Foreign Relations of the United States, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943

J.C.S. Files

Combined Chiefs of Staff Minutes

September 10, 1943, 11 a.m.

secret

Report of discussion and conclusion reached on Item 1 is contained in Supplementary Minutes,⁵ issued with limited distribution.

2. Allocation of Escort Vessels to the French Navy

(C.C.S. 336⁶)

Admiral Leahy suggested that the Combined Chiefs of Staff should take note of this paper.

Sir John Dill accepted this suggestion, and pointed out that it appeared to be a fait accompli.

Admiral Noble said that he would like official confirmation at the same time of the loan of four British frigates to the French, a matter he had already discussed verbally with Admiral King. There were in addition certain amendments required to the various Combined Chiefs of Staff documents dealing with the allocation of warships to the French and he would propose to put forward a memorandum dealing with these.

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

a. Took note that the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet had, with the approval of the President, requested the Munitions Assignments Board to assign to the French Navy certain escort vessels, the details of which were set out in C.C.S. 336.

b. Took note that Admiral Sir Percy Noble would submit to the Combined Chiefs of Staff a memorandum dealing with the loan to the French of four British Frigates and with certain corrections required to existing Combined Chiefs of Staff documents dealing with the allocation of naval vessels to the French.

3. Logistic Organization To Improve Mobility of Anti-Submarine Squadrons

(C.C.S. 272/2⁷)

Admiral Leahy said that the U.S. Chiefs of Staff suggested acceptance of the recommendations contained in paragraph 14 of the report.

Sir John Dill agreed that these recommendations should be accepted. He suggested, however, that they did not, perhaps, go far enough and that a strategic survey should be prepared so that the logistic details necessary to improve the mobility of the anti-submarine squadrons could be worked out. This report could bring out the most likely movements which might be required. The best way might be for the two naval staffs to prepare a guide for the Combined Staff Planners on which the strategical survey could be based. It was obviously undesirable, unless absolutely necessary, to mix forces.

Admiral King said he considered that the implementation of the recommendations contained in C.C.S. 272/2 should be left to the two operating authorities concerned. Close touch between the naval staffs was, of course, inherent in the consideration of this problem.

Air Marshal Welsh pointed out the difficulty which a group commander would have in preparing plans until he knew where he was most likely to go. Difficulties arose, not only at the reception end, but also at the despatching end.

Admiral King pointed out that in the movement of U.S. air squadrons to the Bay offensive it had been found that the reception end was not fully ready to receive them. He believed it impossible to foretell with any degree of accuracy the future trend of enemy submarine warfare, and therefore of the air requirements to meet it.

Air Marshal Welsh said that he felt that some advance could be made in the preparation of reinforcing plans based on the probability of future events. In any event, he felt that a report of progress on the recommendations of the Anti-Submarine Survey Board was desirable.

Admiral Noble suggested that there should be close cooperation between the authorities concerned in implementing the recommendations.

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

Accepted the recommendations contained in paragraph 14 of the report by the Allied Anti-Submarine Survey Board contained in C.C.S. 272/2 and took note that these recommendations would be implemented in close cooperation between the U.S. and British authorities concerned.

4. Employment of CVE’s in Offensive Action Against U–Boats

(C.C.S. 335⁸)

Admiral Leahy said the U.S. Chiefs of Staff recommended approval of the recommendations contained in paragraph 16 of the report, with the exception of that contained in paragraph 16e. In this connection the U.S. Chiefs of Staff felt that further efforts should be made to advance the dates of operational availability of British CVE’s.

Sir John Dill said that these recommendations had been referred to the British Admiralty.

Admiral Noble said that he felt sure that all possible steps would be taken to obviate the present delays in making British CVE’s operationally available.

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

a. Agreed that the recommendations contained in paragraph 16 a to d should be implemented as and when possible.

b. Agreed that all possible steps should be taken to obviate the present delay in making British manned CVE’s operational.

c. Took note that these recommendations had been referred to the British Admiralty.

5. Netherlands Marine Landing Force

(C.C.S. 331⁹)

Admiral Leahy suggested that the draft reply to the Netherlands Staff Mission contained in C.C.S. 331 should now be sent, with the substitution of the word “appreciation” for “interest.”

Sir John Dill said that he agreed with this suggestion. There was close touch in the United Kingdom with the Dutch Government regarding their armed forces and it would be desirable, when this new plan went forward, for this close touch to be maintained. Possibly assistance could be provided in the way of instructors from Dutchmen already serving in Great Britain.

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

Instructed the Secretaries to reply to the Netherlands Staff Mission on the behalf of the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the lines set out in C.C.S. 331, as amended in the course of discussion.

Reports of discussion and conclusions reached on Items 6 and 7 are contained in Supplementary Minutes, issued with limited distribution.

8. Scale of Attack on East and West Coasts of North America

(C.C.S. 127/3¹⁰)

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

Approved the report by the Combined Intelligence Committee contained in C.C.S. 127/3 and instructed the Secretaries to forward this report to the Canadian Joint Staff Mission.

Report of discussion and conclusions reached on Item 9 is contained in Supplementary Minutes, issued with limited distribution.

10. Selection of Code Designators

(C.C.S. 338¹¹)

Sir John Dill said that he agreed with the proposals contained in the U.S. Chiefs of Staff memorandum that the question of code designators should be put on a proper basis.

After a brief discussion,

The Combined Chiefs of Staff:—

a. Agreed that with regard to operations coming under the cognizance of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, the code names tentatively selected for projected operations should be referred to the Secretariat of the Combined Chiefs of Staff for final approval.

b. Agreed that the U.S. Joint Security Control and the British Inter-Service Security Board, in cooperation, should prepare a new or revised code index containing groups of words particularly suitable for assignment as code names for projected operations.

Reports of discussion and conclusions reached on Items 11 and 12 are contained in Supplementary Minutes, issued with limited distribution.

5. Post, p. 1222.
6. “Allocations of Escort Vessels to the French Navy”, September 5, 1943; not printed. This paper reported that Admiral King, with Roosevelt’s approval, had requested the Munitions Assignments Board to assign to the French Navy twelve escort vessels scheduled for completion in the period December 1943–May 1944. (J.C.S. Files)
7. Not printed as a whole. Paragraph 14 of this paper, the recommendations in which were approved at this meeting, and paragraph 5, which is referred to in the recommendations, are printed post, pp. 1294–1295.
8. Post, p. 1296.
9. Post, p. 1238.
10. Ante, p. 1092.
11. “Selection of Code Designators”, September 7, 1943; not printed. In this paper the United States Chiefs of Staff, noting that some code designators selected in the past appeared to be “unnecessarily inept”, reported that United States agencies had been directed to submit tentatively selected code names to the Secretariat of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for formal approval; recommended “that the same procedure be undertaken with regard to operations coming under the cognizance of the Combined Chiefs of Staff”; and suggested “that a new or revised code word index be prepared containing groups of words particularly suitable for assignment as code names for projected operations.” (J.C.S. Files) Cf. Churchill’s minute to Ismay of August 8, 1943, printed in Churchill, Closing the Ring, p. 662.