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This dot was considered at cos(41) 1846 Meeting.
(THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT)
BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY.
"quested that special care may be taken to ensure the secrecy of this document.
SECRET.
C.O.S. (41) 31,
13TH JANUARY, 1941.
COPY NO
=29
▸
155
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WAR CABINET.
CHIEFS OF STAFF COMMITTEE.
UNITED STATES BASES.
Memorandum by the Chief of Naval Staff.
The attached telegram to the Colonial Office No. 935 from Trinidad is an example of the persistent growth of U.S. requirement and of their conveyance by a U.S. Officer of no particular status to the local authority by word of mouth.
2.
In this case at Trinidad, Major So and So announces that to protect the 18 square miles Cumuto military area a "ring"
Such a ring of anti-aircraft gun positions is required.
would extend to the sea coast on the North and East, to the outskirts of Port of Spain and the coast on the West, and to
in fact, it within 15 miles of the coast to the South:
The would embrace the greater part of the Island. administrative and judicial complications arising from widely separated naval and military areas are already formidable and it is evident that an unspecified number of pockets for
A similar A/A defence will be an additional difficulty. requirement no doubt will arise in the neighbourhood of airfields in other places, though it has not been mentioned yet.
3.
The thorny question looming in the background is that of Command, linked with responsibility for the surface and
Under our system air defences of the territory and islands. the Governor, Civil or Military, is Commander-in-Chief, and in order to preserve our Sovereignty it is no doubt important that he should retain full power of command and be
The question responsible for the defence of the Island.
is whether, with our light scale of surface defence and lack of air defence, the U.S. will consent to our retaining Command, especially in the case of Trinidad where surface and air defence on a heavy scale evidently are in mind and where some 9,000 U.S. troops and airmen are to be stationed.
4.
The following quotation from a memorandum handed to the Governor of Trinidad by the Greenslade Missi on on 16th October shows which way the wind is blowing;
The
...For defence of entrance to Gulf of Paria, right to instal necessary defence devices on the islands of the Dragon's Mouth and mainland of the Serpent's Mouth at such time as the responsibility for the defence of the Island of Trinidad may pass from H.M. Government to that of the United States of America. Areas here would be determined after exhaustive study by War and Navy Departments and would not require to be leased...
(Trinidad telegram No. 738 of
#7
18th October, 1940).
31
Annex
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