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Armed forces

 Subject
Subject Source: UK Archival Thesaurus

Found in 991 Collections and/or Records:

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(Untitled), 25 May 1940-27 May 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/12/128-130
Scope and Contents

Letter from Sir Walter Windham to WSC offering his services to go to the United States and Canada to conduct a press campaign to gain more aeroplanes for the war effort; with [carbon of] a reply from "A B" [Anthony Bevir, Prime Minister's Private Secretary] that the letter will be forwarded to the Secretary of State for Air [Sir Archibald Sinclair, later 1st Lord Thurso].

Dates: 25 May 1940-27 May 1940
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), May 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/12/131-132
Scope and Contents

Letter from "E M W" [Edith Watson, Prime Minister's Private Secretary] to [Frank] Wood [Assistant Principal] (Air Ministry) forwarding a letter from Sir Walter Windham [not included in file] enclosing a device to damage aeroplanes on take-off. [carbon; with registry slip].

Dates: May 1940
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 17 May 1940 - 31 May 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/1
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, May 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell, Prime Minister's Personal Assistant].Subjects covered by the minutes include: the defence of Great Britain; aircraft available for service;...
Dates: 17 May 1940 - 31 May 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 17 May 1940 - 27 May 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/2
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, May 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell, Prime Minister's Personal Assistant]; Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; the Chiefs of Staff.Subjects covered by the minutes include: aircraft available for service; the...
Dates: 17 May 1940 - 27 May 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 02 Jun 1940 - 30 Jun 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/3
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, June 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff; F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] and Desmond Morton [Prime Minister's Personal Assistants].Subjects covered by the minutes include: the evacuation and reconstitution of the British Expeditionary Force;...
Dates: 02 Jun 1940 - 30 Jun 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 01 Jul 1940 - 31 Jul 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/4
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, July 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; the Chiefs of Staff; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; F A Lindemann [later 1st Lord Cherwell] and Desmond Morton [Prime Minister's Personal Assistants]; Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces [General Alan Brooke,...
Dates: 01 Jul 1940 - 31 Jul 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 01 Sep 1940 - 30 Sep 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/6
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, September 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence], the Chiefs of Staff and other senior military figures; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; senior civil servants including Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet] and Sir Alexander Cadogan [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs];...
Dates: 01 Sep 1940 - 30 Sep 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 01 Nov 1940 - 30 Nov 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/8
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, November 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff; senior civil servants including Sir James Grigg [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for War] and Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence].Subjects covered by the minutes include: air force plans...
Dates: 01 Nov 1940 - 30 Nov 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 01 Dec 1940 - 31 Dec 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/13/9
Scope and Contents Prime Minister's printed personal minutes, December 1940.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (annotated with additional printed information) to: General Sir Hastings Ismay [Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence]; members of the Cabinet and other government ministers; the Chiefs of Staff; Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the War Cabinet]; Colonel Ian Jacob [Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet]; [Pierre] Dupuy [First Secretary Canadian Legation, Paris]; F A Lindemann [later 1st...
Dates: 01 Dec 1940 - 31 Dec 1940
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 05 Sep 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/16/16-17
Scope and Contents "Weekly Intelligence Commentary no. 55" from the War Office General Staff. Covers 29 August to 5 September 1940 and divided into sections on: 1. Germany: a) possible use of gliders; b) distribution of German divisions; 2. Italy and Italian possessions; 3. Balkan States and Turkey: a) Turkey; b) Greece; c) Yugoslavia [later Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia]; d) Hungary; e) Bulgaria; f) Romania; 4. Americas (expansion of the US army);...
Dates: 05 Sep 1940
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers. This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.
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(Untitled), 19 Sep 1940

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/16/20-24
Scope and Contents "Weekly Intelligence Commentary no. 57" from the War Office General Staff. Covers 12 to 19 September 1940 and divided into sections on: 1. Germany: a) invasion of the United Kingdom; b) re-organisation of the German Army; c) artificial smoke screen in invasion; d) the attack on Waalhaven, Rotterdam [Netherlands] (from a German Air Force Journal); e) mobile troops in the Battle of France (from the German press); f) distribution of German divisions; 2. Italy and Italian possessions; 3. Balkan...
Dates: 19 Sep 1940
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers. This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.
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(Untitled), 29 Jan 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69A/59
Scope and Contents

Telegram from Field-Marshal Sir John Dill [Head of British Joint Staff Mission to Washington, United States] to WSC, informing him that the Combined Chiefs of Staff have considered the telegram of 23 January from John Curtin [Prime Minister of Australia] to WSC and are to draft a telegram to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] regarding the importance of air power in Australia.

