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TO BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY.
It is requested that special care may be taken to ensure the secrecy of this document.
CL 207
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT )
The
SECRET
C.O.S.(41)734
10TH DECEMBER 1941.
C-O.S(1)422
Mosting COPY NO ting.
WAR CABINET
CHIEFS OF STAFF COMMITTEE.
EMPLOYMENT OF FREE FRENCH FORCES IN LIBYA,
Note by Major-General Ismay.
The Chiefs of Staff will remember that on the 28th November I received a letter from General de Gaulle in reply to mine of the 27th November, in which he withdrew the "totality" of the proposals which he had put forward regarding the participation of the Free French Forces in the Middle East and Africa in British operations.
2.
This letter was placed before the Chiefs of Staff Staff, who instructed me to tell General de Gaulle that plans had already been made for a small Free French force to advance at the appropriate time to co-operate with the 8th Army in Libya, and expressing the hope that he would allow this operation to proceed under the conditions which had bee arranged between the Commanders on the spot. A copy of my letter is attached (Annex I).
3.
General de Gaulle did not react kindly to this suggestion, and on the 5th December I received the letter which is attached as Annex II.
4.
Meanwhile we have now heard (see Middle East Telegram No.1640 of 6/12 (SUSAN series)) that General Auchinleck has apparently changed his mind, and that he has arranged for a Free French Brigade from Syria to concentrate in Egypt as soon as possible, with a view to its being used in Cyrenaica.
The Prime Minister has told General de Gaulle of this proposal, and has received in reply a letter saying that the French troops in the Near East are most ardently eager to join the fight.
5.
C.0.S.(41)706. C.0.S.(41)398 th
Mtg., Annex I
/c.0.S.(41)405th Mtg.,Minute 4.
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