[Attachment]
Allocation of Finished
Military Equipment to Allies
At a meeting with General Moore of the U.S. War Department
to-day, we discussed the procedure for allocating equipment to
Allies whether under Lend-Lease or otherwise.
The situation arose from large demands by the Dutch for various
types of equipment and we discovered that the Dutch are
demanding equipment simultaneously from the Americans and from
the United Kingdom and, incidentally, usually not providing very
satisfactory data as a basis for the quantities asked for.
We finally came to the conclusion that if completed war equipment
is to be allocated as it comes out of production on a proper
operational basis, and if confusion arising from duplicate
demands is to be avoided, the following procedure should be
adopted:
1. The Americans and ourselves will each take certain of the
Allied and friendly powers as their protégés, receive their
requirements, and arrange for allocations of equipment to
them.
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We agreed that the split should be as follows:
- U.K.
- All Empire countries including India.
- Free French
- Belgium
- Poland
- Czechoslovakia
- Norway
- Greece
- Yugoslavia
- Egypt
- Dutch East Indies
- Turkey
- Russia* (see also under U.S.)
- U.S.
- China
- Latin America
- Iceland
- Russia* (see also under U.K.)
2. If the above division is agreed to, we envisage the procedure
being as follows:—
- (a)
- The various Allies put in their total demands to
London and Washington respectively, irrespective of
whether the equipment is to be of English or American
pattern.
- (b)
- In the case of demands for American equipment
submitted to London, the War Office (or Air Ministry and
Admiralty) notify the British Army Staff in
Washington.
- (c)
- The British Army Staff obtain at the monthly meetings
of the Joint Allocation Committee in Washington a bulk
allocation for the British Empire and its protégés as
regards all equipment manufactured in the U.S.A.,
whether it happens to have originated from Lend-Lease,
British contracts or War Department
appropriations.
- (d)
- This bulk allotment for the British Commonwealth and
its protégés is notified to the War Office, London, and
the War Office Allocation Committee allocates in detail
to the various parts of the British Empire and to the
Allies in accordance with the needs of the situation at
the time. The same Committee will of course also
allocate equipment of U.K. origin.
- (e)
- In the case of American equipment thus allocated, the
War Office notify the British Army Staff, Washington,
who inform the American War Department, who arrange with
the necessary authorities to have the material
transferred formally under Lend-Lease.
- (f)
- The Americans will similarly deal with the
requirements of their protégés, allocating to them from
the bulk U.S.A. allotment agreed at the Joint Washington
Allocation Committee. In the case of British equipment
being required either for U.S.A. or its protégés from
the U.K., the demand will be passed to the War Office by
the British Army Staff, Washington.
The main point of this arrangement is that we must, in the
present circumstances, allocate according to the military
situation and that
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we
cannot issue equipment according to the origin of the order
which produces it. It means, however, that although an allied
country may have been told that it will obtain equipment under
Lend-Lease arrangements, there can be no guarantee as to when
the equipment thus promised will be issued. The deciding factor
must be the military situation ruling at the time the equipment
becomes available.
It is most important that this procedure should be agreed by the
highest authorities on both sides and that all the interested
parties should be notified and asked to comply with these
arrangements forthwith.
