Skip to main content

(Untitled), 26 May 1942

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/75/79-81

Scope and Contents

Telegram from Field Marshal Jan Smuts [Prime Minister of South Africa] to WSC marked "most secret and personal" reporting his conclusions on general strategy based upon his visit to the Middle East: comments on the situation in Libya and states that he considers "conclusive operations in Libyan bulge essential for our real victory"; comments on the importance of holding a Middle East block, including Iran, Iraq, India, Ceylon [later Sri Lanka] and the Indian Ocean, from both German and Japanese attack; argues that there are not sufficient forces to maintain this position in the Middle East if the Soviet Union is defeated or withdraws north and suggests that American naval and land forces should be concentrated in the Indian Ocean not Australia; reports his conversation with Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Johnson [Personal Representative of the President of the United States in India], including Johnston's remarks about Mohandas Gandhi and the Congress Party.

Dates

  • Creation: 26 May 1942

Conditions Governing Access

From the File:

Open

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright: Crown Copyright

Extent

3 folio(s)

Language of Materials

English

External Documents

Former / Other Reference

T 760/2

Repository Details

Part of the Churchill Archives Centre Repository

Contact:
Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill College
Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 0DS United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 336087