Post by Diarist on Sept 13, 2016 8:33:06 GMT 1
We had a late working-lunch at the MoD. The senior officers of the four services, including the Royal Marines were also present. Winston told everyone that I would be travelling to Europe and the Middle East beginning next weekend so I gave a brief report on which countries I intend visiting and why. The CIGS asked why so much emphasis on Eastern and Southeast Europe.
"Greece and Yugoslavia supported us against Italy and without them Mussolini's demise would have taken longer. They are also potential customers for arms exports. Given the resolve of Britain and France against Hitler he is likely to emphasize actions against Eastern Europe first therefore we need to support them wherever we can. We already have Poles within TRADOC and we need to invite personnel from other potential allies."
"Why Belgium, Bob?" Winston asked.
"Prince Edward has contacts in the Royal family and I hope to convince them that the idea of a neutral Belgium is ridiculous. If they have Generals thinking Belgium can stay neutral we should offer a few of our sergeants to replace them. We need to get them coordinating their defence plans with France and The Netherlands. They are France's left flank."
"Good luck with that."
We then turned to the RAF and the eight-machinegun armament question again. I tried to stay out of that discussion by saying that it is too early to decide yet. We need to evaluate the different configurations first. "Next summer there will abundant aircraft available to use as test beds," was my final comment. There was nothing new to report about the Royal Navy although Duff Cooper did relate our conversation with Henry Tizard.
"Torpedo-bombers are very vulnerable to the defender's AA-fire so if we can launch weapons further away from the target it should decrease aircraft losses," I added.
Duff asked if I had contacted anyone yet in the aircraft industry and I told him that I was meeting people from Vickers this evening.
I made a mental note to ask Louis to recruit someone from the Royal Marines for his Navy section. We finished just before 15:00 then I went to my office and finally MCD to pick up Sally. I've decided to surprise my father at the bank.