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6 Aug 1940

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USSR	Reference: 3/PPDT/T55

1. CALL-UP IN BRITAIN
2. ANTI-TANK OBSTACLES BEING REMOVED
3. INFORMATION FROM THE FRIENDS ON USE OF SIRENS

From: LONDON
To: MOSCOW
No: 851	6th Aug. 40

To DIRECTOR.

1. From July 1939 to date there have been 13 call-ups here covering persons born from 1920 back to 1906. Altogether over four million men have been registered. The percentage actually called up, however, is 50-60 percent. The rest of the British fall into the categories of people in reserved occupations, those released on [B% medical] grounds and "conscientious objectors". According to our information, in the United Kingdom [METROPOLIYa] there is probably an army of 1,000,000-1,2[B%]0,000 trained soldiers and 500,000-600,000 who have not yet completed their training. In addition there are up to 1,300,000 Home Guard [VEUTRENNYaYa OKhRANA] volunteers armed only with rifles. The structure of the forces is as follows: War Office [VoENNOE MINISTERSTVO] and General Staff; subordinate to them is the C.-in-C. Home Forces [KOMANDUYuShchIJ VOJSKAMI METROPOLII]; below this are the General Officers Commanding Commands, to whom corps and divisions are subordinate.

2. The War Office is gradually starting to remove the anti-tank obstacles set up on the roads. Experience has shown that these obstacles restrict the movement of their own units and will also slow down any action by British mechanised unites against the enemy. These obstacles are also disordering the economic life of the country.

3. According to information from the FRIENDS [DRUZ'Ya][i] the authorities are not using sirens during air-raids. Experience has shown that their use has a powerful affect on civilian morale and in any case their frequent use disrupts work in the war industry. In addition, the tactics of the SAUSAGE-DEALERS' [KOLBASNIKI][ii] air-raids in which 100 aircraft scatter all over the country led to a continuous noise of sirens in most of the country.

No. 213

BARCh [iii]

Comments:	[i]	FRIENDS: members of the Communist Party.
	[ii]	SAUSAGE-DEALERS: the Germans.
	[iii]	BARCh: Possibly Simon Davidovich KREMER, whose official post was Secretary to the Soviet Military Attaché in LONDON. He was appointed in 1937 and is thought to have left sometime in 1946. The covername BARCh occurs as a LONDON addressee and signatory between 3rd March 1940 and 10th October 1940, after which it is superseded by the covername BRION.

ww2dbase

Source(s):
United States National Security Agency

Added By:
C. Peter Chen

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