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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF his britannic majesty's governmeNT
TO BE KEPT UNDER LOCK AND KEY.
It is requested that special care may be taken to
ensure the secrecy of this document.
CRET.
0.'S. (40)255,
MARCH, 1940.
WAR CABINET.
CHIEFS OF STAFF COMMITTEE.
COPY NO.
30
WEEKLY RÉSUMÉ OF THE NAVAL, MILITARY AND AIR SITUATION.
Memorandum by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
ar Office.
CL
243
2.
3.
On 19th February, 1940, the War Cabinet
"Agreed that in future the Résumé (Weekly
Résumé by the Chiefs of Staff of the Naval, Military and Air Situation) should be prepared monthly and not weekly. (W.M. (40)46th Conclusions, Minute 4.)
This decision was arrived at on two grounds:
(a) That a saving in time of the Staffs
concerned would thereby be obtained.
(b) That a reduction in the number of
reports issued to Ministers was desirable.
It has now been ascertained that the submission. of the report monthly actually involves more work on the part of the Staffs than does the submission of the weekly report.
A
I therefore propose that the Chiefs of Staff should represent this aspect to the Cabinet and request that we may revert to the original procedure of the Weekly Summary.
5.
In support of this suggestion I wish to make the further point that if and when active operations on land and an increased scale of activity on the sea and in the air become the order of the day, as seems likely in the near future, a Weekly Summary will be essential.
(Signed) EDMUND IRONSIDE.
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Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
255
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