Catalogue description War Cabinet: Committees on the Co-ordination of Departmental Action in the Event of War with Certain Countries: Minutes and Memoranda

Subject and chronological

In 1940 and 1941, a series of committees were set-up by the War Cabinet to co-ordinate departmental action in the event of war with certain countries, and for departments to consider the actions they proposed to take when warned by the Foreign Office that war with a particular country was inevitable within twenty hours, and after war had been declared. The committees were short-lived, meeting on only a few occasions, and in some cases not at all (memoranda only). Foreign Office officials chaired the committees concerned with France, Japan and Portugal. The committee on Italy was chaired by Sir Edward Bridges (Secretary of the War Cabinet) and Sir Horace J Wilson (Permanent Secretary to the Treasury), while the committee on French Colonial Possessions was chaired by the War Office. The other five committees (Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Roumania and Finland) did not meet.