§ Mr. S. Silvermanasked the Prime Minister whether he will publish as a White Paper or otherwise the text of the messages sent in 1945 by the Prime Minister to General Eisenhower relating to the storing and preservation of German armaments with a view to their re-issue to 187W German armed forces in certain eventualities.
§ The Prime MinisterThe relevant message to General Eisenhower has already been published. I included it in Volume VI of "The Second World War" (page 499). It reads as follows
May 9, 1945. "I have heard with some concern that the Germans are to destroy all their aircraft in situ. I hope that this policy will not be adopted in regard to weapons and other forms of equipment. We may have great need of these some day, and even now they might be of use, both in France and especially in Italy. I think we ought to keep everything worth keeping. The heavy cannon I preserved from the last war fired constantly from the heights of Dover in this war.There is great joy here.I may also direct the hon. Member's attention to the reference to the situation in Denmark made in a message sent a few days earlier to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, of which the following extract was published on page 469 of the same Volume.
May 5, 1945. "In the North, Eisenhower threw in an American corps with great dexterity to help Montgomery in his advance on Lübeck. He got there with twelve hours to spare. There were reports from the British Naval Attaché at Stockholm, which we are testing, that, according to Swedish information, the Russians have dropped parachutists a few miles south of Copenhagen and that Communist activities have appeared there. It now appears that there were only two parachutists. We are sending in a moderate holding force to Copenhagen by air, and the rest of Denmark is being rapidly occupied from henceforward by our fast-moving armoured columns. I think, therefore, having regard to the joyous feeling of the 'Danes and the abject submission and would-be partisanship of the surrendered Huns, we shall head our Soviet friends off at this point, too.You will by now have heard the news of the tremendous surrender that has been made to Montgomery of all North-West Germany, Holland and Denmark, both as regards men and ships. The men alone must be more than a million. Thus, in three successive days, 2,500,000 Germans have surrendered to our 188W British commanders. This is quite a satisfactory incident in our military history. Ike has been splendid throughout. We must vie with him in sportsmanship.