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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

Printed for the War Cabinet. February 1940.

SECRET.

C.O.S. (40) 226.

(Also W.P. (40) 41.)

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.

сл

9

Copy No. 20

Chiefs of Staff Committee.

FRENCH PROPOSALS FOR ALLIED ASSISTANCE TO FINLAND.

REPORT.

THE War Cabinet were informed at their meeting on Monday, the 29th January, that the Chiefs of Staff proposed to proceed to Paris on the following day to discuss General Gamelin's ideas for direct Allied intervention in Finland. The War Cabinet emphasised that these discussions "should be of an exploratory nature only," and that the Chiefs of Staff should "make it clear that we appreciated the great potential importance of the suggestions made by the French Authorities.'

2. We proceeded to Paris on Tuesday, the 30th January. Immediately on arrival, we had a meeting with the British representatives on the Allied Military Committee, who had arrived in Paris on the previous day, and had already had an exploratory discussion with their French colleagues. We learned from them the salient features of the French proposals, and were thus able to discuss them amongst ourselves in some detail before meeting the French High Command.

3. On Wednesday, the 31st January, we attended a meeting at General Gamelin's Headquarters. The French High Command were represented by General Gamelin, Admiral Darlan and General Vuillemin.

4. We emphasized at the outset that the object of our visit was not to reach hard-and-fast conclusions, but to learn precisely what the French had in mind, in order that we might be able to report to the British War Cabinet. General Gamelin then gave us a general exposition of the French project, and we offered a number of preliminary observations. The discussion revealed a divergence of opinion between us on certain questions of principle; and it appeared to us that certain features of the French project lacked precision. We therefore suggested, on the conclusion of a long meeting, that we should prepare a Paper, setting out, on the one hand, the French proposals, as we understood them to be, and, on the other, our own comments thereon. The French agreed to this suggestion.

5.

We accordingly prepared the Paper, which is reproduced in columns 1 and 2 of the Annex to this Report; and this formed the basis of discussion at a meeting held early the following morning, the 1st February.

The French High Command said that they accepted our interpretation of their proposals as set out in Column 1 of the Annex, and that they were in

* W.M. (40) 26th Conclusions, Minutes 6 and 7.

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