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K3CORD of -a nootin-: hold at the '.THIE HOUSES- oh
Turr z::z. 35 ra d:;c::;d:;p, io-:-i at 12 noon
? 2 z z 3 it T
/"      The Right Hon, Y.'instoh 3. Churchill, II.?. ,
Prino Minister and Minister of Defence (in the Chair).
The 2i;jht. Hon. Viscount Kalifa;:.
Mr. H.'.V. Close, Union of South Africa'.
The Right Hon. Major R.O.  .Casey, Australia.
Mr. lici^liton iicCarthyj Canada.
The Rirjit Hon. P. Lan^3to:ic, 2Tov; Seal and.
£SX?:sgA2IAT
Brigadier L.c", Ilollin.
1.1?.. CHtnCIIILL said that he was £lad to malt© it his
duty, after payinc his rppects to the
first official
President, to have a talk with the Dominion representatives
in V/ashinriton.
TK3 HIHinTJlR then save a general survey of the
war situation.
The Par
East
oo he 'orcoarcd
The situation in the Par 3ast -presented
problems, and for a tine v:c should have t
to take punishment.   At the "best v;e had hoped that the
United States would enter the -jar on our side without
Japan "beconing involved, altou^li this was always an
unlikely contingency.     The nc::t "best was that Japan
"by 302:1c act of agression would he involved in the war
as well as the United States; ¦ Thirdly, the situation
might have remained as "before - namely both Japan and
the United States neutral.       The worst possible
situation would have been Japan in the war and America
out.     On balance we could be not dissatisfied with the
turn of events.     ITcvorthc.loss, both wc and the United
States had suffered initially grave losses in 'T:he"
Sa:
Kw had thv: fore to review the * si !;ua t ion.a£re ah. "The.
Prino Minister then outlined certain ."aval dispositions
which had been madj and the employment of aircraft
carriers as a moans of offsetting the loss of Capital
ships which wc both had suffered.   Our ultimate object
was to build up o\ir ITaval forces in the Paoific and to
regain ilaval control in that area.     This, however,
would talc© a little tine and would depend on now heavy
shi-os coining into service.
/Malaya....
aY.a
The iioy to the 'itu-tion was the security
oe ins
the fdrtress at Sih«;«.pore.     Every effort
made to send reinforeement s to Malaya, but it would
be the height oi folly to withdraw our troops and
aircraft fro:;i the Middle East just 'at the moment
when our operations in Cyronaicu were progressing
go successfully with every prospect of our gaining
a major military victory over the German - Italian
forces in that area.    As 3ben as General Auchinleck
had achieved complete victory it might be possible
to free our forces and some tanks for despatch to
the Far &ast.   In the meanwhile v;e were considering
inviting the Australian Government to : greo to send
one or more Australian divisions froiti the iliddle
East to the Far tiast.
0:
Australia
and Hew
Zealand
For the present thee was no d iger of a
serious attack ctevclo .in;? on Australia or New Zealand
The
J panose
Air Force
It would have to be remembered that the
Jc.paneco Air Force was "a wasting asset.    Our estimate
was that their production was only about 200 - j»00
aircraft a month, although #e hue some evidence that
Japan had been supplied with about 1500 German aircraft
possibly ¦ ith.so.fie German Air Force personnel.
Russia
The Russian situation was unexpectedly
favourable, amounting to almost -   miracle.    As long as
the Soviet continued to contain, and destroy a large
part of the hitherto victorious German Army it would
be unreasonable to press       Stalin to decla** war on
Japan.   Mr'. Eden> who was now on his way back froa.¦
a mission to doscow, had reported d. Stalin as saying
that he might be in a position to mlie war on Japan
in the Spring, although it was quite possible that
his hand would be forced by Japan making war on
Russia before that date.
In the meanwhile, it was important that we
should keep up our duota of equipment to Russia, which
v/as paying u splendid dividend.
The Trade
Viar
THE PRIiJK .ilEISTER outlined the present
position regarding the enemy attacks on our trade. In
spite 01
a large
iftcrea.ie iii the number of U-boats
operating, our Shipping losses had decreased in a
most satisfactory raanxiei during recent months. This
was due to the increasing effectLvenesv of our counter-
measures.
Future
Conduct
of the
Confer-
..nee.
THE i'RI&SE -JIMSTER then outlined his ideas
as to the general conduct of the conference fthieh
would taise piece in Washington during the period of
his visit.    There would, of course, be several confer-
ences on the highest level under the Chairmanship of
the President during the following two or three d:.ys.
The Cniefs of staff would be in constant consultation
with their American colleagues, ana the Staffs 1 ould
get together on the ietails of our joint action.
An early opportunity vould be taken to
keep the Dominion repretentatives informed of the
pro^re s:s of the conference.   Ultimately, at. the
concluding stage of the conference he md the
President had in mind to call a meeting of
repre entatiyes of all the countries now rangec in
opposition to the A:.is *'o\ : rs.       This Mectiiv would
of course be of a formal baturc with a viev. to
demonstrating the .solidarity of the Allied front op,
opposing the Axis,
/In reply to.
In reply to a  ;uest:U;ri> the I'rii-e to-mis te.r
s:';..c! that oo£ortuh"Lty .;biild       t . on au.'in.; the ore-er.
confer eric ps for the British !>t;-;i'' to consult Citli viie
Staffs oi.' the Dominion f'&pro entatives nbv; in \- aiii^t
Sunning up, the Prime Minister said r.e reg; rderl
thy ;pr^"ent situation       h-ein;; fr-M of ho Jo ano. ehcour.i^e--
raent.     The tossiaris v/ere fighting fcac;£ H&ghi^icohtiy
ahtf we h & th© powerful assistance ol the Unite-.   States of
America;,     ¥/© coiiiu theroiorc loSx to the future -vith
ho,.-; and confidence.
THE DQKTrfia: l^PK^iiJiiTATIVJlS bhonlcexl the Pri-ne
iiinii'ter for the opi'brtuhity he hid £f ioraeel ther-i for
o'ot^.ini:ii! up to tl to   rid. fir.j.t iif-.no   *no'.Lca^e oi" the
sitvr.tion.     They hoveJ it woa.U: be possible to have a
further Meeting of a similar nuture unci the opportunity
for o..;-scus>j.ons between their respective Staffs and the
Chiefs ••of Stafi' organ "3 sat ion in V/ashiiigton.
The meeting adjourned ahcJ :    cohimi&'rkfue v./as
issued to thi- "press*
WASIttNQ^OK, D.C.
23rd December, 19/,1«
* Anneal .
4HMBS
Communicate to Press.
Mr. Churchill's first official engagement,
after being received by the President, was to hold
a meeting at 12 noon v/ith the British Dominion
Representatives in Washington.     The following were
present:-
The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Halifax, K.G.
Mr. R. W. Close, K.C. (Union of South
Africa).
The Rt. Hon. Liajor R. G. Casey, D.C.S., M.C.
(Australia).
Mr. Leighton McCarthy, K.C. (Canada).
The Rt. Hon. F. Langstone (New Zealand).
Mr. Churchill gave a general survey and discussed
v/ith the Dominion Representatives the general war
situation and outlined the aims of his visit to
Washington.
24th December. 1941