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The German High Command and forces, flushed with the fall of Paris and their rapid and unbroken series of victories, will be prepared to take any risks and accept any sacrifices to defeat this country this summer, We must defeat this culminating effort if we are to look forward with confidence to victory next year.
6.
The issue of the war will almost certainly turn upon our ability to hold out during the next three months. Our first effort must therefore be to concentrate on meeting the imminent threat of attack with which we are now confronted.
Recommendations.
We Recommend:·
(a) That the graveness of the Emergency should be
brought home now to every householder and
local authority,
(b) That, in order to obviate the serious delays which
are being experienced in executing decisions through the machinery of existing local authorities, we consider that the time has come when there must be a drastic decentralisation of authority. We consider that small local executives should be set up under the control of Regional Commissioners and that they should be provided with the widest powers, In particular they should be
authorised to enrol as Civil Defence workers all persons not in the Armed Forces so that work on measures necessary to sustain the national effort, and our essential defences, can proceed with the utmost speed.
(c) That all the measures recommended in
W.P.(40) 168 (see Annex I) which have not yet been completed should be pressed on with day and night.
(d) That immediate decision should be taken to
evacuate "useless mouths" not only from the East and South Coasts, but from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada.
(e) That the area bordering the East and South
Coasts should be declared a war area in which complete authority should be vested in the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, including the necessary control of transport. Con- sideration should also be given to the immediate implementing of the present blocking and demolition plans in this area, including the Port of London.
(f) In order to avoid administrative delays
throughout the machine of Government, there should be the widest delegation of executive and financial powers in each department and thoughout the Services.
binet War Room.
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