Pray see this. * Although this matter is being settled at home it would be best that the Chiefs of Staff themselves should express a view.
2. I have drafted the following for Mr. Lyttelton, on which I should also like their opinion:
“I am very doubtful myself whether the German war will end by the end of the year. It may struggle over in a reduced condition into 1945. Nevertheless I approve the practical steps you propose to take, subject to Cabinet and Defence Committee agreement. You may therefore submit your paper to the Cabinet as you wish.”
* Telegram from the Minister of Production about the effect on production of the Cabinet decision that for man-power purposes it could now be assumed that the war against Germany would not continue beyond the end of 1944.
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy