Catalogue description War Cabinet and Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Memoranda

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of CAB 80
Reference: CAB 80
Title: War Cabinet and Cabinet: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Memoranda
Description:

This series consists of the memoranda seen by the Chiefs of Staff Committee, from September 1939 to December 1946. Most aspects of the military effort (manpower, equipment, munitions, logistics, directives to commanders, strategy, relations with allies and neutrals, etc) are dealt with or reflected in the papers.

Records within this series are available to download as digital microfilm.
Date: 1939-1946
Arrangement:

Subject and chronological.

From mid-1942 to the end of 1944, most minutes and memoranda were marked 'O' (i.e. operational and top secret) and given a more restricted circulation.

Please be aware that the last digit of the item references do not refer to any folio or other reference on the original documents; these numbers have been generated automatically for system reasons.
Related material:

For post-December 1946 memoranda see DEFE 5

Minutes and memoranda of the Chiefs of Staff (COS) Committee for the period up to September 1939 can be found in CAB 53
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Cabinet, Chiefs of Staff Committee, 1939-1946

War Cabinet, Chiefs of Staff Committee, 1939-1946
Physical description: 107 volume(s)
Access conditions: Available in digital format unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1970 Cabinet Office
Accruals: Series is accruing
Unpublished finding aids:

A full printed subject index covering both CAB 79 and CAB 80 can be found in CAB 79/91 which is available on open access at The National Archives, Kew. Please speak to staff at the enquiry desk for the precise location.

Administrative / biographical background:

For the administrative history of the Chiefs of Staff Committee during the Second World War, see CAB 79

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research

How to look for...