Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎110r] (219/544)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government^
Printed for the War Cabinet. September 1918.
SECRET.
E.C. 31st Minutes.
WAR CABINET.
EASTERN COMMITTEE.
Minutes of the 31st Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzons Loom at
the Privy Council OjJice on Tuesday, September 17, 1918, at 3 p.m.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedlkston, K.G., G.C.S.T.,
(in the Chair).
G.C.I.E.
The Right Hon. Lord Hardinge of
Penshurst, K.G., G.O.B., G.C.S.T.,
G.C.M.G. [Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade). , G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., ISO.,
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs (representing the
Secretary of State).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P-
Secretary of State for India.
The following also attended :
Sir E. Crowe, K.C.B, K.C.M.G.,
Assistant Secretary, Foreign Office.
Mr. L. Oliphant, C.M.G., Foreign Office.
Rear-Admiral G. P. W. Hope, C.B., Deputy
First Sea Lord.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgit, C.B., India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Lieutenant-General Sir H. V. Cox,
K.C.M.G.,C.B.,C.S.l , Military Secretary,
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Major-General W. Thwaites, C.B.,
Director of Military Intelligence.
Lieutenant-Colonel L. Storr, Secretary.
Major the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P. (Temporary Deputy Secretary). 1
Suggested Unifica
tion of Political
and Military Con
trol in the Eastern
Theatres of War
under India.
1. IN resuming the discussion commenced at the 30th Meeting
of the Committee upon the suggestion put forward by the
Commander-in-Chief in India in his telegram (E.C.-1295), the
Chairman stated that the previous evening General Smuts had
submitted a confidential Memorandum to the War Cabinet upon the
possibility of Germany resuming offensive operations in the Middle
East next year. General Smuts was much concerned at the
complexity and confusion of authority which still existed in regard
to military and political control in the Caspian, Turkestan, Persian,
and Mesopotamian theatres. He took the view that as soon as
military operations became stabilised in the West, the Germans would
prepare not only to consolidate their position in what was formerly
Russian territory, but also seek to threaten the British Empire in
Asia. He held that, while it v r as impracticable to eliminate War
Office control and set up a separate control in India, unity of
direction w-as urgently required so that the German menace might
be met more effectively. He proposed that General Monro should
cease to be Commander-in-Chief in India and should be placed at
Baghdad in control of all Eastern operations under the War Office.
He w r as impressed by the somewhat unsatisfactory nature of General
Marshall’s advice in regard to the situation in North-West Persia
and in the Caspian, due, no doubt, to General Marshall’s main
preoccupation being centred in operations on the Euphrates and the
Tigris. Since the receipt of General Smuts’ Memorandum, a letter
[3G5—30]