CABINET PAPERS
Complete classes from the CAB & PREM series in the Public Record Office
Series One: PREM 3 - Papers concerning Defence & Operational Subjects, 1940-1945 Winston Churchill, Minister of Defence, Secretariat Papers

Part 8: PREM 3/326-358 (Subject files cover Netherlands East Indies, Norway, Occupied Countries, Offensive Operations, Oil, Operations in Europe, Overlord, Palestine and Poland)

This part of the microfilm project starts with the Netherlands East Indies (details on the War in the Pacific); Northern Ireland (defence of); Norway (operations such as Narvik, Grofter, and Claymore, the latter concerning the Lofoten islands, and the Armament of Norwegian forces from December 1944 onwards, as well as updates on German naval units such as the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst (see also under Germany: Navy) and U-boats using bases on the Norwegian coast); Occupied Countries (British military administration); Octagon (the Quebec Four Power Conferences); Offensive Operations (including reconnaissance raids on the French coast and the administration of Combined Operations, especially the Appointment of Sir Roger Keyes as Director of Combined Operations, his replacement by Admiral Mountbatten, then Laycock and finally General Bourne; Oil (Oil supplies from America, Lend-Lease, Anglo-American discussions, denying the enemy oil and Admiralty oil losses in the Far East).

Operations in Europe (referred to as "Operations on Continent"), especially Telegrams exchanged with Stalin about a proposed second front, June 1942 - March 1943; discussions with Hopkins and General Marshall, discussions with President Roosevelt and with Stalin, "Rankin" (SOE planning in the event of a German withdrawal from Occupied Europe, Allied strategic planning in advance of the D-Day landings, Operation Starkey (a cross channel feint) and a large number of flies on Overlord (the invasion of Normandy) form a dominant element of this part.

There is a wealth of detail on Overlord (planning, preparations, D-Day landings, special equipment, command structure, and the follow up to D-Day) There are files on the Normandy battles, the Falaise Pocket, the Ardennes and the South of France.

Palestine is briefly covered.

There are over 70 files on Poland ranging from Polish-Soviet relations, the evacuation of Polish forces from France in 1940, General Sikorski, Polish aircrew, the formation of a Polish Armoured Division, supplies for Warsaw, the Warsaw Rising, the Katyn Wood massacres, the Oder-Neisse Line through to the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.