Catalogue description London Munitions Assignment Board: Correspondence and Papers (LMAB Series)

The Combined Munitions Board was established in January 1942 by a directive of the Combined Chiefs of Staff [see LMAB(42)1 in CAB 109/2 and CAB 92/57], following an agreement between the British Prime Minister and the US President [see Co-ordination of the Allied War Effort (Cmnd 6332, HMSO, 1942) in CAB 109/1]. The Combined Board consisted of six British and American Service members.

Its duties were first of all to maintain full information on the entire munitions resources of Great Britain and the United States and to translate such resources into supplies for combat forces. The Combined Chiefs of Staff were to be kept informed of all developments. Separate Munitions Boards were set-up in Washington and London and a number of sub-committees were established to deal with different aspects of work assignment [see CAB 92/65-69 and CAB 92/118-126].

The theory of assignment was that the entire production of Great Britain and the United States was pooled and divided among the 'united nations' in accordance with strategic needs. It was contemplated that the production of other countries, for example Canada and India, would by stages be included in the pooling.

The adjustment of assignments to shipping was left to the Combined Munitions Board to work out without any specific directive from the Combined Chiefs of Staff. To prevent accumulations of unshipped assignments and resulting dock congestion, the Board provided for repossession of goods awaiting transport for more than thirty days. This period was later increased to forty-five days, and in certain cases to ninety days [see CAB 109/65].

Practical considerations dictated the system of two parallel boards and it was found convenient to group the claimant countries and services, some forty in number, and the assignable production into two groups: one including China and the South American republics and managed by the Washington Board; the other comprising members of the British Empire and the European allies and managed by the London Board. The Washington Board made a block assignment to the London Board in respect of countries included in the British group and received a block assignment from the London Board for the American group. Each Board then allocated among the countries for which it was responsible the balance of the production controlled by it, plus the assignment received. Both the London and Washington Boards were eventually dissolved in November 1945.

No firm agreement was arrived at between Great Britain and the United States as to a basis for dividing up the rest of the world for the purpose of claims for munitions. There were several instances of claims being made to the Washington Board by countries which Great Britain considered to be within her strategic sphere of responsibility, and as a result the Washington Board agreed in September 1943 that, before assigning munitions, it would obtain the views of the military commanders in the areas involved and from British representatives of the request [see IMAB(43)40 in CAB 109/9 and CAB 92/58].

Australia and Canada later established Munitions Assignment Committees in Canberra and Ottawa respectively, with both UK and US representation. They were also represented on the sub-committees of the London Munitions Board, and were invited to attend the meetings of the Board when matters affecting them were being discussed [see CAB 109/1].