Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
The French has banned Armistice Day?! Well I guess the point is pretty mute now. It would be like the German’s celebrating the Battle of Sedan.
CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street S.W. 1, on Monday, October 23, 1939, at 11:30am.
The Secretary of State for War said that during the week-end there had bneen an increase of 4 or 5 German Divisions in the Saar area. One more habe also been identified near Cologne.
The British Liaison Officer with the French had reported that there was a weak point in the Maginot Line, about 10 miles broad, in the Saar area, where the defences were only of the type to be found on the Franco-Belgian frontier.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, in reply to an enquiry by the Prime Minister, said that this gap in the Maginot Line was due to the fact that the French had not started work on this sector while the future of the Saar was in doubt. The French were now working on the sector, and would be able to inundate the country in front of it if necessary.
The Secretary of State for War said that , in conversation with the Director of Military Intelligence, General Gamelin had given the impression that he was now thinking more in terms of a German offensive in the Spring than in terms of the immediate future. He had appeared confident, and had expressed his satisfaction with the French tanks, and also with the Curtis Fighter.
The First Lord of the Admiralty enquired whether the General Staff were now convinced that no major German offensive was impending.
The Chief of the Imperial General Staff said that it was not possible to be absolutely definite on this point, but a major operation in the present state of the weather, and so late in the season, was not one which he himself would be prepared to undertake.
The War Cabinet took note of the above statements.
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