Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] on United States naval responsibility for south-western Pacific; regrets not consulting Fraser more fully; also includes covering note by John Peck [Assistant Private Secretary to WSC].

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell, Supreme Commander, South West Pacific, on combat in Malayan Peninsula [later Malaysia]; approves of general conduct but suggests submarines be used to frustrate Japanese penetration movements up rivers. [See CHAR 20/68A/55 for reply].

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the Prime Minister of Australia [John Curtin] on the co-ordination of defence between Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, including the need to incorporate the United States contribution into the south western Pacific, and the defence of Australia itself; Australian, New Zealander and Dutch representatives will report via London to Washington until a Supreme Commander has been appointed.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] to WSC responding to T 33/2 [CHAR 20/ 68 A/47]; Dutch submarines already in use in Malaya [later Malaysia].

Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] to WSC thanking him for essential arms and equipment for the defence of Fiji and New Zealand.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Prime Minister of Australia, John Curtin, to WSC urging air-borne reinforcement of Malaya [later Malaysia] before the 8th Australian Division fight a decisive battle against the Japanese.

Scope and Contents Telegram from the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] to WSC reviewing recent developments, including: an anticipated German attack in North Africa; the feeling that Britain is less concerned with the Pacific than with Europe; WSC's discussions with the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt; the definition of South West Pacific; the division of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean into different theatres; the need for naval supremacy against Japan which has already...

Scope and Contents Telegram from [Alfred] Duff Cooper [Resident Cabinet Minister at Singapore for Far Eastern affairs and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, later 1st Lord Norwich] to WSC and the Secretary of State for the Colonies [1st Lord Moyne, earlier Walter Guinness] on a lack of confidence in the local administration: suggests Major-General Keith Simmons, Fortress Commander, be appointed as military governor, supported by Brigadier Simson, Director General of Civil Defence, and that Hugh Fraser...

Scope and Contents Telegram from General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] to WSC with impressions of personalities in Batavia [later Djakarta, Java, Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia]: Hart, [Admiral Thomas Hart, United States Admiral in the Pacific], Palliser [? Rear-Admiral Arthur Palliser, Chief of Staff to Commander- in-Chief, Eastern Fleet], Brett [Lieutenant-General George Brett, Commander of Allied air forces, Dutch East Indies], General Hein ter Poorten [Commander-in-Chief,...

Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Prime Minister of Australia [John Curtin] to WSC asking for confirmation of press statement that General Sir Archibald Wavell will command United States and British land operations in the Pacific whilst Admiral King [? Admiral Ernest King, United States Navy] will command the combined navies.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] to WSC on defence of Batavia [later Djakarta, Java, Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia] against Japanese attack across Johore Straits.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] sympathising with his complaints about lack of support [see telegram T 42/2, CHAR 20/68A/60-66] and explaining developments for defence of the Anzac [Australian and New Zealand Army Corps] area, especially a representative council in London, and the scope of the ABDA [Australian, British, Dutch and Australasian] area.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Prime Minister of Australia, John Curtin, to WSC on disagreements over the defence of Malaya [later Malaysia] and the speed of Japanese advance and vulnerability of Australia if Singapore falls.

Scope and Contents

Letters from Rear-Admiral Tufton Beamish to WSC enclosing extracts from an account by his son of a journey from Singapore to Sumatra; with reply. [See CHAR 20/53C/290 for further copy of WSC's reply].

Scope and Contents

Letter from Sir Edward Campbell [Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer] to WSC warning about the danger of Australia and the United States attacking Japan too soon and the efficiency and strength of the Japanese; includes manuscript, typescript copy and WSC's reply.

Scope and Contents Letter from 1st Lord Hankey [Paymaster-General] to WSC enclosing memoranda on the use and techniques of Bomber Command and the dispersal of capital ships and their use against Japan, written before his resignation; forwarded to the Secretary of State for Air [Sir Archibald Sinclair, later 1st Lord Thurso] and Chief of Air Staff [Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal], the First Lord of the Admiralty [A V Alexander] and 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound]; with replies by...

Scope and Contents Draft letter from WSC to General Douglas MacArthur [Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces, South West Pacific Area] bearing good wishes for MacArthur and his command, with appreciative reply, including MacArthur's opinion that WSC deserved the Victoria Cross, passed on by "C" [General Sir Stewart Menzies, Head of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6]; includes correspondence between John Martin and Francis Brown [Private Secretaries to WSC] and Valentine Lawford [Assistant Private Secretary to...

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond, Master, Downing College, Cambridge, to WSC on the threat to Trincomalee [Ceylon, later Sri Lanka] and need to improve its defences; also includes note to Richmond by John Peck [Assistant Private Secretary to WSC], notes by Colonel Leslie Hollis [Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet] to John Martin [Private Secretary to WSC] and WSC, and draft reply from WSC explaining that Trincomalee must be defended by British troops rather than Dutch,...

Scope and Contents Telegrams from WSC to General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander- in-Chief, Middle East, on redeployment of troops: Australians to move from Middle East to Far East; United States forces to Northern Ireland (codenamed "Magnet"), the Levant and Caspian Sea, and to Iceland for training; United States contribution to "Gymnast" [codename for the plans for the British occupation of North West Africa] will be "Super- Gymnast" [codename for a combined landing by British and United States forces], and...

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] on confusion among the United States Chiefs of Staff over defence of the Philippines.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to the Prime Minister of Australia [John Curtin] on subjects including: denying personal responsibility for lack of preparation for war; relating the threat in the Middle East to European and Japanese campaigns; the development of military strategy; details of ships lost and the future build-up of naval power in the Indian Ocean and Pacific.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] to WSC on plans for the defence of Singapore; Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival [General Officer Commanding, Malaya, later Malaysia] to fight Japanese at Johore, but if he fails Singapore will fall.

Scope and Contents

Telegrams from WSC to the Prime Minister of Australia [John Curtin] and to the Prime Minister of New Zealand [Peter Fraser] with a proposal for a Far Eastern council in London to co-ordinate the governments of Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in the conduct of war against Japan.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from WSC to General Sir Archibald Wavell, Supreme Commander, South West Pacific, insisting that Singapore be defended until the city is ruined and all equipment destroyed to prevent its capture.

Scope and Contents

Telegram from the Chiefs of Staff to General Sir Archibald Wavell [Supreme Commander, South West Pacific] with detailed suggestions for the defence of Johore [Malaya, later Malaysia] and Singapore.