Cablegram 168 LONDON, 7 February 1942, 9.30 p.m.
MOST IMMEDIATE MOST SECRET AND PERSONAL
Following for Prime Minister from Prime Minister [1] begins.
1. I am very glad to get your No. 102. [2] I am sure we can give you better service in London than could be at present arranged in Washington. The fact that we cannot all be in one place is the fault of the various oceans. I read this morning that the President [3] has said that the Pacific Councils on both sides of the Atlantic have been functioning for a month. We must not let him down by saying anything inconsistent with this.
2. I shall now call the first meeting of the Pacific Council in London on Tuesday. It does not deal only with the A.B.D.A. area but with the whole problems of the war against Japan, and the sooner we get functioning the better.
3. We are also asking the Americans to arrange for the organisation for the Anzac Area, not so large but on the same lines as Wavell’s [4] A.B.D.A. machine, on which we are informing you. This will be set up in Australia under and around the American Naval Commander-in-Chief [5], and I hope soon to reach a settlement which will be satisfactory to you. One cannot make the whole new structure at once, and I think we have made immense progress considering the difficulties of time and communication.
4. The general layout is as follows:-
1. The A.B.D.A. fighting area.
2. The Anzac approach area.
3. The Indian Ocean approach area.
4. The Australian home defence and war base area.
5. The Indian home defence and war base area.
6. The United States main Fleet area radiating from Hawaii.
It is the relation of all these that we have to concert.
5. I have remitted your paragraph 4 and its many sub-heads to the Chiefs of Staff Committee as it is largely technical. They will supply a memorandum which I will send you. Ends.
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1 Winston Churchill.
2 Document 319.
3 Franklin D. Roosevelt.
4 Allied Supreme Commander of the A.B.D.A. Area.
5 Admiral Ernest J. King.
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[AA:A2937, A.B.D.A. STRATEGIC AREA, 1941-1942]