.P., The Right Hon. A. GREENWOOD, M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign Minister without Portfolio. Affairs. The Right Hon. LORD BEAVERBROOK, The Right Hon. Sir KINGSLEY WOOD, Minister of State. M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Right Hon. ERNEST BEVIN, M.P., Minister of Labour and National Service. The following were also present: The Right Hon. HERBERT MORRISON, I The Right Hon. VISCOUNT CRANBORNE, M.P., Secretary of State for the Home Secretary of State for Dominion Department and Minister of Home Affairs. Security. The Right Hon. LORD MOYNE, Secre- The Right Hon. A. V. ALEXANDER, tary of State for the Colonies. M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty. The Right Hon. H. D. MARGESSON, The Right Hon. Sir ARCHIBALD M.P., Secretary of State for War. SINCLAIR, Bt., M.P., Secretary of State for Air. The Right Hon. HUGH DALTON, M.P., The Right Hon. Sir DONALD SOMERVELL, Minister of Economic Warfare K.C., M.P., Attorney-General (Item 5). (Item 3). The Right Hon. JAMES STUART, M.P., The Hon. Sir ALEXANDER CADOGAN, Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Permanent Under-Secretary of State Treasury (Item 5). for Foreign Affairs. Admiral of the Fleet Sir DUDLEY General Sir JOHN DILL, Chief of the POUND, First Sea Lord and Chief of Imperial General Staff. Naval Staff. Air Chief Marshal Sir CHARLES F. A. PORTAL, Chief of the Air Staff. Secretariat. Sir EDWARD BRIDGES. Major-Geheral Sir HASTINGS ISMAY. Mr. W . D WILKINSON. Mr. L. F. BURGIS. [22556] WAR CABINET 53 (41). CONTENTS. Minute No. Subject. Page. 1 Naval, Military and Air Operations .... 45 Naval Operations: Naval Battle in the Denmark Strait. Eastern Mediterranean. Crete. 2 Aliens .... .... .... .... .... .... 45 Application of Conscription. 3 Blockade 45 French North Africa. 4 Shipping 46 Publication of shipping losses. 5 Conscription .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 47 Application to Northern Ireland. Naval, Military 1. The First Sea Lord gave an account of the Naval engage and Air ment in the early morning of the 24th May between the German Operations. battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen, and H.M. ships (Previous Hood and Prince of Wales. As the War Cabinet were aware, Reference: the Hood had blown up after about twenty minutes' fighting. The W.M. (41) 52nd First Sea Lord also described the events leading up to and following Conclusions, the action. A record of his statement is contained in the Secretary's Minute 1.) Standard File of War Cabinet Conclusions. Naval Operations. Naval Battle in the Denmark Strait. Eastern A report had been received that H.M.S. Formidable had been Mediterranean. bombed. It was not yet known what damage she had received. H.M.S. Grimsby, a sloop of 1,400 tons, had been bombed and sunk north of Tobruk. Crete. General discussion followed as to the course of operations in Crete. During the last two nights we had landed a limited number of troops and stores. German air-borne troops were holding their ground in the Maleme area and had attacked our troops west of Canea, where severe fighting was continuing. A critical point in the operations had now been reached. The War Cabinet were informed that a telegram had been despatched, emphasising the crucial importance of preventing any considerable reinforcement of men and material from reaching the enemy in the island at this stage. Discussion also took place as to the adequacy of the prepara tions in Crete to meet the scale of attack which had developed. The Prime Minister informed the War Cabinet of the suggestions which he had made to this end during the past month. The War Cabinet took note of this statement. Aliens. 2. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said that a Application of scheme had now been worked out for the conscription of aliens in Conscription. this country, which he proposed to put before the Representatives of the Foreign Governments concerned, and to which he hoped they would agree. The War Cabinet took note of this statement. Blockade. 3. The Foreign Secretary said that the United States Govern French North ment had received a report from Mr. Murphy, whom they had sent Africa. to see General Weygand. The latter had given certain assurances, which, however, seemed to him (the Foreign Secretary) to be unsatis (Previous factory. Nevertheless, the United States Government wished to Eeference: ' continue economic assistance to North Africa (Telegram 2325 W.M. (41) 32nd from Washington). It must also be remembered that Germany Conclusions, , ; Minute 5.) ' wished ,tq encourage Vichy to attack the Free French. There was thus f ra danger that these supplies, if sent to General Weygand, ' . -i would be used against them: The Prime Minister doubted whether the consignments which the United States Government proposed to send were of great con sequence. It had long been the policy of the United States Government to combine inducements to the Vichy Government with threats of more drastic action. On the whole, he was not disposed to take a very stiff line with the United, States Government on this matter. [22556], B 2 The Minister of Economic Warfare said that a number of the commodities it was proposed to send, e.g., sugar and tea, were quite harmless, but that this did not apply to the cargo of the Sheherazade, which was carrying 13,000 tons of oil. The War Cabinet— Invited the Foreign Secretary to reply to Washington to the effect that, while we agreed in general to their proposal, we wished to warn them that there was a risk that certain cargoes, included in these shipments, might be used against the Free French, and that we should be glad if this aspect of the matter could be kept in mind. Shipping. 4. The First Lord of the Admiralty raised the question Publication of whether we should issue, following a strong demand from American Shipping Losses. correspondents in this country, a communique as to the attack on the Atlantic convoy on the 20th May. The Germans had claimed nine (Previous ships sunk—we knew that six had been lost, but it was hoped that Eeference: others might still make port. In the circumstances, it was difficult W.M. (41) 48th to issue any statement which would not give information which Conclusions, would be of value to the enemy. Minute 9.) The Minister of State thought a communique should be issued. The United States correspondents in this country were highly critical of our attitude towards the issue of news, and complained that German news in America would hold the field until we adopted a more forthcoming attitude on the matter. A general discussion followed in which the following points were made:— (1) If this particular German claim was contradicted, it might lead us into the position of having to contradict every inaccurate German communique. We must be guided by whether publication of these losses would give informa tion of military value. (2) It was stated that the Isolationists in America maintained that our Atlantic shipping losses were small. To state what our losses in this convoy had been would strengthen the hands of those in America who favoured giving us more help. (3) On the other hand, to publish these losses at the moment might, following the loss of the Hood, have a depressing effect upon opinion both in the United States of America and at home. Our action in releasing this information just prior to the Presidents speech might come in for criticism. The War Cabinet agreed as follows : - , (a) For. the present, no communique should be published as to the attack on the convoy on the 20th May. \b) President Roosevelt should be informed of the number of ships we had lost in the Atlantic Convoy attacked during the previous week, and it. should be left to his discretion to determine what use lie should make of the information, subject to no disclosure being made of the fact that two of the ships torpedoed by the enemy were still afloat. : P , (c) The Admiralty should formulate., foreonsideration by the War Cabinet, draft rules to govern the-publication of - our naval and merchant shipping losses. (d) The Lord President was authorised to give Mr. Harriman particulars showing the proportion of cargoes of munitions, &c, lost in the months of January. February and March 1941. Conscription. 5. The War Cabinet had before them the following further Application to Papers on this matter :— Northern (i) A Memorandum by the Home Secretary as to the probable Ireland. reactions of labour and the Roman Catholic Church (Previous (W.P. (41) 110). Reference: (ii) A Memorandum by the Home Secretary, covering a Report W.M. (41) 52nd by the Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabu Conclusions, lary (W.P. (41) 111). Minute 3.) (iii) A telegram from the United Kingdom representative in Eire to the Dominions Office (W.P.