Dates: 29 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 30 Jan 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69A/66
Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the President of the United States [Franklin Roosevelt] informing him of the danger of the withdrawal of the fighter squadrons of the American Volunteer Group from Rangoon [Burma, later Myanmar] by Generalissimo Chiang Kai- shek [Chinese nationalist leader] prior to the arrival of Hurricanes.

Dates: 30 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 30 Jan 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69A/70-71
Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Government of New Zealand to WSC requesting fighter aircraft to meet the likely Japanese attack from 1 division, 2 aircraft carriers and other naval units and to protect the main ports of Auckland and Wellington; provision is being made for a network of RDF [radar] air warning stations, the development of an air observer corps, and of new aerodromes with runways suitable for heavy United States bombers.

Dates: 30 Jan 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 01 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69B/86
Scope and Contents Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] regarding personnel changes at ABDA [Australian, British, Dutch and Australasian] command: informs him that he had sent his [Wavell's] earlier telegram to the President of the United States [Franklin Roosevelt]; quotes from President Roosevelt's reply to WSC [see CHAR 20/69B/79-80]; surmises that the American idea is to pull General Douglas MacArthur [Commander in Chief, American Forces in the...
Dates: 01 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 02 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69B/97
Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] asking him to explain his decision to order Hurricanes from Singapore to Palembang [Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia].

Dates: 02 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 04 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69B/117
Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] regarding the fighter defence of Singapore: feels it is a disadvantage that the fighter force should have to waste time flying between Sumatra [Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia] and Singapore; hopes to send 90 more Hurricanes before the end of February.

Dates: 04 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 04 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/69B/122-124
Scope and Contents Telegram from Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] to WSC regarding fighter allocation for New Zealand: believes allocation of 18 fighters cannot be regarded as adequate; feels that there is an unsatisfactory disparity between numbers allocated to Australia and those to New Zealand; requires at least 4 fighter squadrons in addition to 36 fighter aircraft already requested; hopes that the whole question of the defence of New Zealand is receiving consideration, "the capacity of this...
Dates: 04 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: Open
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(Untitled), 11 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/12
Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the President of the United States [Franklin Roosevelt]: states that the Air Ministry would like to announce Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse as Commander- in-Chief of ABDA [Australian, British, Dutch and Australasian] Air Forces; informs that Air Marshal Arthur Harris is to be withdrawn from the Combined Staffs Committee and replaced by Air Marshal Douglas Evill; comments on the situation in Singapore.

Dates: 11 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 15 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/47-49
Scope and Contents Telegram from WSC to the Prime Minister of Australia [John Curtin] and the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] reciting a telegram sent by General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] to the Chiefs of Staff in London and Washington [United States]: believes that the enemy advance on Southern Sumatra [Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia] necessitates a review of plans for the defence of the Dutch East Indies; comments on implications for Australian troops and...
Dates: 15 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 19 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/77-78
Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Government of New Zealand to WSC regarding the provision of fighter aircraft for New Zealand: asks WSC to help arrange the diversion of two United States pursuit squadrons; comments on the need for fighter aircraft.

Dates: 19 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 19 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/83-88
Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Government of New Zealand to WSC listing specific resources required by air force, army and navy in order to defend New Zealand against a Japanese invasion force.

Dates: 19 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 22 Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/107
Scope and Contents Telegram from WSC to the President of the United States [Franklin Roosevelt] conveying the decisions of the Pacific War Council, including: hopes that the flow of American heavy bombers to Java [Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia] can be resumed until the Supreme Commander [South West Pacific, General Sir Archibald Wavell] decides that it is useless; evacuation policy; the successful naval action off Bali [Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia], reinforcing the request for naval...
Dates: 22 Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), [23] Feb 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/70/118
Scope and Contents

Telegram from Harry Hopkins [Special adviser and assistant to the President of the United States] to WSC regarding the continued flight of American heavy bombers across Africa to the Far East.

Dates: [23] Feb 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open
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(Untitled), 22 May 1942 - 08 Jul 1942

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Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 20/55/111-137
Scope and Contents Letters from 1st Lord Beaverbrook [former Minister for Aircraft Production and Minister of Supply, earlier Max Aitken] to WSC, Lord Cranborne [Lord Privy Seal, later 5th Lord Salisbury] and Sir Edward Bridges [Secretary to the Cabinet] on the aircraft and shipbuilding programme, including the lack of dive-bombers, asking for minutes of the Defence Committee of Supply and on his speech in the House of Lords on anti-tank gun development; also includes a letter from A V Alexander [First Lord of...
Dates: 22 May 1942 - 08 Jul 1942
Conditions Governing Access: From the File: Open