Cipher message

Scope and Content

Cipher message no. OZ/710 from Winston Churchill to Auchinleck, declaring that he is well aware that the Japanese threat to India and the defeats in the Western Desert have stripped the northern fronts bare, and that the only way in which a sufficient army can be gathered in the northern theatre is by Auchinleck defeating Rommel and driving him at least to a safe distance; and that, if this were accomplished before the middle of September, the Australian and New Zealand divisions could return to their stations in Palestine and Syria and the 51st Division could be sent to the northern theatre direct. Typescript.